Why We Heated the Pool: The Honest Story Behind a Quiet Year of Renovation

When we bought 318 Sundial Street in June 2025, the listing photos showed the building, the four suites, and a small concrete patio. No pool. The previous owner had filled in an old pool years ago.

Inside of a month we knew we had to build one back.

The math we did first

Pools are expensive. The estimate was $87,000 for the install, plus permitting, plus the heater, plus the ongoing chemical and maintenance contract. That is not a small line item for a 4-unit property. We could have skipped it and charged the same nightly rate. Plenty of West End rentals do.

Here is why we did not.

The PCB short-term-rental market is brutally competitive. Every property has Gulf access. Every property has beach gear. Every property has WiFi. The differentiator between “a place to stay in PCB” and “the place we want to come back to next year” is the experience around the beach, not the beach itself.

A heated pool means: kids who got too much sun can swim in the shade. Adults who are not ready to drive home at 5 PM can keep the day going at the property. October-to-April guests can still swim. November bookings stop feeling like consolation prizes. Reviews mention “and the pool was warm” 60 percent of the time, based on the unit we ran on Airbnb the prior summer (it had a non-heated community pool).

It pencils out across enough nights. Not in year one. By year three, the math is clearly in favor of having it.

The permitting story

Bay County permits residential pools quickly. They are used to it. Bay County permits commercial pools at vacation rentals… less quickly. Our property is technically a vacation rental, technically commercial under some readings, technically residential under others.

The permit application was straightforward and the permit number is 202502028 if you ever want to verify it. The wait was three months from submission to approved. We started digging in November 2025.

The hard part was the fence. Bay County requires a 4-foot perimeter fence around any pool in a commercial setting. We wanted the fence to not look like a fence. The pool sits in the middle of the property and the suites face it; we did not want our guests looking at chain link from their balconies. We ended up with a powder-coated black aluminum picket fence that looks like a property line, not a barrier. Self-closing gates with magnetic latches.

What we picked, and why

Size: 12 by 24 feet. Big enough for 6 to 8 swimmers without feeling crowded. Small enough that the heater could keep it at 84 degrees in January without a $400 monthly gas bill.

Depth: 3.5 feet across. Same depth throughout. No diving end. This is intentional. Diving pools are an insurance and liability mess in a short-term rental, and kids need a “they can stand up” floor.

Heater: natural gas, 400,000 BTU. Heats faster than a heat pump in winter, keeps up year-round. Operating cost in January is about $120 to $180 a month. In summer, the heater stays off most days.

Surface: pebble-aggregate. Easier on feet than tile, better grip than smooth plaster, doesn’t show every leaf overnight.

Lighting: warm-white LEDs. Not the disco color-changing kind. The pool is open until 10 PM and we wanted it to feel like a Florida resort pool at dusk, not a club.

Deck: travertine pavers. Stays cooler underfoot in summer than concrete. Cleaner look than stamped concrete. Splits the difference between premium and overbuilt.

The day it was placed in service

January 22, 2026. We put the pool into service that day, which means we started the legal clock for the Florida vacation-rental designation, the insurance binders, and (the part we cared about) the Reanna’s-day-off math. From that day forward, the property was four functional units with a pool. The renovation phase of Sundial was substantially complete.

We took a photograph that morning. Reanna and the kids and the dog, all on the pool deck, before any guest had ever been in it. That photo is in our welcome book on every kitchen counter.

What changed after

Three months in, the reviews almost all mention the pool. The reviews from non-pool seasons (December, February) also mention the pool. People plan their day around it. Kids spend two to three hours per stay in it. Adults sit on the deck with coffee.

The pool was the thing we did not have to build. We built it because we picked everything in these suites ourselves, and the suites included a pool.

That is what differentiates a hotel from a place. The pool is one of the answers.

If you stay with us, the practical details

• Pool is heated to about 84 degrees year-round.
• Open 8 AM to 10 PM. has a brief cleaning window mid-week.
• Pool towels in the closet of every suite.
• Lounge chairs and side tables on deck. Umbrellas if you want shade.
• No glass on the deck. Bring drinks in a koozie or plastic cup.
• Children under 12 must have an adult on deck. That is a Florida law thing, not a Sundial rule.

We love that we built it. If you are considering a stay in November to February when most Gulf rentals tell you the pool is closed, this is the one that is not.