You wouldn’t dream of leaving your pool uncovered during the off-season, but did you know the type of cover you choose matters? A safety pool cover will keep your pool cleaner when you unveil it come the spring or summer. How much does one of these pool covers the cost to install?
A safety pool cover itself costs about $600 to $3,000. Another $400 to $1,500 for installation is needed. The total for a safety cover is $1,000 to $4,500. Safety cover costs vary depending on quality and shape of your pool. Whilst labor costs vary depending on size and shape of your pool, as well as your location.
In today’s guide, we’ll look further at the benefits of safety covers for swimming pools and their associated costs. Make sure you keep reading, as you won’t want to miss the great info coming up!
Article Contents
Safety Pool Cover Types
There are different types of safety covers, which will naturally affect the total price.
But going back a step, you may be familiar with a winter cover. Which is essentially a tarp that goes over your pool that you hold in place with water bags or another weighed item. It has no rigidity on its own. And it’s not particularly great for a winter cover.
A safety cover has a more rigid design than a winter cover. The sturdier design of a safety cover not only holds its shape but prevents more debris from getting into the pool during the off-season.
There are essentially two different types of safety covers:
1. Solid Safety Pool Covers
A solid safety pool cover is usually made of vinyl. It may feature mesh components but is primarily solid. These covers have an average lifespan of 6 to 15 years and keep the water in your pool exceptionally clean since they don’t allow water to pass through and keep all sunlight out.
2. Mesh Safety Pool Covers
The other type of safety pool cover is a mesh security cover. These covers can ward off leaves and similar-sized debris, but smaller debris, such as dirt and insects, can easily get into your swimming pool. Not only that, but dirty rainwater will get in too.
Mesh security pool covers last longer between the two, with an average lifespan of 10 to 15 years. They’re also less expensive.
How is a Pool Safety Cover Installed?
The way a safety cover goes on the pool varies from a winter cover. Anchor points are installed into your deck or paving surrounding your pool. These anchors are installed by drilling holes in the concrete or deck and inserting a special anchor.
Then you lay the safety cover over your pool and attach the safety cover straps to the anchors via a special connection. The straps usually have a spring built into them to allow some flex. They also have a buckle in them so you can tighten or loosen the straps.
Safety covers have a tremendous weight capacity that often exceeds 4,000 pounds. You could theoretically walk across the cover.
How Much Does It Cost to Install a Safety Pool Cover?
Now that you better understand what a safety pool cover is and how it varies from a standard winter cover let’s look deeper into the costs of installing one of these specialty covers.
First, let’s break it down by the price of the cover itself. A solid safety pool cover can cost between $650 and $1,200, while a mesh safety cover is priced between $800 and $1,500.
However, it’s not unheard of to see safety covers cost even more still, with costs as much as $3,000. This will get you a high-quality cover suitable for a large pool.
Pool Safety Cover Costs by Size
Here’s a breakdown of some of the pool safety cover costs. As you can see below, the cost of a pool safety cover are much cheaper on Amazon. However, there will be a large quality difference. You usually get what you pay for.
| Safety Cover Size | Pool Supplies Retailer | Amazon |
| 15 x 30 feet | $900 to $2000 | $400 to $500 |
| 20 x 40 feet | $1200 to $3000 | $400 to $600 |
Pool Safety Cover Installation Labor Costs
Whilst you can pay upwards of $10,000 for a fancy electric pool cover. It doesn’t cost anything near that to install a mesh safety cover.
What Makes Up the Labor Costs? In general, there are X factors. Your location, the size of your cover, and the number of anchor points that need to be installed.
You’ll find that most pool cover installers will charge in two ways:
- Flat fee to do the job
- Hourly plus a fee per anchor installed
Flat Rate Safety Cover Installation Costs
From my research of professional pool cover installers, I found that flat rate safety cover installation is between $400 and $700. It depends on the size of the cover and your location. Labor costs are usually between $60 and $100 per hour.
And you’d be looking at somewhere between 3 hours and a full day to install a safety cover.
Hourly Rate Safety Cover Installation
The majority of pool cover installers I researched charge an hourly rate between $60 and $100 per hour plus an additional $25 – $50 per anchor to install a pool safety cover.
Doing the math, for a simpler cover like a safety cover, labor fees might cost up to $225 plus for an additional $550 to install the anchors. The total cost to install a 15 x 30-foot pool safety cover would be $775.
| Safety Cover Size | Number of Anchors | Anchor Installation @ $25 ea | Labor Costs @ $75 p/hr |
| 15 x 30 feet | 22 | $550 | $225 (3 hrs) |
| 20 x 40 feet | 34 | $850 | $300 (4 hrs) |
The Factors That Affect Safety Pool Cover Installation Costs
Why do safety pool cover installation prices vary as much as they do? It boils down to a number of factors, so let’s take a closer look now.
Pool Size
The pool size is the main factor that impacts the installation costs of a safety cover.
If yours is a standard-sized pool, you should expect to pay about average prices for the cover and labor. For a smaller pool, your installation costs should be less. The cover itself is smaller so the cost is less to purchase this. Plus, there are fewer anchors to fix to your pool deck.
The bigger your pool, the larger the cover you’ll need. You’ll pay more for a larger cover regardless of whether it’s a solid security or mesh cover.
And since there’s more cover to work with and more anchors to install, it naturally takes longer to install a larger cover.
Pool Features
Is yours a standard swimming pool, or does it have a myriad of features? While pool features make using a swimming pool more enjoyable during the season, you face more difficulty prepping your pool for the off-season.
A pool cover team will also have to find a way to work around pool features you can’t remove, such as a waterfall or faux rocks. This can also drive up labor costs.
Pool Shape
The more square or rectangular your pool shape, the easier it is to slap a cover on it and call it a day. Rectangular, oval, kidney, and square-shaped pool owners will pay less for installation than someone with a uniquely shaped pool.
If you have a free-form-shaped pool, you may need to customize your safety cover. Which, needless to say, will increase the costs significantly. Saying that you can often still use a rectangular-shaped cover and overlap the pool deck more.
Your Location
Labor costs vary from state to state and region to region. So you will find a difference in the costs to install your safety cover.
