Service area · Pottawatomie County
B Cool Pools installs Latham fiberglass pools in Shawnee, Oklahoma — family-owned, five years of pools on top of twenty in excavation, and a lifetime warranty on every shell. Roughly 25 minutes from our shop in Seminole.
Shawnee is the county seat of Pottawatomie County, sitting on I-40 just under 40 miles east of downtown Oklahoma City. It is home to Oklahoma Baptist University (founded 1910, enrollment 1,514 in fall 2023) and was home to St. Gregory's University until it closed at the end of the fall 2017 semester, though St. Gregory's Abbey remains on the former campus. The Citizen Potawatomi Nation is headquartered in Shawnee at 1601 Gordon Cooper Drive and represents more than 38,000 tribal members, operating FireLake enterprises and the Grand Casino Hotel & Resort; the Absentee Shawnee Tribe also maintains its main offices in Shawnee. Other long-standing economic anchors include Shawnee Milling Company, which traces to the Shawnee Roller Mills of about 1891, and Gordon Cooper Technology Center, founded in 1969 at I-40 and State Highway 18.
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: Bell Street Historic District
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
Sandy loam over red clayey subsoil (Cross Timbers), with significant clayey, shrink-swell areas
Per USDA SSURGO for Pottawatomie County (OK125), the most extensive major soil components are Stephenville (15.9%), Grainola (12.3%), Littleaxe (10.1%), Konawa (6.8%), Port (5.7%) and Aydelotte (5.7%). Stephenville, Littleaxe and Konawa are well-drained fine-loamy Ultic Haplustalfs - surface horizons run about 9-15% clay and 55-85% sand (fine sandy loam to loamy fine sand) over red clayey Bt subsoils of 26-30% clay, with low shrink-swell (linear extensibility 0.5-3.3). Grainola is the notable excavation risk: a fine, clayey Udertic Haplustalf with about 31% clay at the surface rising to 47.5% clay in the Bt and linear extensibility up to 7.5, i.e. genuinely expansive clay. Paralithic (soft, weathered Permian sandstone) bedrock is recorded in 18 major components at an average depth of about 41 inches, ranging from 16 to 59 inches, so shallow sandstone can be hit within normal pool excavation depth.
Permits
City of Shawnee - Building Inspections Division, Building & Engineering Services Department, City Hall, 16 West 9th Street, Shawnee, OK (405-878-1666; cosinspections@shawneeok.org)
A separate Pool permit is required. Per Code of Ordinances Sec. 7-32(a)(7) the swimming pool permit fee is $60.00, plus a $4.00 Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission fee and a $0.50 processing fee under Sec. 7-32(a)(12). Sec. 7-32 (IBC amendments, Section 109.2(a)(7)) states the permit 'is required for both in-ground and above-ground pools with a diameter greater than ten feet and a water depth greater than 40 inches.' Building work without a permit triples the fee (Sec. 7-32(a)(10)); re-inspection for defective work is $25 first / $50 subsequent (Sec. 7-32(a)(11)). BARRIER RULE: Chapter 7, Article XI applies - Sec. 7-553 requires all private outdoor pools to be enclosed by a substantial fence not less than 48 inches high, constructed to prevent access beneath or through it, with a similarly substantial gate of the same height that can be locked; Sec. 7-554 requires the gate to be kept closed and locked except for ingress and egress. Sec. 7-551 defines a covered pool as any in-ground pool more than 18 inches deep, and ALL above-ground pools. Shawnee adopted the 2018 IBC/IRC and the 2020 NEC by Ordinance 2777NS on 2-21-2023, so pool equipotential bonding follows NEC Article 680 with no local amendment; electrical permits are issued only to licensed electrical contractors and the electrical application carries a separate 'Swimming Pool Bond $50.00' line item. CAUTION: the Pool application PDF link on the city's permits page is currently broken (404) - request the form directly. The fee schedule does not say whether the 25% plan-check fee (Sec. 7-32(a)(4)) applies to pool permits, so confirm the all-in total.
We pull the permits ourselves — you don't chase paperwork.
Local
Shawnee Public Schools
Population about 32,092 (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 Pottawatomie 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 Shawnee. Browse the full Latham lineup — sixty-plus models — if you'd rather start wide.
NOAA 1991-2020 climate normals at the Shawnee 3NNW Mesonet station (USC00348124): average highs of 77.9F in May, 87.7F in June, 92.6F in July, 92.4F in August and 84.5F in September, giving a comfortable outdoor swim season of roughly late May through mid-September; the January average low is 29.3F. Shawnee also has the longest freeze-free season of the twelve towns at 221 days (median last spring 32F freeze March 30, median first fall 32F freeze November 5). Annual precipitation normal at the Shawnee COOP station (USC00348110) is about 40.3 inches, wettest in May (5.73 in) and June (5.30 in). FROST LINE: Shawnee's adopted frost line depth is 18 inches, inserted into IRC Table R301.2(1) by Code Sec. 7-462 (Ord. 2777NS, 2-21-2023), which also sets ground snow load 10 psf, wind speed 115 mph, seismic design category B, weathering moderate, winter design temp 13F, air freezing index 329 and mean annual temp 60.5F. Shawnee is the ONLY town in this file with a verified local frost line figure. Severe weather is a real design consideration: NWS Norman rated the April 19, 2023 Shawnee tornado EF2 with estimated peak winds of 130-135 mph, a 15.5-mile path and a maximum width of 2,300 yards, tracking from 3 SE of Bethel Acres through Shawnee to 2 NNW of Aydelotte; the same outbreak produced hail of 1 to 3 inches in diameter. The November 5, 2011 magnitude 5.7 earthquake, the most powerful recorded in Oklahoma until 2016, structurally damaged a building at St. Gregory's University in Shawnee, collapsing one turret. WATER - GENUINELY LOCAL AND USEFUL: under Code Sec. 26-104, a customer filling a pool from the house hydrant pays the normal water rate but the sewer rate is adjusted for the fill; filling from a fire hydrant is billed at the bulk water rate. Under the city's drought management plan (Sec. 26-67), Level 3 and Level 4 mandatory restrictions - triggered by Shawnee Twin Lakes elevation thresholds - forbid refilling or adding water to private swimming pools and prohibit filling outdoor and indoor pools and hot tubs.