Service area · Pittsburg County
B Cool Pools installs Latham fiberglass pools in McAlester, Oklahoma — family-owned, five years of pools on top of twenty in excavation, and a lifetime warranty on every shell. Roughly 85 minutes from our shop in Seminole.
McAlester grew from a store James J. McAlester opened in 1869 at the crossing of the Texas Road and the California Road, and expanded after the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway arrived in 1872. Commercial coal mining began in 1875 and drew a large immigrant workforce, primarily Italian but also British, German, French and Eastern European, so that by 1900 roughly a quarter of residents were foreign-born; the separate towns of North and South McAlester were combined into one municipality in 1907. Today the two dominant employers are the Oklahoma State Penitentiary and the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, the latter built as a Naval Ammunition Depot during World War II and transferred to the Army in 1977.
We know the area. Here's what's nearby — and yes, a few of these are also good places to stop on the drive home from a job.
Areas we've worked in: North McAlester (North Town) · South McAlester
Two things decide how a fiberglass install actually goes in your yard — what's under the grass, and who signs off on it. Here's the local picture.
Soil & excavation
Loams and silt loams with dense clayey subsoils over sandstone and shale; shallow rocky units on the ridges
USDA soil map units for Pittsburg County are dominated by Bates fine sandy loam, Dennis loam, Choteau loam, and Parsons and Taloka silt loams, the latter two being claypan soils with dense, slowly permeable clayey subsoils. Clayey units include Enders, Eram clay loam and Summit silty clay loam. Shallow and rocky units are common on the ridges of the Ouachita foothills, including the Hector-Hartsells, Enders-Hector, Talihina-Collinsville and Talpa-Rock outcrop complexes, where sandstone or shale bedrock is at or near the surface - a genuine excavation consideration. The survey also maps 'Mine Pits and Dumps,' reflecting the county's coal-mining history, which is worth flagging on older parcels.
Permits
City of McAlester Community Development Department, 28 E. Washington Ave. (P.O. Box 578), McAlester, OK 74502
Swimming pools are explicitly listed among the structures requiring a building permit. Published residential building permit fees are $0.17 per square foot with a $30.00 minimum (commercial $0.17/sq ft, $40.00 minimum); separate electrical, plumbing and mechanical trade fees apply. Fences seven feet and over require a permit; fences under seven feet do not, and no fence may extend beyond the property line. Contacts: Permit & License Technician ext. 4960; Building Official ext. 4981/4985. The city page does not state which model code edition has been adopted and does not publish a pool-specific barrier height; confirm with the Building Official before citing a barrier requirement.
We pull the permits ourselves — you don't chase paperwork.
Local
McAlester Public Schools
Population about 18,108 (2024).
Honest, all-in installed price ranges for central Oklahoma. Every yard is different — excavation, decking, electrical, and travel move the number — but these ranges track the jobs we've closed across the region.
Small / plunge
$45k – $60k
Compact backyards, plunge & tanning-ledge shells.
Family (most common)
$60k – $85k
Mid-size family pools, the heart of our installs.
Large / entertainer
$85k – $110k+
Big entertainers, spa-combos, and loaded add-ons.
Estimates only. Soil, access, decking, fencing, and permit costs in Pittsburg County all affect the final number. We measure for free and give you a hard, line-itemed quote.
We talk through your yard, your budget, and which Latham model fits. Free, no pressure.
We pull the permits, mark utilities, and schedule the dig around Oklahoma weather.
The Latham shell arrives and is set in a single day. Plumbing, backfill, and leveling follow.
Decking, equipment pad, and fill. We walk you through care and file the warranty paperwork.
Yard sizes vary, but these come up most often in McAlester. Browse the full Latham lineup — sixty-plus models — if you'd rather start wide.