South Florida Pool and Landscape Report: September 2026

This report covers residential and commercial pool construction, pool maintenance and landscaping services across four South Florida counties. Some figures are specific to Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami, and a few are statewide or national where local data does not exist. Figures come from public data published by county, state and federal agencies, plus Pixedi's own measurement where the data says so. Several sources publish on a lag, so each figure below is labeled with the period it describes.

Key findings

• Miami-Dade County issued 1,519 residential swimming pool building permits in the twelve months to August 2026, with a median declared construction value of $40,000.
• Residential pool permits in Miami-Dade were down (-5.1%) in January to August 2026 against the same months of 2025, while new single-family permits across the four counties were up (+22.3%) over the same stretch.
• Palm Beach County accounted for 52.6% of new single-family permits in the four counties in January to August 2026.
• In the Drought Monitor week of late September 2026, an average 72% of the land area of the four counties was in moderate drought or worse.
• U.S. prices for gardening and lawn care services rose +12.3% in the year to July 2026 and stood +65.2% above July 2019.
• Private landscaping services employed 20,962 people in the four counties in 2025, at average annual pay of $45,761.
• Sole operators make up roughly 86% of all landscaping businesses in the four counties.
• The U.S. Department of Labor certified 5,471 H-2B guest worker positions for landscaping at Florida worksites through the third quarter of fiscal 2026, already above the full fiscal 2025 total of 3,871.

Pool construction demand

The latest Miami-Dade permit data shows a steady but softening residential pool market. The county issued 1,519 residential pool building permits in the twelve months to August 2026, and the median declared construction value was $40,000. Declared value across all of those permits totaled $78.0 million, though that total is preliminary. Pools also dominate home addition work: they made up 51.2% of all residential addition building permits in the county over the same twelve months (also preliminary), so for many Miami-Dade homeowners the pool is the main project when they add to a property.

The direction this year is down. Residential pool permits in January to August 2026 were at -5.1% against the same months of 2025, and August on its own was at -22.0% against August a year earlier. A single month is a noisy signal and that August figure is preliminary, but it points the same way as the year-to-date number. Timing matters for anyone planning sales and crews: the busiest month in the latest twelve months was April, with 11.2% of the annual total, so spring is when permit applications cluster.

Commercial work runs on a separate track. There were 161 commercial pool building permits for hotels and condominiums (and clubs) in the twelve months to August 2026. Behind those new builds sits a much larger installed base: Miami-Dade has 4,619 permitted public swimming pools across condominiums, hotels, clubs and parks, each requiring regular inspection, and the median one holds 24,556 gallons. For a service company, that stock of large, inspected pools is a steadier source of recurring work than new construction.

New homes and the supply of future jobs

New housing is moving in the opposite direction from Miami-Dade pool permits. The four counties permitted 4,718 new single-family homes in January to August 2026, a change of +22.3% against the same months of 2025. Every one of those homes is a possible pool and landscape job once it is finished. The longer view is less rosy, because full-year 2025 single-family permits in the four counties were at -19.5% against 2019, so this year's gain is a recovery from a lower base.

Where that construction happens matters. Palm Beach County accounted for 52.6% of new single-family permits in the four counties in January to August 2026, which means more than half of new-home building sits in one county. An owner based in Miami-Dade who wants a share of new-build pool and yard work will find most of it further north.

The statewide pool base gives a sense of the ceiling. An estimated 1,512,000 Florida households had a swimming pool in 2020, which is 18.8% of all households, and among homes where a private pool is possible (excluding apartments) the share was 26.2%. About 47% of Florida residential pools were heated. These figures come from a federal survey conducted in 2020, the newest available, and are preliminary, so they describe the market as it stood several years ago.

Drought, heat and water

The weather data points to a dry, hot year. In the Drought Monitor week of late September 2026, an average 72% of the land area of the four counties was in moderate drought or worse. Miami-Dade has spent 38 weeks of 2026 so far with at least half its area in moderate drought or worse, against 31 weeks in all of 2025. Rainfall across the four counties in 2025 was at -25.0% against the 1991 to 2020 average, according to NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

• 202531 weeks
• 2026 so far38 weeks

Source: U.S. Drought Monitor

Heat stretches the pool season. Average temperature in the four counties over the twelve months to August 2026 ran +1.2 F above the 1991 to 2020 norm, and the counties averaged 6.5 months with mean daily highs of 85 F or more. That is good news for pool service demand and for anyone selling heating, cooling or shade, and harder news for landscapers whose plantings need water through a dry season.

Irrigation permitting has slowed slightly. The South Florida Water Management District issued 533 water use permits for landscape, golf and recreation irrigation in the twelve months to August 2026, a change of -4.5% from the prior twelve months, and approved permits of that type cover 153,850 irrigated acres. Water itself is getting more expensive: U.S. consumer prices for water, sewer and trash collection rose +4.8% in the year to August 2026 and were +36.3% above August 2019. For landscape clients, drought-tolerant design and efficient irrigation become easier to sell when both the weather and the water bill are pushing the same way.

Trees are one area of rising activity. The City of Miami processed 706 tree permit plans in the twelve months to August 2026, a change of +10.8% from the prior twelve months. Both figures are preliminary.

Prices and costs

Service prices have climbed much faster than equipment prices. U.S. consumer prices for gardening and lawn care services rose +12.3% in the year to July 2026 and stood +65.2% above July 2019. Prices for outdoor equipment and supplies rose only +0.4% in the year to August 2026 and were +26.5% above August 2019. The gap suggests that labor, rather than equipment, is what customers are paying more for, and that the market has absorbed large increases in service rates over the past several years.

• Gardening and lawn care services65.2%
• Water, sewer and trash collection36.3%
• Outdoor equipment and supplies26.5%

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index

These are national figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index, with no separate South Florida series, so local rates can differ. Still, an owner who has not raised prices since 2019 is charging well below where the national index has moved.

On the supply side, large vendors have been flat. Combined annual revenue of three U.S.-listed pool supply, retail and equipment companies was $7.65 billion in their latest fiscal years, a change of -0.5% from the prior year. Combined revenue of three listed landscape supply and equipment companies was $12.63 billion, a change of -0.4%. Both sets of figures cover fiscal years ending around December 2025 and are preliminary. Flat supplier revenue alongside rising service prices fits the picture of a trade where value is moving toward the work itself.

Labor and wages

The latest county employment data, for 2025, shows a growing workforce. Private landscaping services employed 20,962 people in the four counties in 2025, up +3.2% from a year earlier, across 2,444 establishments with employees, at average annual pay of $45,761. The category that includes pool cleaning (other services to buildings and dwellings) employed 3,423 people in 957 establishments, up +5.1%, with average annual pay of $48,015. Pool service employment grew faster and pays slightly more.

• FY2025 (full year)3,871 positions
• FY2026 (through Q3)5,471 positions

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

Hourly wages sit close to the guest worker floor. The median hourly wage for landscaping and groundskeeping workers in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro was $17.99 in May 2025, when the metro employed 21,170 such workers. The median offered wage on certified Florida H-2B landscaping cases in fiscal 2026 was $17.93 an hour, a preliminary figure. With local and guest worker pay this close, recruiting on wage alone is hard, and employers compete on hours, reliability and conditions.

Reliance on guest workers is rising fast. The Department of Labor certified 5,471 H-2B positions for landscaping and groundskeeping at Florida worksites in fiscal 2026 through the third quarter, already more than the full fiscal 2025 total of 3,871. Fiscal 2025 certifications were themselves +80.4% above fiscal 2019. Firms that depend on seasonal crews should treat the H-2B process as a planning item for the year, because more Florida employers are using it.

Competition and market structure

Most landscaping businesses are one person. There were 14,913 landscaping businesses without employees in the four counties in 2024, according to Census Nonemployer Statistics, and sole operators make up roughly 86% of all landscaping businesses in the area (a preliminary estimate). A firm with employees is competing against a very large pool of owner-operators on price and availability, so the case for hiring a company has to rest on things a single operator struggles to offer, such as insurance, capacity and consistent scheduling.

Pool trades are far more concentrated on the licensing side. Miami-Dade lists 48 active county contractor registrations in pool trades (construction, piping and maintenance), a preliminary count. Set against 1,519 residential pool permits a year and 4,619 public pools needing inspection, that is a small registered base serving a large amount of work, though many firms may operate under state licenses that this county list does not capture.

What changed since the last edition

This is the first edition of the South Florida Pool and Landscape Report, and future editions will track month-to-month movement against the figures published here. The newest data in this edition runs to the Drought Monitor week of late September 2026, August 2026 for county permits and most price indexes, July 2026 for lawn care service prices, the third quarter of fiscal 2026 for H-2B certifications, and 2025 for county employment and pay.

Methodology and sources

Residential and commercial pool permits, declared construction values, addition permit shares and monthly timing come from Miami-Dade County building permit records, measured by Pixedi. Public pool counts and volumes and pool trade contractor registrations come from Miami-Dade County records. New single-family permits for the four counties come from the U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey. Tree permit plans come from City of Miami records, and irrigation water use permits and irrigated acreage from the South Florida Water Management District.

Household pool ownership and heated pool shares come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS 2020). Drought coverage comes from the U.S. Drought Monitor, and rainfall and temperature comparisons from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information against the 1991 to 2020 normals.

Price changes come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index (national series). Employment, establishment counts and pay by industry (NAICS 561730 and NAICS 561790) come from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2025 annual averages. Metro occupational wages and employment come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Sole operator counts come from Census Nonemployer Statistics for 2024. H-2B certifications and offered wages come from U.S. Department of Labor certification data. Supplier revenue comes from SEC 10-K filings of three listed pool companies and three listed landscape supply and equipment companies, for fiscal years ending around December 2025.

The following figures are preliminary: the total declared value of Miami-Dade residential pool permits, the August 2026 single-month pool permit change, the pool share of residential addition permits, the April peak month share, all RECS 2020 household figures, the sole operator share, the H-2B median offered wage, the pool trade contractor registration count, all South Florida Water Management District figures, both City of Miami tree permit figures, and all SEC supplier revenue figures.

Sources

1. Miami-Dade County
2. U.S. Census Bureau
3. City of Miami
4. South Florida Water Management District
5. U.S. Energy Information Administration
6. U.S. Drought Monitor
7. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
8. Bureau of Labor Statistics
9. U.S. Department of Labor
10. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

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