Shade where you need it, at the hour you actually need it.
Pool Shade Structures Across Georgia
A shade structure is anything built to put a patch of shade where you want to sit: fabric on posts, an open slatted frame, a solid roof, or a post-and-beam structure beside the pool. What separates one that works from one that photographs well is not the structure. It is where the sun is at the hour you want to be outside, and that gets decided by standing in the yard rather than by choosing from a catalog.
Aqualis Pools also takes on projects across Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Stay Cool While Enhancing Your Space
What a Shade Structure Is, and What It Is Not
Shade structure is a category rather than a product, so the useful question is which one, and they are not interchangeable.
Fabric on posts sits at the low-cost end of the category. It covers a wide area, it blocks sun and not rain, and in wind it behaves like what it is, a sail, which is why the posts and the footings under them are the part that matters.
An open slatted frame filters sun rather than removing it. It keeps the space light and it will not keep a table dry, which is the trade a pergola makes on purpose.
A solid roof is the version you can sit under while it is raining. It costs more, because a roof is a roof and it needs footings, drainage and usually permitting, and it makes the space beneath it noticeably darker. That is a pavilion, and it is a different product with a different price.
A cantilever umbrella is not a structure at all, and for one table on a patio it is often the sensible answer. It moves, it folds away in October, and it costs a fraction of anything built. If that is what your situation calls for, we would rather tell you that than sell you a frame you do not need.
Where the Sun Is at Five O'Clock
Shade is geometry. Everything else on this page follows from that, and it is the part that gets settled by looking rather than by choosing.
Overhead shade works when the sun is high. In summer the sun runs close to overhead through the middle of the day, so a roof, a sail or a slatted frame placed over a seating area does its job from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. That is the easy case, and it is the case every photograph is taken in.
The hours people actually complain about are not those hours. Late afternoon sun is low and it arrives sideways, underneath anything overhead, which is why a west-facing patio with a structure over it is still in full sun at five o’clock. Fixing that is a question of position rather than product: the shade has to sit between the sun and the seat, which means to the west of it rather than above it, or the structure needs something vertical on that side.
In winter the sun sits low in the southern sky all day, so a structure sized for July shade takes light off the back of the house in January as well. Whether that matters depends on whether you use the space in cool weather, and it is worth thinking about before the position is fixed rather than after.
So the first question is not what to build. It is which hour, on which side of the house, is the problem. Go and stand out there at that hour. It takes five minutes and it costs nothing.
Shading the Deck and Shading the Water Are Two Different Decisions
Around a pool there are two separate things you might be putting in shade, and they get talked about as though they were one.
Shade over the seating. Somewhere out of the sun to eat, to sit with a drink, to put children who have had enough of it. It goes over the deck, and where the deck is being built or replaced at the same time, the posts, the footings and the falls in the paving are one job instead of three. Pool decking is the surface those footings have to land in, and cutting into finished paving later is the expensive way round.
Shade over the water. A different decision with a consequence attached. Less sun on the water means less of the free heat the water was getting from it, which matters if the pool is unheated or if you are trying to stretch the season at either end. Some people want the water shaded. Others want the deck shaded and the water left in the sun. It is worth deciding on purpose rather than discovering in September.
And one more thing worth saying plainly. The CDC’s guidance on sun safety is that UV reflects off surfaces including water and cement, and that sunscreen and covering up are still worth it even in the shade. A pool deck is water and cement. So a structure beside a pool makes the afternoon bearable and reduces the direct sun you are sitting in, and it is not the same as being indoors. Comfort first, sun protection second, and sunscreen either way.
Decisions Made Before Anything Is Poured
Attached or freestanding. Against the house it extends the building, shades the back doors and takes its design cues from the existing roof line. Standing on its own it can go exactly where the sun problem is, which is the whole point of the previous section, and it carries all of its own structure.
Fixed or adjustable. A fixed cover is shade in October as well as July. Slats, fabric that comes down for the winter and adjustable systems all exist for that reason and all cost more than fixed, because there are either moving parts or a seasonal job. Which way you go depends on whether you use the space in cool weather.
What it is made of. Wood reads warm and needs maintaining. Steel and aluminum can span further with less material in the way, so they take less light out of the space and ask less of you over time. Fabric covers a wide area cheaply and gets replaced rather than maintained. There is no single right answer here, only which trade you would rather make.
Footings, and what the wind does. Every structure in this category is a horizontal surface held up on posts, so the load that decides the footings is wind rather than weight, and fabric is the extreme case because a sail is a sail. That load goes into the posts, the fixings and the ground, which is why the groundwork under a shade structure costs what it does. Where it sits on ground being built anyway, the hardscaping and the footings are one visit instead of two.
What hangs from it, and what runs to it. A fan under a shade structure does more than it looks like it will, because still air under a cover is not the same as moving air. Overhead light changes how the space gets used after dark, and it is worth planning alongside pool lighting rather than after it. Wiring is straightforward before the structure is finished and awkward afterwards.
If it is going over a raised deck. On a custom deck, posts normally carry down through the framing to their own footings rather than bearing on the deck itself, and that is designed in at framing rather than added later.
If a grill is going under it. An outdoor kitchen under any solid cover raises clearance and where the smoke goes as real questions, and both get answered at the drawing stage rather than on site.
What Pool Shade Costs
Span and material are where the money goes. A wider clear area underneath needs more structure above it, and a built frame costs more than fabric covering the same footprint.
What else moves the number: attached or freestanding, how much groundwork the footings need, whether anything adjustable or motorized is involved, whether power is being run for fans and light, and whether the surface underneath is going in at the same time. That last one is the difference between one crew and two visits.
Where shade is part of a larger backyard project, pool financing options apply to it the same way they apply to the pool itself.
What Our Clients Say
Aqualis Pools is rated 5.0 on Google, from a small number of reviews, and every one of them can be read on the profile.
Adding Shade to a Pool You Already Have
Where the pool and the deck are already in, this is a retrofit, and a retrofit has one cost a new build does not: the posts have to land somewhere, so the paving gets cut and reinstated where the footings go. If the surface is due to be replaced or resurfaced anyway, doing both in one visit saves paying for that cut twice.
Before any of it, measure the shade you already have. The house throws shade at some hour, and so does anything mature growing near the deck. Sometimes the answer is a smaller structure in a different place, and sometimes it is moving the table eight feet. We will say so if that is what we find.
Where a shade structure is one piece of a bigger backyard, the order things get built in matters more than any single choice in it, and that sequencing is set out on our outdoor living page.
Pool Shade Structures Across Georgia
We design and build shade structures for homeowners in Lawrenceville, Buford, Loganville, Athens, Auburn and nearby Georgia communities. The full list is on our service areas page, and finished work is in the gallery.
Frequently Asked Questions
Work backwards from two answers rather than forwards from a product. Which hour of the day is the problem, and do you need it to keep rain off or only sun? If rain matters, you want a solid roof. If it is sun in the middle of the day over a seating area, an open slatted frame or fabric on posts will both do it, and fabric will cover a wider area for less. If the problem is low sun late in the afternoon, no overhead cover fixes it on its own and the answer is about position instead.
Neither is better in general, and they answer different questions. Fabric covers a wide area for less money and blocks sun but not rain. A solid roof lets you sit out in a storm, costs more, and darkens the space under it. The pool-specific part is that shading the water reduces the sun the water gets, which matters if the pool is unheated, so decide whether you are shading the deck, the water, or both before you choose the cover.
Not on its own. Late in the day the sun is low and comes in from the side, underneath anything built overhead, so a cover above the seating leaves you in full sun at the hour you wanted it most. What works is putting the shade between the sun and the seat, which means positioning the structure to the west of where you sit, or adding a vertical element on that side. It is a positioning decision, it is made before anything is drawn, and it cannot be fixed afterwards without moving the posts.
It reduces the direct sun you are sitting in, which is worth having. It is not full protection, and around a pool that matters more than usual: the CDC’s guidance is that UV reflects off surfaces including water and cement, and that sunscreen and covering up are still worth it even when you are in the shade. A pool deck is both of those surfaces. Treat the structure as comfort first and sun protection second.
Footings, yes. The load that matters on a structure like this is wind rather than weight, because it is a horizontal surface on posts, and fabric is the extreme case since a sail catches wind by design. That load goes into the posts and into the ground, so the groundwork is not the part to save money on. Permitting depends on the size, the type and where it sits, and it is a question for the design stage rather than something to discover during the build.
It depends on the span, the material, how much groundwork the footings need, and whether the structure is going up on its own or as part of a larger build.
Start Planning Your Shade Structure
Two answers get this priced quickly. Which hour of the day is the problem, and which side of the house is the sun on at that hour? And does it need to keep rain off, or only sun? The first decides where the structure goes, which is what makes it work at all. The second decides what it is, which is what sets the price.
Call (770) 373-8405 with those two answers, or send us a message and we will come back with something specific rather than a brochure.