Pinole Pools Come Out.
Backyards Come Back.
Pool removal, garage teardowns and concrete demolition in Pinole · from the flats around Old Town to the hillside lots off Pinole Valley Road. Fifteen minutes from our yard on Appian Way.
The 1970s Pool Is Now
The Most Expensive Thing In The Yard
Pinole has two kinds of backyard. In the flats around Old Town, San Pablo Avenue and Fernandez Park the housing is older, and much of it came with a gunite pool poured between the mid-sixties and the late seventies. Up in the newer subdivisions off Pinole Valley Road the pool is younger · but the access is worse.
Either way the math has turned. A fifty-year-old pool needs replaster, new plumbing, a new pump, new tile and a fence that passes today’s barrier code · a five-figure restoration on something the family stopped using a decade ago, while it drinks water at Bay Area rates.
So we take out more pools in Pinole than we take down houses, usually alongside the cracked patio slab and the leaning garage. What separates two identical pools by thousands of dollars is never the pool. It’s access:
- Side-yard width. A clear 8-foot gate lets a standard excavator walk in. Under about 4 feet we’re on mini equipment and buggies.
- Hillside staging. Above Pinole Valley Road the only flat spot for a truck is often the street, so material gets moved twice.
- Overhead lines and narrow Old Town streets. Swing radius and trailer length get planned before we mobilize.
PinolePartial Or Full?
The only question that really moves the number · and it’s about what you want the ground to do later, not about saving money today.
Partial · Shell Stays
The top of the wall comes off, drainage holes are punched through the floor, and the void is backfilled. Faster, less material off site, roughly half the cost.
The catch: fill over a shell left in the ground is uncertified fill · in unincorporated Contra Costa the “GN” track, carrying a note recorded against the parcel: “Restricted Area on Site, due to abandoned swimming pool not Suitable for Building.” Landscaping only. Nothing structural goes there later.
Full · Everything Out
Shell, bond beam, rebar, plumbing and deck demolished and hauled off. Clean engineered fill placed in controlled lifts and compacted.
On the County’s “G” track: 90% relative compaction per ASTM D1557, testing by an accredited soils firm, a final compaction report signed by a licensed civil or geotechnical engineer, and inspections at rough grade, 48 inches from finish grade, then grading and drainage final. This is the track that keeps the ground buildable.
If there’s any chance you build an ADU, an addition or a garage over that footprint, do the full removal. Retro-fixing a partial means excavating the whole thing again around finished landscaping · paying twice. It also shows up in escrow: buyers and lenders read parcel notes.
Pinole is an incorporated city, so the permit comes from the City, not the County. We confirm the City of Pinole’s current submittal requirements, inspections and fees before we quote · we don’t guess at a counter’s rules. See our permit guide →
What We Most Often Do Here
Ranked by how often the phone actually rings for it.
Pool Removal & Backfill
Gunite, plaster and vinyl-liner pools out partially or completely. Water discharged legally, utilities disconnected, spa and deck included.
Pool removal service → #2 RequestDetached Garage Teardown
The single-wall garage that’s been leaning for a decade. Slab included or left, back corner of the lot opened up for an ADU.
Garage demolition → #3 RequestConcrete & Patio Removal
Cracked patios, walkways, pool decks, stairs and slabs broken out and recycled as inert material.
Concrete removal → CommonDriveway Removal
Concrete and asphalt driveways removed ahead of a repour or widening · usually the same trip as the access work.
Driveway removal → Follow-OnGrading & Leveling
A yard is rarely flat once the pool is gone. Finish grade, drainage set away from the house, ready for a landscaper.
Grading & leveling → Growing FastADU Site Prep
Pool out on the engineered-fill track, old slab removed, pad cut and set to grade for your ADU builder.
ADU site prep →Four Steps. No Guesswork.
Site Walk & Access Plan
We measure the pool, check the shell, walk the equipment route and decide right there whether partial or full fits what you want the yard to become.
Permits & Utilities
City of Pinole requirements confirmed and the submittal prepared. Pool electrical and gas disconnected, plumbing cut and capped.
811 & Water Discharge
811 notified at least two working days before we dig · state law, ticket good for 28 days. Water neutralized and discharged to the sanitary sewer where permitted, never to a storm drain.
Demolition, Backfill, Close Out
Shell broken out, rebar separated for recycling, concrete hauled to an approved inert facility with weight tickets. Clean fill in lifts, compacted and tested on the engineered track, final grade set, inspection called.
What It Actually Runs
Working ranges for the jobs we do most here. Your written estimate is fixed after the site walk · these are planning numbers.
| Job | Typical Range | What Moves The Number |
|---|---|---|
| Pool · partial, <500 sq ft | $3,000 to $5,500 | Access, deck size, spa |
| Pool · partial, 500-800 sq ft | $5,500 to $8,500 | Shell thickness, backfill volume |
| Pool · full, <500 sq ft | $6,500 to $11,000 | Engineered fill, soils testing |
| Pool · full, 500-800 sq ft | $11,000 to $16,000 | Hillside staging, export volume |
| Pool · full, >800 sq ft | $16,000 to $25,000 | Deck, walls, slope, soils reporting |
| Above-ground pool | $300 to $800 | Deck or concrete adds a lot |
| Detached 2-car garage | $2,500 to $6,500 | Slab, roofing type, access |
| Concrete / patio removal | $3 to $8 / sq ft | Rebar adds $1-$3/sq ft |
| Driveway, 200-600 sq ft | $1,200 to $4,500 | Slope, thickness, tonnage |
| Final grading | $500 to $1,200 | Yard size, drainage correction |
Ride-along items: electrical disconnect $300-$800 · plumbing $250-$600 · soil testing and compaction reporting $200-$400 · imported backfill $15-$60/cu yd · concrete dump fees $90-$160/ton.
Backfill is not free dirt. A 500-800 sq ft pool is a 60 to 120 cubic yard hole, and clean import alone can be a four-figure line. A bid that doesn’t say where the fill comes from hasn’t priced the fill · and the engineered-fill track requires you to disclose the source of the dirt anyway.
Local Yard. Local Counters.
We’re on Appian Way in El Sobrante · fifteen minutes from most Pinole addresses. That’s not a marketing line. It means the equipment is already close, the trucks aren’t billing you an hour each way, and we know which counter to walk into.
Fixed Pricing
Written scope, written number. Change orders only when the scope changes or the ground hides something nobody could see.
Right Equipment On Site
Excavators, mini excavators, skid steers and haul trucks in-house · including the small machines a Pinole side yard actually fits.
We Work The Whole West County
Pinole sits in the middle of our tightest working radius.
See All Service AreasWhat Pinole Homeowners Say
Our pool was from 1972 and the quote to fix it was more than our car. Legacy explained the difference between leaving the shell and taking it all out. We went full removal.
We’re up on the hill and every other company took one look at the driveway and stopped returning calls. These guys measured the gate, brought smaller equipment and finished in three days.
Pool, the concrete around it and the old garage in one mobilization. One price, one scope, one week. They handed over the weight tickets without being asked.
Pinole Demolition Questions
Do I need a permit to remove a pool in Pinole?
Yes. Because Pinole is an incorporated city the permit comes from the City, not the County, and depending on scope you may also need grading or encroachment permits. We confirm the City of Pinole’s current requirements, forms and fees before we quote rather than assuming a neighbor’s rules apply. The engineering never changes: if you want the ground buildable later, you need certified engineered fill and a compaction report.
What is the “not suitable for building” note on a pool parcel?
Leave the shell in the ground, backfill with uncertified fill, and the parcel gets flagged. In unincorporated Contra Costa that’s the “GN” track, and the recorded language is “Restricted Area on Site, due to abandoned swimming pool not Suitable for Building.” Landscaping only. That track isn’t allowed where ground slopes steeper than 10%, needs at least three drainage holes of minimum 24-inch diameter no more than 8 feet apart with one in the deep end, and needs the top 24 inches of bond beam removed unless it stays above grade. Full breakdown →
Can you get equipment into a Pinole hillside backyard?
Usually yes, and that’s the reason to have us walk it before quoting. Above Pinole Valley Road the constraints are steep driveways, narrow side yards and retaining walls, so we scale the machine to the gate rather than to the job. Where a standard excavator can’t get through we run mini equipment and buggies · slower, and priced that way up front rather than as a day-two change order.
How long does a pool removal take?
Machine work is two to four days for a partial and three to six for a full removal including backfill and compaction. The calendar is driven by permitting and inspections, not digging · plan on a few weeks from signed scope to finished yard, more with a soils report in the package.
Where do the water and the debris go?
Water is neutralized and discharged to the sanitary sewer where the district permits it · never to a storm drain. Concrete and gunite go to an approved inert facility and come back as weight tickets; rebar is separated for metal recycling. California’s minimum 65% C&D diversion gets documented, not claimed. How our reporting works →
Can you do the garage and the concrete at the same time?
Yes, and it’s the cheapest way to buy demolition · mobilization, permits and access matting are largely fixed costs, so one trip spreads them across more work. Garage demolition details →
Get Your Pinole Backyard Back
Send the address and a few photos of the pool and the side yard. We’ll walk it, tell you which track makes sense, and put a fixed number on paper.
Legacy Demolitions LLC · 4533 Appian Way, El Sobrante, CA 94803 · CA License #1122603 · Serving Pinole, CA