Roadrunner Pool Services › Guides › Remodeling
The cheapest finish is the one you replace soonest. How hard water and sun change the math here.
Every remodel conversation starts with the finish, and in this valley the right answer is more often the harder-wearing one than it would be on the coast.
Classic, smooth, and the least expensive option up front. It is also the one that shows staining and scale soonest, and hard desert water plus sun is exactly the environment that finds its weaknesses. White plaster can do well here, but only with chemistry that stays in range. If the pool has a history of drifting pH or long gaps in service, plaster will show it.
Quartz sits in the middle on price and meaningfully above plain plaster on life. The color flecks hide the early staining that makes plaster look tired, and the surface is harder. For most valley pools this is the sensible default when the budget allows it.
The most expensive and the longest-lived. Textured rather than smooth, available in a lot of colors, and the most resistant to staining and scale. On a pool that gets heavy use, or one where the owner is not planning another remodel for a long time, pebble is usually the lowest cost per year even though it is the highest cost per job.
This is the part people skip. The first month after new plaster decides how the surface looks in year five. Fresh plaster cures in the water, and it needs daily brushing and closely watched chemistry through that period. A startup done badly leaves a surface that mottles, scales or goes rough, and no amount of later maintenance undoes it. We run startups on our own remodels and on other contractors' work too.
Finish choice, pool size and whether there is a spa, whether tile and coping stay or go, what the chip-out uncovers in the way of cracks or rusted rebar, any equipment you upgrade while the pool is down, and access for the crew and materials. We scope in person before quoting so the number holds, and if the chip-out uncovers something you hear about it with a price before anyone keeps going.
Samples are at The Pool Store counter on Highway 111 if you want to see the finishes in daylight before deciding.