DIY pool resurfacing vs. a contractor

What decides whether resurfacing is a job to hire out or take on yourself: what the work requires, what licensing and warranty cover, and what a mistake costs.

Every other guide on this site assumes you are hiring a contractor to resurface your pool. Some homeowners, especially ones who already handle their own pool maintenance or built the pool themselves, wonder whether part or all of that job is something they could take on directly instead.

This page does not try to price that decision. See pool resurfacing cost for the published national figures if that is what you are after. What follows is what actually changes, in practical terms, depending on who does the work.

What the job actually requires

The full sequence, set out in how to replaster a pool, step by step, runs to eight stages, from draining the pool through a multi-day start-up chemical balance once the new finish is in. Two of those stages assume equipment most homeowners do not own: mechanical chipping or hydroblasting gear to strip the old surface, and a spray rig to apply the new one.

Application day itself is not solo work either. What pool plaster day looks like, a video account from an owner-builder project, shows two crews working the pool in sequence: one spraying material onto the walls and floor, a second following immediately behind to trowel, compact and smooth it before it sets. Even on that project, narrated by the person running it, the finish itself was applied by a professional plaster crew, not the owner.

Licensing applies to contractors, not to you

How to choose a resurfacing contractor covers the trade-licensing side of hiring: pool work is a licensed trade in many states, and a contractor's status is often public record. That only matters if you are hiring someone. Doing the work yourself removes the question, and whatever protection a licensing board offers a customer along with it.

What the manufacturer's warranty assumes

A resurfacing job carries two separate warranties in principle: the finish manufacturer's material warranty, and whatever workmanship guarantee a contractor backs their own labor with. This site has not found a reliable source for typical contractor workmanship terms across the industry, so treat that half as a specific question to put to any contractor and get in writing; see how to choose a resurfacing contractor, linked above, for the fuller quote checklist.

The material side is more concrete, at least for one real manufacturer. SGM's own limited-warranty document for its pool-finish product lines states plainly that the warranty "shall not cover damages due to faulty workmanship," and separately that it "is not valid unless the applicator has been paid in full." That second condition is written around a paid third party doing the installation. It does not say anything about a self-installed finish one way or the other, so if you are supplying and applying the material yourself, that is a specific question for the manufacturer, in writing, before you buy it.

Source: SGM, Inc., Pool and Spa Finish Warranty Terms

Time, and what a missed step costs

Angi's own resurfacing guide puts a typical professional job at "five to seven days" to complete. That figure assumes the equipment, crew and sequence described above. There is no equivalent published timeframe for doing it alone, and the individual stages, stripping the old surface, then applying and curing the new one, are not ones a solo homeowner can safely compress just by working through them faster.

The stakes of a mistake are also asymmetric. Surface preparation is the stage most worth not rushing, as how to replaster a pool, step by step sets out, and the video account above shows how easily a still-curing finish is damaged, even by something as small as a footstep. A contractor who gets that wrong usually has a written warranty and a business reputation on the line to fix it. If you get it wrong doing it yourself, the redo, and its cost, is entirely yours, on top of whatever the first attempt already cost.

Source: Angi, 7 Essential Swimming Pool Resurfacing Tips, updated 2026

Which fits whom

Factor	Hiring a contractor	Doing it yourself
Equipment	Chipping or hydroblasting gear and a spray rig, supplied as part of the job	You source and operate specialised equipment yourself
Crew	A coordinated multi-person crew for application day	You are working solo, or assembling your own crew
Licensing check	Often checkable against a state licensing board	Does not apply, since you are not hiring anyone
Manufacturer material warranty	Applies as the manufacturer wrote it	May depend on who installs it; a specific question for the manufacturer, in writing
Contractor workmanship guarantee	A separate guarantee from the contractor; get its length and exclusions in writing	None, since there is no contractor
If the surface fails early	Warranty and reputation are the contractor's problem first	The redo, and its cost, is entirely yours

Qualitative comparison only. For published dollar figures, see pool resurfacing cost, linked above.

The bottom line

For most homeowners, the honest answer sits with hiring. Full resurfacing, stripping the old surface off and troweling a new finish on within its working window, is built around a paid applicator at every level covered above: the equipment, the crew, and the warranty terms.

If you still want to take on part of the job yourself, put the warranty question to the finish manufacturer in writing first, and use how to choose a resurfacing contractor to vet whoever handles the rest.