Landscaping around a shell pool: how to create a harmonious and functional exterior?
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Article outline
- The landscaping around a shell pool, a project in its own right
- What landscaping features should be planned around a shell pool, and in what order?
- How to maintain aesthetic consistency when designing a swimming pool?
- What budget should be planned for the installation of a shell pool?
- Management, taxation, and financing: points of vigilance
- Why hire a professional pool builder?
You have chosen your shell pool, validated its dimensions and color: the hardest part is done, you think. However, once the pool is installed, a new question often arises for owners: how to arrange everything around it? Coping stones, terrace, fence, lighting… the landscaping around a shell pool represents a project in its own right, with its own technical choices and its own budget.
This article provides a clear and concrete overview of all the elements to consider for the successful landscaping of your shell pool surroundings: materials, safety, realistic budget, and tax implications.
The goal? To allow you to approach this step with the same serenity as choosing your pool.
In summary:
- The standard setup of a swimming pool (coping, fencing, lighting, landscaping, and cover for submerged slatted models) generally represents between €3,600 and €13,200, or about 20 to 45% of the pool's price.
- The choice of materials must harmonize with the shell and the architecture of the house for a coherent and durable finish.
- Certain improvements, such as a covered terrace, can have an impact on development tax.
The landscaping around a shell pool, a project in its own right
For a shell pool with a price (excluding landscaping) between €15,000 and €30,000, the budget for the surroundings (coping, cover housing for models with an integrated shutter, fencing, lighting, planting) generally ranges from €3,600 to €13,200, or about 20% to 45% of the pool's price, depending on the pool's size and the chosen finishing level.
It is therefore not a simple casing, but a component of the project in its own right, which conditions three aspects of daily life:
- the safety (mandatory for any in-ground pool),
- the comfort of use by the water,
- and visual harmony with the rest of the garden.
A perfectly chosen pool but surrounded by improvised landscaping loses much of its appeal, while a coherent ensemble durably enhances the home, even in the event of a future resale.
What landscaping features should be planned around a shell pool, and in what order?
The different development positions to consider
Before going into the details of each subject, it is better to visualize all the items to be planned.
Each responds to a specific function, has its own indicative budget, and is already the subject of a dedicated article on this blog if you wish to delve deeper into a choice of material or model in particular.
| Post | Main function | Indicative budget |
| Coping | Circulation, anti-slip safety | 1 400 – 2 700 € |
| Cover for submerged slatted pool cover | Trunk closure and access | 1 100 – 1 600 € |
| Terrace (fixed or removable) | Living space, winter use | 2 400 – 22 000 € |
| Fencing / Security | Legal obligation | 400 – 5 000 € |
| Lighting | Comfort and nighttime use | 300 – 1 500 € |
| Greening | Landscape integration | 400 – 2 400 € |
These amounts correspond to the supply. Depending on the items, installation represents 40 to 60% of the final budget.
Good to know:
These amounts remain indicative ranges per item. Excluding the deck, standard landscaping (coping, fencing, lighting, planting, and cover for submerged slatted models) ranges from €3,600 to €13,200, with the difference depending on both the size of the pool and the chosen finish level, representing approximately 20 to 45% of the pool's price.
Before, during, or after the installation of the basin: in what order should these tasks be sequenced?
Three positions are decided with the basin itself: the fence or the security device, often integrated into the declaration of works, the coping, placed just after the hull and before the surroundings, and, on models with an immersed flap, the covering of the trunk, the shade of which must match the coping stones from the time of ordering.
The terrace can wait, however, especially if you opt for a removable solution installed later. Lighting, on the other hand, can be added without constraint once the pool is in operation.
As for the greening, it's best to deal with it last: it requires perspective to judge the true shaded areas, and in any case takes several seasons to establish itself.
How to maintain aesthetic consistency when designing a swimming pool?
The visual success of a pool design does not depend on a single material, but on the coherence between the shell color, the coping stones, the cover, and the deck taken together.
A contemporary house will rather call for grey concrete coping stones and a shutter in the same tone as a quartz or papyrus shell, while a Mediterranean house will be more in keeping with light stone coping stones and an ivory or pure white shell.
Good to know:
The shutter deserves particular attention: closed for a large part of the year, it becomes the most visible surface of the pool, well before the color of the water itself. A simple discrepancy in shade in this area is enough to break the harmony of the whole, even if each element taken separately seemed relevant at the time of selection.
The essential thing at this stage is therefore to treat these decisions as a coherent whole rather than as isolated choices, made one after another as the project progresses.
What budget should be planned for the installation of a shell pool?
To get a concrete idea, let's take the example of a typical setup around an 8x4 shell swimming pool in Gironde. The project breaks down as follows:
- Coping stones: €2,000
- Trunk cover for submerged shutter: €1,400
- Fencing / security: €2,500
- LED perimeter lighting: €800
- Light greening of the surroundings: €1,300
Soit a total budget of €8,000, in addition to the pool itself.
By replacing the fence with a removable deck compliant with standard NF P90-308, which then serves as a safety device, budget approximately €18,000 for this item alone, bringing the total budget to close to €23,500.
The gap is not solely explained by the cost of the material: the removable deck changes the nature of the project, as it transforms the pool into a true winter living space, whereas a fence remains a purely functional item. The choice between the two options therefore depends less on the available budget than on the actual year-round use desired.
Management, taxation, and financing: points of vigilance
A point often unknown to owners is that certain development elements are added to the taxable surface area of the pool in the calculation of the development tax. This is particularly the case for a covered terrace or a fixed shelter, unlike a simple paved terrace on the ground which remains outside the calculation.
This distinction deserves to be anticipated from the project's design stage, just like its impact on property tax: a simple change of material or structure can be enough to shift a development from one tax category to another.
On the financing side, the good news is that the landscaping doesn't need to be treated as a separate project: it can generally be included in the same renovation loan as the pool, over a period generally between 7 and 10 years depending on the institutions. For homeowners already committed to a mortgage, a 180-month pool loan remains possible through a mortgage buyback, which allows repayment to be spread over up to 15 years, provided that this existing loan represents at least 60% of the total amount borrowed.
Why hire a professional pool builder?
Multiplying the number of craftsmen for the coping stones, the terrace, the safety features, and the planting quickly complicates the schedule and blurs the overall budget vision.
At Aboral Piscines, we focus on what falls within our expertise: the shell pool and its copings, with the Ceramik Stone range designed to harmonize directly with the shell from the design stage, which simplifies this task compared to copings added after construction.
For other positions, such as greening or specific landscaping, we direct you to trusted partners to maintain overall consistency on your project. This approach, built on over 30 years of experience, especially helps you avoid last-minute decisions during the construction phase.
Building a swimming pool also means building everything around it: coping stones, fencing, decking, lighting, and landscaping. These elements are planned together from the initial designs, for a controlled budget and no unpleasant tax surprises. For the pool and its coping stones, Aboral Piscines advisors will assist you directly; for the rest, they will direct you to trusted partners.
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You may be asking yourself these questions?
For standard landscaping (coping, submerged slatted cover housing, safety device, lighting, planting), generally budget between €3,600 and €13,200, or about 20 to 45% of the pool price. Including a deck, this budget increases to 40 to 100% of the pool price depending on whether it is a fixed or removable deck.
The safety device and copings are decided with the pool, as they are linked to its structure and the declaration of works, as is the cover for the submerged shutter models. The deck can wait, the lighting is added freely, and the planting is always dealt with last.
No, only a covered terrace or a fixed shelter is added to the taxable surface for the development tax. A simple terrace, laid on the ground without a closed structure, is not included in this calculation and remains outside specific taxation.
Ideally before or at the same time, as the fence or safety device is often part of the pool's work declaration. Planning it separately risks delaying the pool's legal compliance.
The choice depends on the style of the house: grey concrete or black stone for contemporary architecture, light stone or travertine for a Mediterranean style. The essential thing is to harmonize the shade with the shell and the shutter.
Landscaping can generally be included in the same renovation loan as the pool, over 7 to 10 years. For homeowners already committed to a mortgage, a credit consolidation allows for repayment to be spread over up to 15 years.
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