Pool removal in Los Angeles needs a grading permit from the city's Department of Building and Safety, Grading Division, and Pool Removal California found 20 businesses offering in-ground pool removal there, 9 with an active state licence. The one Los Angeles contractor that publishes prices starts at $10,500 for a partial fill-in and $17,500 for a full removal.
This directory groups Los Angeles under Los Angeles County. Each listing below was matched to Los Angeles because the business names the city on its own website, serves it through a named region, or appears for it on Google Maps. Licence numbers were checked at the Contractors State License Board lookup on 11 October 2026, and businesses with an active licence are listed first.
Based in Woodland Hills
Licence 1045559 (B, C-21, A), held by DEMO LEADERS INC dba MORAL BUILDERS: current and active at the state board, checked 11 October 2026.
Its website has a dedicated pool removal page or section. Listed for Los Angeles because its own website names Los Angeles.
Based in Villa Park
Licence 696810 (A, B), held by FRISCH & SONS CONSTRUCTION INC: current and active at the state board, checked 11 October 2026.
Its website has a dedicated pool removal page or section. Listed for Los Angeles because its own website names Los Angeles.
Based in Los Angeles
Licence 1082537 (B, C-21), held by MVM GRADING AND DEMOLITION INC: current and active at the state board, checked 11 October 2026.
Also trades as MVM Pool Demolition & Concrete, Orange Pool Demolition Contractors, San Diego Pool Demolition Contractors, under the same licence.
Its website has a dedicated pool removal page or section. Listed for Los Angeles because its own website names Los Angeles.
Based in Ventura County
Licence 1061187 (C-21, C-12, A), held by SHOEMAKER INDUSTRIES INC dba SHOEMAKER DEMOLITION INC: current and active at the state board, checked 11 October 2026.
Its website has a dedicated pool removal page or section. The site says: “Swimming pool demolition and removal with competitive pricing and certified demolition experts.” Listed for Los Angeles because its own website names Los Angeles.
Based in Beverly Hills
Licence 1145133 (A, B, C-8, C-21, C-29, C-42), held by SUNCORE ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION: current and active at the state board, checked 11 October 2026.
Its website has a dedicated pool removal page or section. The site says: “We remove in-ground or above-ground pool structures based on the project scope.” Listed for Los Angeles because its own website names Los Angeles.
Based in Anaheim
Licence 1077186 (C-21), held by CLEAN SLATE: current and active at the state board, checked 11 October 2026.
Its website has a dedicated pool removal page or section. Listed for Los Angeles because Google Maps lists it for pool removal in Los Angeles.
Another 9 businesses show no licence number or only a Google Maps listing for Los Angeles. They are being checked by phone before being listed.
One contractor in the research trades under three different websites, so the listing merges them.
A contractor's licence classes matter on a pool job. Los Angeles permits are generally issued to holders of the A (general engineering), C-12 (earthwork and paving), C-21 (building moving and demolition) or C-53 (swimming pool) classes described in the state licence board's classification guide, and the accepted classes differ from city to city. Industry Bulletin 24-07 confirms that the $1,000 unlicensed-work exemption does not cover work that needs a permit, so a pool removal always needs a licensed contractor or an owner-builder permit.
The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety treats pool removal as grading work, so the job runs on a grading permit. Bulletin P/BC 2026-111 sets out how a pool may be backfilled. A shell may stay in the ground only when the area will be used for landscaping and the ground slopes 10% or less. The bottom must then be broken with 12-inch drainage holes spaced every 8 ft so water does not collect in the old basin. The department publishes no separate fee for pool backfill; the grading fee depends on the scope the plans show.
| Permit | Grading permit |
|---|---|
| Issued by | Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, Grading Division |
| Published fee | Not published |
| City document | Bulletin P/BC 2026-111 |
| Confidence | High |
Fees and requirements change at the start of each fiscal year, usually in July. The city document linked above is the record a contractor or inspector will work from.
The Department of Building and Safety sets out two versions of the same grading permit in Bulletin P/BC 2026-111, revised in June 2026, and each version comes with the same three inspections, called for as the grading work reaches each stage:
On a partial fill-in, the bulletin requires at least one drainage hole at the deepest point of the shell, and the backfill must be clean soil or gravel, moistened and compacted by tractor rolling or a mechanical tamper.
A partial fill-in also needs a plot plan showing where the pool sits, its distance to every building and property line, and a note that the fill is uncertified. That label matters later. Uncertified fill cannot support a footing, so the area stays limited to planting.
A full removal asks for more paperwork. The grading permit states the total cubic yards of fill, the shell leaves the site, and the excavation bottom is inspected before compacted fill goes in. All fill must reach 90% relative compaction under the ASTM D1557 laboratory compaction test, checked by a soil testing agency the department approves, and the compaction report with its Certificate of Compliance goes to the Grading Division for approval. No foundation work may start until that report is approved, which is the step that clears the way for an accessory dwelling unit or an addition.
Two further documents apply to some full removals. A site inside a Hillside Grading Area needs a Grading Pre-Inspection report, and the department can ask for a soil report from a licensed soils engineer covering temporary excavation, grading specifications and allowable bearing pressures. Each adds an engineer's fee and time to the schedule, so a quote for a Los Angeles hillside job should say whether it includes them. The Department of City Planning's ZIMAS parcel map shows whether a lot lies in a Hillside Area and maps the Hillside Grading boundary, so an owner can check before asking for quotes.
Los Angeles allows a partial fill-in only for landscaping on gentle ground, which suits a garden or lawn. Anyone planning an accessory dwelling unit, an addition or a patio slab over the old pool needs the full removal route: the shell comes out and the fill is compacted and certified, as the Bulletin P/BC 2026-111 describes. Hillside lots steeper than 10% fall outside the partial option altogether.
A partial fill-in breaks drainage holes through the floor, removes the top of the wall and fills the shell with soil. The method costs less and finishes faster, usually in one to four days, but most cities limit the area to landscaping afterwards. A full removal hauls away every piece of the shell and replaces it with fill compacted in layers to 90%, which takes three to seven days and is the route for anyone planning a structure over the old pool.
Los Angeles Pool Demolition Contractors publishes prices from $10,500 for a partial fill-in and from $17,500 for a full removal. Angi's Los Angeles cost page reports a wider spread of $2,850 to $11,350 for a partial and $4,550 to $18,200 for a full removal, with an average of $6,816. Contractor quotes in Los Angeles County sit nearer the top of the Angi range than its average.
Four things move a quote more than anything else: equipment access (about $2,000 more where the side yard is under 6 ft wide), deck removal ($500 to $1,700), fill dirt (80 to 150 cubic yards for a full removal) and the engineer's compaction report ($1,500 to $4,000). The California pool removal cost guide sets out every published price by region and pool type.
In Los Angeles, the city's own steps sit on top of those four. Compaction testing and the Certificate of Compliance fall inside the engineer's report cost above, but a hillside lot can add a Grading Pre-Inspection report and a soils engineer's report, and the grading permit fee depends on the cubic yards shown on the plans. A quote that leaves out the permit, the testing or the engineering cannot be compared fairly with one that includes them.
Concrete and gunite from a full removal count as construction and demolition waste. The city's Citywide Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling Ordinance, approved in 2010, sends all mixed construction and demolition waste generated inside city limits to a city-certified processor, and anyone hauling it needs a Private Waste Hauler Permit from LA Sanitation. The city can fine up to $5,000 for each load taken elsewhere. A contractor that hauls its own debris should hold that permit, and a homeowner hiring a separate hauler can ask for the permit number before the first load leaves.
Pool water has to go somewhere before demolition starts. LA Sanitation's pool guidance allows the storm drain only for water dechlorinated to 0.1 mg/L or less, at a pH of 6.5 to 8.5, and only between 8 pm and 6 am; letting the water stand a few days without chlorine, or adding a dechlorinating agent such as sodium thiosulfate, gets it there. Residential pools may drain to the sewer without a wastewater permit, and discharges that need a stormwater permit go through the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Removing a pool can lower the assessed value of a Los Angeles property. The Board of Equalization's letter 86/09 treats removal of an improvement as a reason to reduce assessed value, but the reduction is tied to the pool's own assessed value, so an older pool may bring only a small change. Sellers should also expect the question on the state's seller disclosure form, which asks about fill on the property and about unpermitted work.
Contractors listed for Los Angeles also work in neighbouring communities, including Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Culver City, Santa Monica and Inglewood. Neighbouring cities set their own permit rules, so a job outside Los Angeles city limits follows that city's building department or, in unincorporated areas, the county.
Other Los Angeles County pages in this directory: Long Beach, Santa Clarita, Glendale, Lancaster, Palmdale.
A grading permit from the Department of Building and Safety. Bulletin P/BC 2026-111 covers the backfill rules, and the fee follows the grading scope.
Only for landscaping use on ground sloping 10% or less, with 12-inch drainage holes every 8 ft across the bottom.
Dechlorinated water within the set pH range may go to the storm drain between 8 pm and 6 am under LA Sanitation's guidance; residential pools may also drain to the sewer without a wastewater permit.
Los Angeles Pool Demolition Contractors publishes prices from $10,500 for a partial fill-in and $17,500 for a full removal. Angi's Los Angeles figures run from $2,850 to $11,350 for a partial and $4,550 to $18,200 for a full removal.
The work takes one to four days for a partial fill-in and three to seven days for a full removal. The three city inspections, and on a full removal the approval of the compaction report, add time on top of that.
Only after a full removal. Bulletin P/BC 2026-111 limits a shell left in place to landscaping, and no foundation work may start until the Grading Division approves the compaction report.
The state's seller disclosure form asks about fill on the property and about unpermitted work. Sellers should keep the finaled grading permit and, on a full removal, the approved compaction report to answer both questions.
Pool Removal California is an independent referral directory. The site is not a contractor and does not remove pools. Listed businesses may pay a referral fee when a homeowner is put in touch with them through the site, and that fee never changes the listing order: contractors with an active state licence appear first. The full referral disclosure and listing criteria explain how each business was checked.