Panama City Beach, Florida / Est. 1958
Custom residential pools, built to last a lifetime.
Engineered gunite shells. In-house plaster and paver crews. A warranty department that picks up the phone. Cox Pools has built residential pools across the Emerald Coast for sixty-eight years, and we still do it all under one roof.
Certified Pool Builder (CPB)
Certified Pebble Tec® Installer
Jandy® Exclusive Partner
In-House Warranty Service
Custom Residential Pools
Your backyard. Your lot. Your pool, designed around all of it.
Most pool builders give you a shape from a catalog and adjust it to fit. We start with your lot lines, your setbacks, your sightlines, and the way you actually use a backyard, then design a gunite shell around all of it. The result is a pool that feels like it was always supposed to be there.
Steel, plumbing, and hydraulics are specified as one engineered system, not assembled from whatever happens to be on the truck that week. That is the difference between a pool that holds its value and one that quietly costs you money for years.
How We Build It
From excavation to your first swim, here is exactly what happens.
Sixty-eight years of residential builds means we have solved every lot challenge, permit wrinkle, and HOA hurdle this coast has to offer. You get a schedule at the start and real updates as it moves.
Showroom Consultation
Start at our Panama City Beach showroom with two full pools on site. Walk the tile, touch the finishes, and see how water moves through different coping and edge treatments. Most homeowners make more decisions in one hour here than in a month of scrolling Pinterest boards.
Site Survey and Design
We pull your survey, read your lot grades and setback requirements, check HOA or architectural review rules if applicable, and draw a pool that actually fits. You see the design and the full line-item proposal before anything is signed.
Permits and Engineering
Structural engineering, permit submittals, and HOA review packages are handled for Bay, Walton, and Okaloosa counties, plus the surrounding areas we serve. After sixty-eight years of building here, we know these building departments well.
Excavation, Steel, and Gunite
The shell is the foundation of everything. Our crews excavate to your design depth, install the steel reinforcement grid, and spray the gunite shell. The same structural approach we have used since 1958, because it is still the strongest way to build a permanent inground pool.
Tile, Plumbing, and Equipment
Waterline tile is set. Plumbing is pressure-tested and inspected. Jandy equipment, including variable-speed pump, heater, and automation system, is specified and installed as a complete package, not pieced together from whatever was in stock.
Paver Decking
Our in-house paver crew installs coping and decking on the same schedule as the rest of the build, not weeks later waiting on a subcontractor. One point of accountability for the deck means the finish line is predictable instead of open-ended.
Interior Finish and Startup
Our sister plaster company applies the interior finish. Pebble Tec, quartz blend, standard plaster, or glass bead, depending on what you chose at the showroom. Water goes in, chemistry is balanced, and we walk you through your equipment before handing over the keys. Warranty service stays a single call to 850.234.7800 ext. 231.
What We Build
Every shape, every edge, every finish, designed around you.
Gunite gives us the freedom to build any shape your lot and your design vision call for. Here is a look at what we build most often and what sets each apart.
Start Your Design
Freeform Pools
Organic shapes that follow the natural contours of your yard, no rigid geometry. Common for lots with irregular boundaries, mature trees, or existing landscaping that the pool needs to work around rather than replace.
Geometric and Lap Pools
Clean-lined rectangular and L-shaped designs that suit modern architecture and smaller lots. Lap pools are built to proper swimming dimensions, with depth profiles and hydraulics specified for actual exercise use.
Pool and Spa Combinations
An attached spa, spilling over into the main pool, adds a dedicated hydrotherapy zone without requiring a separate footprint. Spillover jets, blower, and independent temperature control are all part of the package when the two are designed together from the start.
Tanning Ledges and Baja Shelves
A shallow entry shelf, typically six to nine inches of water, built into the main pool. Works as a wading area for young children, a place for lounge chairs in the water, and a natural transition point into the deeper end.
Negative Edge Pools
One wall appears to vanish into the view beyond — a concealed catch channel below recirculates the overflow. Dramatic on a waterfront or elevated lot, and engineered into the original build from day one, not added after the fact.
Custom Add-Ons
The features that turn a pool into a backyard destination.
Every add-on below is designed and built as part of the original project, not tacked on by a subcontractor after the shell is already cured. When it is all engineered together, it works together.
Water Features
Sheer descents, scuppers, deck jets, bubblers, and rock or tile waterfall walls. Integrated into the shell and plumbing from day one so water flow and pressure are engineered into the system, not adapted around it.
Fire Features
Fire bowls, fire pits, and fire-and-water combinations built into the deck or coping. Gas line routing and clearance are handled by our crews, no coordinating a separate trade after the concrete has already been poured.
LED Lighting
Color-changing LED fixtures inside the pool and along the waterline are specified with Jandy automation, so you control them from your phone rather than walking to a panel. A lit pool at night adds a dimension the daytime photos never fully capture.
Automation and Smart Control
Jandy iAqualink puts pump speed, heater, lighting, and water features under one app. Set schedules, monitor water chemistry, and adjust equipment from anywhere, particularly useful on a second home or vacation property.
Outdoor Living
Outdoor kitchens, pergolas, and fire feature structures are coordinated through Little Pool House Designs, our family's outdoor living studio, so the pool and the surrounding space are designed together rather than looking like two separate projects.
Financing
Your pool, new or renewed. Easily pay for it.
Most of our clients — whether they're building new or renovating an existing pool — finance some part of the project. We work with third-party lending partners who understand pool construction, including draw schedules that release funds as the work progresses, not all at once up front.
Ask About Financing
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New builds and remodels both qualify
Resurfacing, retiling, paver decking, and equipment upgrades can be financed the same way a new pool can.
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Decisions in days, not weeks
Prequalification is a short application. You will know your budget before you finalize a design, which makes the design conversation far more productive.
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No surprises in the paperwork
Your designer walks you through terms alongside the line-item proposal, so you are comparing the same numbers the lender is.
What Homeowners Say
Sixty-eight years of referrals, in their words.
Verified Google reviewsRead them all on our profile
Our Work
Real pools. Real backyards. Real clients.
Every image in our portfolio is a finished Cox Pools project photographed on location across the Emerald Coast. No renders. No borrowed images from another builder's portfolio. If you see it here, we built it.
Explore the Full Portfolio
Where We Build
Serving the Emerald Coast since 1958.
We build residential pools across the Northwest Florida coast and well inland. If your address is not on this list, call us anyway. We have been known to travel for the right project.
Showroom & Office12216 Panama City Beach PkwyPanama City Beach, FL 32407
Bay County
- Panama City
- Panama City Beach
- Lynn Haven
- Southport
- Callaway
- Upper Grand Lagoon
Walton County & 30A
- Santa Rosa Beach
- Inlet Beach
- WaterColor
- Seaside
- WaterSound
- Alys Beach
- Rosemary Beach
Okaloosa County
- Destin
- Niceville
- Shalimar
- Valparaiso
- Mary Esther
Also serving
- Franklin County
- Gulf County
- Calhoun County
- Jackson County
- Washington County
Questions
Straight answers about residential pool builds.
The things homeowners actually ask us on the phone, answered without the runaround. If yours is not here, call us directly.
Call 850.235.7957
How much does a custom residential pool cost in the Panama City Beach area?
Cost depends on size, depth, shape, interior finish, paver decking, and add-on features like spas, water features, or LED lighting. We give you a full line-item proposal after the design consultation, not a number over the phone. What we will do is tell you clearly and early if your budget and your wish list do not align yet.
How long does it take to build a residential pool?
From signed contract to your first swim, most residential projects run a few months. Permitting and weather are the two biggest variables, and neither is fully in anyone's control. You get a construction schedule at the start and real updates as the build progresses.
Does Cox Pools handle permits and HOA submittals?
Yes. We manage structural engineering, the permit package, and HOA or architectural review submittals for Bay, Walton, and Okaloosa counties, plus the surrounding areas we serve. After sixty-eight years of building in Northwest Florida, we know these building departments and their review timelines well.
What pool shapes does Cox Pools build?
Gunite allows us to build virtually any shape, freeform organic designs, clean geometric and rectangular pools, lap pools, L-shapes, and dramatic negative-edge configurations. The design is drawn to your specific lot, setbacks, and sightlines, not adapted from a catalog shape.
Can you add a spa, water feature, or fire feature to the pool?
Yes, and all of those work better when they are engineered into the original design rather than added later. Attached spas, sheer descents, deck jets, fire bowls, and scuppers are all built by Cox crews as part of the same project. Outdoor kitchens and pergolas come through Little Pool House Designs, our family's outdoor living studio.
What interior finishes are available?
We offer Pebble Tec, quartz blend, standard plaster, and glass bead finishes. All are applied by our sister plaster company, not a subcontractor, so the crew answers to us and the finish warranty stays with us. You can see every finish in person at our Panama City Beach showroom before you decide.
How do I design my pool around an HOA or coastal setback requirement?
We pull your lot survey and setback requirements before the design phase starts, not after. That means the proposal you receive already accounts for HOA rules, coastal construction setback lines, and any county-specific constraints, so there are no redesign surprises once permits are submitted.
Does Cox Pools offer financing for new residential pool construction?
Yes, through third-party lending partners who understand pool construction timelines. Many programs use draw schedules that release funds as the build progresses rather than all at once up front. Ask about financing at the design consultation. Most clients find it useful to know their approved budget before they finalize the design, not after.
Start Here
Let's design the space you actually want.
Book a showroom consultation and bring whatever you have, a Pinterest board, a survey, a rough idea, or nothing at all. An hour with two real pools in front of you beats a month of scrolling.
Start Your Design
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New pools & design850.235.7957 -
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HoursMon-Fri 8:00a - 5:00p
Saturday 10:00a-2:00por by appointment