Regular pool care through the season, a green pool to bring back before guests arrive, or a pump that has started making a noise it did not make last year. Tell us the size of the pool, how it is treated and how often you want it visited, and you get a free quote with the visit contents written down.
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In 2026, Handyman Algarve quotes pool maintenance and repair in the Algarve for free, in English or Portuguese, including covers, pool heat pumps and relining, and says exactly what each visit or job includes. Pool maintenance keeps the water balanced, the filtration working and the surfaces clean, on a weekly round in season and roughly fortnightly in winter. It also covers repairs: pumps, filters, salt cells, timers and pipework.
Algarve pools work harder than the manuals assume. Water temperatures in July and August let algae establish in a couple of days rather than a couple of weeks, so a chlorinator that stops dosing on a Monday shows up as a cloudy pool by Thursday. How hard the mains water used for topping up is depends on the supply zone and the quarter, and the published Algarve figures run from 30 mg/L in Portimão in the first quarter of 2026 to 270 mg/L in Albufeira's groundwater zone in the second quarter of 2025, so calcium on the waterline and scale inside a salt cell is a real problem on some supplies and barely a factor on others. Saharan dust episodes drop a fine film across the surface that goes straight through a skimmer basket and into the filter. And in a rented villa the bathing load arrives in concentrated bursts, so the same pool that was stable all June is fighting sun cream and shampoo for the whole of August.
As of 2026, a new pool costs the sum of the lines of one job, so it is quoted for its own site rather than read from a list: two pools of the same size can sit on different ground, behind different gates, with different equipment. A figure borrowed from another pool misleads, because these lines are what set it:
It depends on the site, and no single line is the largest for every pool. The excavation can dominate where rock has to be broken out rather than dug, the access where machines cannot reach the garden and smaller ones take longer, and the shell type through how much of the pool is built on site and how much arrives finished. A quote that prices each line separately shows which one dominates for a given pool.
Yes, and the condition of the shell decides how far the work can go. A sound concrete shell can be relined with a reinforced PVC membrane, a polyester mesh between layers of PVC, welded on site into a watertight lining, or stripped and retiled; the coping can be replaced with a new edge; and the filter, the pump, the chlorination, the lighting and any heating can be renewed in the plant room. A shell that is cracked or moving is repaired first, or in some cases rebuilt, because a new finish is only as sound as the structure under it.
It depends on what is there now, so the answer comes from the pool rather than from a list of finishes. What moves the price of resurfacing is the area of the floor and walls; the shape, the steps and any Roman end; what happens to the old surface, tiles left as a base or an old liner taken out; the repairs the shell needs before anything new goes on; the details around the skimmers, the return nozzles, the lights and the main drain; and emptying and refilling the pool. A quote that names the finish, the preparation and each of those details lets two options be compared line by line.
Emptying is decided by whoever does the job, not done on a timer, because an empty shell can be lifted or cracked by the pressure of the groundwater around it, and the power to the pool is cut at the board and confirmed off before any light or fitting comes out. Where the emptied water may go is a question for the câmara and the water supplier.
For a pool in Portugal, building control runs under a national law, the RJUE, through the câmara municipal, the municipal council; property tax runs under another, the Código do IMI, through the Autoridade Tributária, the tax authority; and some câmaras add rules of their own on water supply and on pool safety, set out in the two panels at the end of this section.
Since 2 March 2008, Portugal's building-control law, the RJUE (Decreto-Lei n.º 555/99), has listed "a edificação de piscinas associadas a edificação principal", building a pool attached to a main building, among the works subject to comunicação prévia, a prior communication filed with the câmara municipal (article 4.º n.º 4 j), its lettering since Decreto-Lei n.º 10/2024). Since 1 October 2026 the RJUE is in force in the wording republished by Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026, and that alínea keeps the same words.
The same law lists, among works of minor urban relevance that need neither a licence nor a comunicação prévia, "equipamento lúdico ou de lazer associado a edificação principal com área inferior à desta última", leisure equipment attached to a main building and smaller than it (article 6.º-A n.º 1 e)); that item does not apply to buildings that are classified or being classified, to buildings in their protection zones, or to buildings within an ensemble or site that is classified or being classified (article 6.º-A n.º 2). Which of these applies to a given pool is for the câmara municipal to decide, so the câmara is the place to ask before building.
The RJUE's start-of-works information reaches the câmara municipal at least five days before work starts and names whoever will carry out the work; since 1 October 2026 it expressly includes works exempt from a licence or a comunicação prévia, and since the same date the owner or the works director also posts a notice at the site, visible from the public road, at least five days before work starts (article 80.º-A n.os 1 and 5, in the wording republished by Decreto-Lei n.º 108/2026). Portaria n.º 320/2026/1 of 31 July 2026, in force since 1 October 2026, approves the national form for that information and revised site-notice models.
When works were carried out without the licence or comunicação prévia they needed and can be brought into line with the rules in force, the RJUE has the câmara municipal notify the people concerned to legalise them within a set period; anyone seeking a legalisation may ask the câmara how it will proceed, and the câmara answers within 15 days. Each municipality regulates the procedure, and in some cases the câmara can legalise on its own initiative (RJUE article 102.º-A, in the wording in force since 1 October 2026, whose words on these points have been in force since 2015). Legalisation is possible only where conformity with the rules in force can be ensured.
Portugal's property-tax code, the Código do IMI, lists an individual pool ("piscina individual") among the quality-and-comfort elements of a home, with a coefficient of 0.06; a collective pool ("piscina coletiva") counts 0.03 (article 43.º, Table I, in the wording of Decreto-Lei n.º 41/2016; checked on 1 October 2026). For this purpose the code calls a pool any water tank or reservoir for swimming that has water circulation and filtration equipment (article 43.º n.º 2 f)).
The quality-and-comfort coefficient starts at 1, adds and subtracts the listed elements and stays between 0.5 and 1.7, and it is one of six factors multiplied together to give the valor patrimonial tributário, the taxable value, of an urban building (articles 38.º and 43.º); the code also counts pools, with gardens and yards, as part of a property's free land, which counts in the area factor of the same formula (article 40.º n.º 4). Whether a particular pool counts, and as which element, is decided in the Autoridade Tributária's evaluation of the property.
The code has the property register updated on the taxpayer's declaration, made within 60 days of the completion of building or improvement works, or other alterations, that may change the property's taxable value (Código do IMI, article 13.º n.º 1 d)); the Autoridade Tributária calls it the Modelo 1 declaration and accepts it online or at a tax office. IMI is due from the year in which such works were completed (article 9.º n.º 1 c)). Building control (the câmara, under the RJUE) and the property-tax declaration (the Autoridade Tributária, under the Código do IMI) are set by different laws.
Each municipality sets its IMI rate for urban property every year, between 0.3% and 0.45% of the taxable value, and a municipality under a financial support programme can go to 0.5% (article 112.º). As an illustration of the formula only: if nothing else in an evaluation changed, adding 0.06 to a coefficient of exactly 1.00 would raise the taxable value by 6%. Real evaluations are dated to the request and look at the whole property, and the tax also depends on the municipal rate and on any municipal deduction, so this is not an estimate for any home (Código do IMI, articles 37.º n.º 4, 38.º, 43.º, 112.º and 112.º-A).
Yes, when the cover is chosen for what the pool needs. A cover on the water keeps out leaves, dust and insects, cuts the water lost to evaporation and the heat the pool gives off overnight, and keeps the chemistry steadier, because less sunlight reaches the chlorine and less debris uses it up. What a particular cover does beyond that, and whether it does anything for safety, depends on its type. Five types of pool cover compared:
| What it is, and how it comes off | What it keeps out, and whether it keeps heat in | Designed to carry weight? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bubble or solar cover | A floating sheet of plastic bubbles, rolled off by hand or onto a reel at the end of the pool | Leaves and dust; it keeps heat in by cutting evaporation and the loss overnight | No |
| Winter cover | A sheet fixed over the pool for the months it is closed, then unfixed, cleaned and folded away | Leaves, dust and light; heat is not its job, because it covers a pool nobody is using | No |
| Safety cover | A cover built and fixed to stop a child falling in, which an adult unfastens before anyone swims | Leaves and dust; how much heat it keeps in depends on the model | Yes: bearing an adult walking across it is part of what makes it a safety cover |
| Automatic slatted cover | Linked slats that float on the water and roll onto a drum at one end, driven by a motor | Leaves and dust, and it keeps heat in while it is closed | Only if its maker designs it as a safety cover |
| Telescopic enclosure | A shelter of frames that slide over one another on rails, opened section by section | Leaves, dust and rain, and it keeps heat in while it is closed | No: it stands over the water and is not walked on |
Only a cover designed as a safety cover is made to stop a child falling in and to bear an adult's weight. In Lagos's 2010 pool-safety annex, the annex the municipal regulation asks applicants to observe "as far as possible", a safety cover is one built or installed to prevent the involuntary immersion of a child under five and to withstand an adult walking across it (Anexo VII, Edital n.º 398/2010, article 11.º).
A bubble cover or a winter cover is not a barrier and will not hold a person, so nobody walks on a cover that is not designed to carry weight, and no cover is a reason to leave children unsupervised. A pool with its cover partly on is the dangerous state, because the cover hides the water under it. Water ponding on top of any cover is pumped or swept off, because a child can drown in a few centimetres of water.
At a house used part of the year, a cover earns its place. In the 2021 census, 151,269 of the Algarve region's 391,416 classic dwellings, 38.6%, were second homes or in seasonal use (INE, Censos 2021, quadro Q304). A pool left for weeks between stays wants a cover that stays on and keeps light, leaves and dust out; a pool swum in every day wants one that is quick to take off and put back. Either way, the cover does not replace the visits: the water under it still needs its filtration and its chemistry.
Loulé's building regulation also asks that pools over 150 m³ that need heated water use solar collectors or equivalent technology where economically viable, plus thermal covers to limit heat and evaporation losses (Regulamento n.º 884/2024, Anexo 11, 4.3; read on 1 October 2026). Which technology counts as equivalent for a given pool is for Loulé's câmara municipal to say.
Handling, storage and upkeep, plus one risk. A bubble cover comes off before every swim and goes back on after it, and has to be stored somewhere while it is off; a winter cover is fixed and unfixed at each end of the season and cleaned before it is folded away; an automatic slatted cover needs room at one end of the pool for its drum and a power supply for its motor. Rain, leaves and dust collect on top of any cover, so the cover needs clearing as well as the pool. The risk is false comfort: a cover that is not a safety cover can look like a floor, and it is not one.
A pool can be heated by keeping in the heat the sun already gives the water, by collecting more of the sun's heat, or by using electricity, either to move heat out of the air into the water or to turn the electricity itself into heat. Four ways to heat a pool, side by side:
| How it heats | What it needs | How its output behaves through the year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A cover on its own | It makes no heat of its own: it keeps in what the sun gives the water, by cutting evaporation and the loss overnight | A cover sized to the pool, taken off before swimming and put back after | It can only keep what the sun gives, so it does less as the days shorten and cool |
| Solar collectors | Panels in the sun absorb its heat, and the pool water pumped through them comes back warmer | Space in full sun for the panels, near the plant room, and pipes to and from the filtration circuit | It follows the sun: highest in summer, lowest in the short days of winter |
| A heat pump | It moves heat from the outside air into the pool water, using electricity to run a compressor and a fan | Free air around it outdoors, a firm level base near the plant room, a drain for its condensate, pipes into the filtration circuit and an electrical circuit | Its heat output falls as the air gets colder; its datasheet gives the output at stated air temperatures |
| An electric heater | An element in the water's path turns electricity straight into heat | A small space in the plant room, pipes into the filtration circuit and an electrical circuit sized for it | The same in any weather, for as long as it runs |
Heating water takes about 1.16 kWh per cubic metre for each degree Celsius at pool temperatures: that is the heat the water itself absorbs (derived from NIST reference data for water at 25 °C: 997.05 kg/m³ × 4.1813 kJ/(kg·K) ÷ 3,600), before any heat the pool loses and before the efficiency of whatever heats it. That is why the cover comes first: heat the water keeps overnight is heat that does not have to be put back.
Whether a heat pump earns its place for a particular pool, from how it is sized to its downsides, is set out in the guide to whether a heat pump is worth it for a pool. A heat pump or an electric heater draws electricity whenever it runs, so the circuit that feeds it and the house's contracted power are checked before a model is chosen, and that circuit and its protection at the board are work for an electrician.
As of 2026, regular maintenance is quoted per visit or as a monthly price for an agreed number of visits, and what moves it is pool volume, visit frequency, whether the pool is let to guests, whether chemicals are included or billed as used, and travel. Recovery of a green pool is quoted separately from a maintenance round, because it is several visits and a quantity of product, not one call. Repairs to pumps, filters, salt cells and pipework are quoted individually once the fault is identified. Building or relining a pool, fitting a cover and fitting a heat pump are each quoted as a job of their own, from photos and the pool's dimensions.
A photograph of the pool and one of the pump and filter setup make a quote firm. If the pool is on salt chlorination, say so: it changes both the products and what needs checking. See how it works for the process from request to finished job.
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Regular maintenance is normally quoted as a price per visit or a monthly price for a set number of visits, with chemicals either included or billed as used. What moves it is pool size, how often you want it visited, whether the pool is let to guests, and how far it is from the rest of that round. As of 2026, Handyman Algarve quotes pool work free and states clearly what each visit includes.
Weekly through the swimming season, and every two weeks in winter for a pool that stays filled. A pool that is let to guests needs weekly attention as a minimum and often more, because bathing load, sun cream and topping up all pull the water chemistry around faster than a private pool used at weekends. Anything less than fortnightly is how a clear pool becomes a green one.
Because the disinfection stopped keeping up with the algae, and in Algarve summer temperatures that takes days rather than weeks. The usual causes are a chlorinator or salt cell that has quietly stopped dosing, a filter that is not running long enough, pH drifting high enough to make the chlorine ineffective, or a heavy bathing load after a party. Getting it clear again is filtration and chemistry together, not a single dose.
Do the bucket test. Fill a bucket with pool water, stand it on a step so it is partly submerged, mark the level inside the bucket and on the pool wall, then leave the pool running normally for two days. If both levels drop the same, it is evaporation. If the pool drops more than the bucket, water is going somewhere else and it is worth having the pool and its pipework checked.
Testing and correcting the water chemistry, emptying skimmer and pump baskets, brushing the waterline and any algae spots, netting and vacuuming as needed, backwashing or cleaning the filter, and checking that pump, timer and any salt cell are actually doing what they should. A visit that consists only of throwing in a chlorine tablet is not a service, and it shows within a month.
Yes, at reduced hours, if it stays filled. Algarve winters are mild enough that water left completely still goes stagnant and stains, and restarting a neglected pool in spring costs far more than having kept it moving. Shorter daily filtration, a lower chemical demand and a cover if you have one is the usual winter setting, with a visit every couple of weeks to check it.
It costs the sum of the lines of one job, which is why a figure borrowed from another pool misleads. A quote adds the excavation and the access for the machines, the shell and its finish, the size, depth, shape and steps, the edge and the surround, the plant room with its filter, pump, chlorination, lighting and any heating, the electrical supply, the first fill and the paperwork for the câmara, the municipal council. As of 2026, Handyman Algarve quotes an Algarve pool job free, before any work starts.
Since 2 March 2008, the RJUE, the building-control law (Decreto-Lei n.º 555/99), has listed building a pool attached to a main building among works subject to comunicação prévia, a prior communication to the municipal council, the câmara municipal, which decides how a given pool is classified. For property tax, the Código do IMI lists an individual pool among the quality-and-comfort elements of a home, with a coefficient of 0.06 (article 43.º, checked on 1 October 2026), and the evaluation by the Autoridade Tributária decides whether a particular pool counts. Some câmaras add rules of their own, on water meters in Lagos and on pool safety in Loulé and Lagos.
Yes, when the cover suits the pool: it keeps out leaves and dust, cuts evaporation and overnight heat loss, and steadies the chemistry. Only a safety cover is designed to stop a child falling in and to carry weight; a bubble or winter cover is not a barrier, nobody walks on one, and no cover replaces supervising children. A cover left partly on hides the water and is the dangerous state, and water ponding on top is removed, as a child can drown in a few centimetres of water.