Permit values
Pool construction cost in Tampa Bay
Declared value is what the contractor reported to the building department, which is what the permit fee is calculated from. It is usually the contract value excluding tax, and it runs below a retail quote. Treat it as the floor of the market, not the price. Why the permit and the quote disagree.
What the spread looks like
Every valued permit in the window, grouped by declared value. The last bar holds everything above the 95th percentile, so one unusually large job does not flatten the rest.
By city
| City | Permits | Median | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tampa | 68 | $69,230 | $35,000 – $99,999 |
| Riverview | 42 | $78,950 | $42,344 – $94,651 |
| Apollo Beach | 42 | $100,356 | $73,220 – $130,233 |
Month by month
| Month | Permits valued | Median |
|---|---|---|
| August 2026 | 110 | $91,715 |
| September 2026 | 108 | $89,505 |
| October 2026 | 101 | $75,000 |
Complete calendar months only. The current month is left out until it ends.
Method
Permit Dawn reads the building departments in Hillsborough County issued building permits (Tampa, Brandon, Riverview, Plant City) and City of Lakeland permits with applicant names and typed roof, pool and solar permits. every night and keeps every residential permit they publish. This page counts the pools & spas permits issued in August 2026, September 2026, October 2026 — 319 of them, 319 carrying a declared value (100%). Duplicates and permits a city later re-published are excluded, along with values below $500 and above $2,000,000, which are placeholders rather than jobs. Medians and quartiles, not averages: a handful of very large jobs would drag a mean somewhere no homeowner would recognise.