Permit volume fell. Contractor competition increased.
Pool construction activity surged during the pandemic-era housing boom, reaching 2,209 issued permits in 2021. By 2024, annual permit volume had fallen to 1,225...a 44.5% decline from the peak.
But the contractor count moved in the opposite direction. In 2025, 167 unique contractor license numbers pulled at least one pool permit, the highest count of any year in the dataset.
The raw permit file contained 10,900 rows and 10,758 unique permit numbers. Before analyzing the market, SplashDate™ removed 142 duplicate permit records so each permit was counted only once.
| Year | Unique Permits Issued | Active Contractors |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1,794 | 109 |
| 2021 | 2,209 | 121 |
| 2022 | 1,942 | 150 |
| 2023 | 1,508 | 144 |
| 2024 | 1,225 | 141 |
| 2025 | 1,260 | 167 |
| 2026 YTD | 715 | 128 |
The market did not simply shrink back to its pre-boom structure. More contractor licenses were competing for fewer permits, making the Naples-area market considerably more fragmented.
Only 22 contractors cleared one demanding consistency test.
To identify contractors with sustained permit activity, we applied a simple filter: a contractor had to pull at least 3 permits in every single year from 2020 through 2026 YTD.
Only 22 contractors met that threshold.
| Contractor | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 YTD | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aragon Pools & Spas | 417 | 716 | 278 | 263 | 260 | 255 | 141 | 2,330 |
| Pinnacle USA | 123 | 151 | 159 | 160 | 70 | 70 | 45 | 778 |
| Serenity Pool & Spa | 138 | 144 | 54 | 35 | 48 | 53 | 36 | 508 |
| Nassau Pools Construction | 68 | 108 | 131 | 103 | 46 | 29 | 17 | 504 |
| Fountain Pools & Water Features | 178 | 133 | 62 | 28 | 37 | 36 | 21 | 495 |
| Suncoast Custom Pools | 102 | 90 | 79 | 63 | 48 | 56 | 32 | 471 |
| Swimming Pool Contractors | 29 | 71 | 158 | 89 | 37 | 44 | 18 | 446 |
| Osorio Pool Construction | 61 | 45 | 53 | 44 | 33 | 28 | 13 | 277 |
| Jackson Pools | 56 | 41 | 44 | 26 | 24 | 24 | 10 | 225 |
| Finishing by Baker | 30 | 32 | 39 | 41 | 28 | 29 | 14 | 213 |
| Pool & Patio Works | 17 | 26 | 48 | 33 | 23 | 36 | 13 | 196 |
| Slusser Services | 21 | 32 | 41 | 35 | 24 | 11 | 9 | 173 |
| Artesian Pool Construction | 22 | 30 | 42 | 22 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 146 |
| Quality Pool Builders | 19 | 30 | 31 | 13 | 16 | 22 | 4 | 135 |
| Miromar Pools | 15 | 17 | 17 | 23 | 18 | 21 | 21 | 132 |
| Skipper Pools | 16 | 25 | 15 | 17 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 100 |
| Southern Pools South | 19 | 16 | 13 | 10 | 13 | 19 | 8 | 98 |
| Classic Pools of Naples | 26 | 7 | 23 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 3 | 92 |
| Celebrity Pool and Spa | 19 | 18 | 22 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 89 |
| Aquatic Architechs of SWFL | 5 | 8 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 48 |
| Rock Star Pools and Waterfalls | 5 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 15 | 6 | 45 |
| JPG Pools | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 31 |
Longevity is measurable. Quality is not.
A smaller group has stayed consistently active.
These 22 contractors maintained at least a minimum level of permit activity through the boom, the contraction and the beginning of the 2026 rebound.
That does not make them the “best” contractors.
Permit volume measures activity and persistence not craftsmanship, customer service or whether a contractor is the right fit for a specific homeowner.
The homeowner takeaway
Public permit history adds a different kind of context: how long has a contractor actually been active, and how consistently have they continued pulling permits through changing market conditions?