Sometimes a dream deserves to die. My “If I ever strike it rich…” fantasy of building my own personal lap pool is one of those dreams. My occasional aggravations with finding an empty lane, finding an alternate pool during holiday closures and getting kicked out anytime it thunders, had me longing for my own personal lap pool. I spent hours over the past few years looking into the costs and feasibility of building a lap pool.
The thing is, first I would need to own a piece of property that could accommodate a 25 yard length pool. Then I’d need to build a structure around it with electricity and heating. Then, I’d need to build a pool.
I calculated the cost for building just the pool itself would exceed $100K.
That’s a good number. $100K
My cost to swim at the city pools is $250/year. This year, I bit the bullet and purchased a YMCA membership to use as my “backup” option for swimming. Before any discounts that costs is ~$650/yr. My total annual cost to swim is $900/yr.
With these two memberships, I have access to at least 5 different indoor pools nearly every day of the year.
It would take 111 years before I spent $100K at these rates. If I factored in costs for the land, building and operations, it would exceed 200 years!
Not to mention, I don’t have to clean the pools. I don’t have to maintain the chemicals. I don’t have to worry about the pumps, heaters, enclosures, HVAC, or plumbing.
I drive up, jump in and swim.
If one of my 5 pools is closed or has a maintenance problem, I have 4 other options.
So I’m over the “my own pool” fantasy. The reality I have today is more than enough.