Swimming Pool Cost in Egypt — Price per m² by Construction Type
Most pages about pool prices give you one number and never say where it came from. This one does the opposite: the ranges below come out of the same pricing engine we use to price real projects — a measured bill of quantities against item rates, not a guess. Fox Pools has built in Egypt since 1993 with more than 500 projects delivered.
Pool Cost per m², Including VAT
These bands are for a complete turnkey pool: excavation, structure, waterproofing, internal finish, surrounding deck paving, and a full filtration circuit with plant room, lighting, and control panel. Basis: Greater Cairo, normal soil, skimmer system, pool-grade ceramic finish.
| Water surface area | Concrete (EGP/m²) | Panel + liner (EGP/m²) |
|---|---|---|
| 20 – 30 m² | 37,000 – 41,000 | 26,000 – 30,000 |
| 30 – 45 m² | 31,000 – 36,000 | 21,000 – 25,000 |
| 45 – 70 m² | 26,000 – 29,000 | 17,500 – 20,000 |
| Over 70 m² | 22,000 – 25,000 | 14,000 – 17,000 |
Important disclosure
- These are indicative budgeting ranges, not a quotation and not a contractual commitment.
- Prepared 8 August 2026 and inclusive of 14% VAT.
- Sensitive to movement in steel, cement, and imported equipment prices; any shift in those inputs shifts the range.
- A firm price requires a site survey covering soil type, water table, and access conditions.
Why the Rate per m² Falls as the Pool Grows
This is the most important point on the page and the one buyers most often miss. Pool cost is not linear with area, because a large part of it is close to fixed regardless of size: mobilising, transporting, and operating excavation plant; the plant room complete with walls, waterproofing, ladder, and cover; and the filtration circuit itself — duty pump, standby pump, sand filter, control panel, and the pipework and valve network.
In practice a 24 m² pool and a 40 m² pool use the same plant room and a near-identical filtration set. What genuinely differs between them is the quantity of concrete, waterproofing, and finish — the only items that truly scale with area. So a small pool carries the whole fixed cost over a small area and its per-m² rate rises. That is cost distribution, not arbitrary pricing.
The effect is large: the same concrete specification falls from roughly EGP 41,000/m² at 24 m² to roughly EGP 24,000/m² at 72 m² — close to a 40% drop in unit rate, even though the total of course rises. When comparing two offers, compare the rate at the same area, or the comparison is meaningless.
Worked Example: an 8 × 5 m Concrete Pool with Ceramic Finish
Specification: 40 m² water surface, 1.20–1.80 m depth, 60 m³ water volume, skimmer system, mechanical excavation in normal soil, concrete plant room, duty plus standby pump, one sand filter, pool-grade ceramic finish, and straight Triesta marble deck paving. Location: Greater Cairo.
| Work package | Cost (EGP) |
|---|---|
| Civil works: excavation, plain and reinforced concrete, backfill, spoil removal, concrete plant room | 364,663 |
| Waterproofing: internal flexible cementitious, external bitumen, joint treatment | 36,135 |
| Finishes: render, pool ceramic, surrounding deck paving | 79,394 |
| MEP: pumps (including one standby), sand filter, skimmers and inlets, pipework and valves, control panel, LED lighting | 98,990 |
| Extras: stainless ladder, maintenance kit | 11,500 |
| Works value after overheads and margin, before VAT | 1,098,497 |
| VAT at 14% | 153,790 |
| Total including VAT | 1,252,287 |
| Rate per m² including VAT | 31,307 |
Read it this way: civil works dominate because they carry excavation, spoil removal, reinforced floor and wall concrete, and the complete plant room. Those five lines are direct cost; the gap between them and the works value is overhead, contractor margin, and equipment margin, with VAT applied after. The programme for this specification is twelve weeks from site handover.
The Internal Finish — Your Largest Discretionary Lever
| Finish | Supplied and fixed (EGP/m²) |
|---|---|
| Pool-grade ceramic | 480 |
| Local porcelain | 620 |
| Chinese mosaic | 950 |
| Spanish mosaic | 1,600 |
| Glass mosaic | 2,200 |
The spread between the cheapest and dearest finish is more than fourfold over the same wetted area. On the 40 m² worked example, moving from pool-grade ceramic to glass mosaic lifts the VAT-inclusive total from about EGP 1.25m to about EGP 1.59m — with no change to the structure or the equipment. No other item in the pool moves that far on the client’s choice alone.
Location and Soil — Defined Factors, Not Guesswork
Location factor
- Greater Cairo and Giza — 1.00
- Ain Sokhna and the Red Sea — 1.08
- North Coast — 1.12
- Upper Egypt and remote sites — 1.15
Soil factor
- Normal soil — 1.00
- Rocky ground — 1.60
- High water table — 1.35
A high water table additionally triggers a separate dewatering allowance for the duration of excavation and construction, on top of the soil factor itself.
These factors apply to the items they genuinely affect — principally excavation — not to the contract total. A North Coast pool is therefore not 12% dearer overall; it is dearer by less than that, in proportion to how much of the project sits in transport and excavation.
Exchange-rate exposure
Imported equipment — pumps, filters, panels, lighting — is about 11.5% of the concrete pool total in the worked example. So a 10% move in the exchange rate moves the project total by roughly 1.2%, not 10%. The remainder is civil works, local materials, and labour, whose exposure to steel and cement prices is far greater than to the dollar.
Payment stages and duration
- 35% on contract signature
- 30% on completion of concrete works
- 25% on completion of finishes and equipment installation
- 10% on handover and commissioning
The worked 40 m² concrete example programmes at twelve weeks; duration moves up or down with area and site conditions.
What to Do Next
If you are still choosing a construction type, read the concrete vs fibreglass vs liner comparison and the pool construction guide. To run your own numbers, the cost estimator gives a first-pass figure for your dimensions, and a site survey turns it into a firm quotation. After commissioning, see the pool maintenance guide.
Important disclosure
- These are indicative budgeting ranges, not a quotation and not a contractual commitment.
- Prepared 8 August 2026 and inclusive of 14% VAT.
- Sensitive to movement in steel, cement, and imported equipment prices; any shift in those inputs shifts the range.
- A firm price requires a site survey covering soil type, water table, and access conditions.
Pool Cost FAQs
What does a swimming pool cost per m² in Egypt?
For a concrete pool with a pool-grade ceramic finish, roughly EGP 22,000–41,000 per m² including VAT — the higher end for small pools, the lower end for large ones. For a galvanised-steel panel pool with a liner, roughly EGP 14,000–30,000 per m². Both bands assume Greater Cairo and normal soil.
Why does the rate per m² fall as the pool gets bigger?
A large share of the cost is fixed rather than area-proportional: mobilising excavation plant, the plant room, and the filtration circuit — pump, filter, pipework, control panel. A 24 m² pool and a 72 m² pool often share the same plant room and a near-identical filtration set, so the fixed cost spreads over more area and the per-m² rate drops.
Which single item moves the budget most?
The internal finish. Supplied and fixed rates run from EGP 480/m² for pool-grade ceramic to EGP 2,200/m² for glass mosaic — more than four times, over the same wetted area. It is the largest discretionary lever the client controls.
How much do rock and groundwater add?
Rocky ground multiplies the excavation rate by 1.6; a high water table multiplies it by 1.35 and additionally triggers a separate dewatering allowance for the duration of the works. The effect lands on the excavation and dewatering items, not on the whole budget.
How much more is the North Coast or Sokhna?
We apply a location factor: Greater Cairo and Giza 1.00, Ain Sokhna and the Red Sea 1.08, the North Coast 1.12, Upper Egypt and remote sites 1.15. That covers crew transport, accommodation, and supply logistics — it is not an added margin.
What are the payment stages and build duration?
Four stages: 35% on contract signature, 30% on completion of concrete works, 25% on completion of finishes and equipment installation, and 10% on handover and commissioning. The 40 m² concrete example on this page programmes at twelve weeks.