A fire feature is one of the better things you can add to a pool here. Our swim season runs long and our evenings are pleasant for most of the year, and a fire bowl or a built in pit turns a pool deck from somewhere you swim into somewhere you sit.
It is also a topic where almost all the advice online is written for somewhere else. Here is what actually decides the answer in Lee County, starting with the question most people have not thought about yet.
First Question: Is It Going Under the Cage?
Most pools in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Estero sit under a screen enclosure, and whether your fire feature goes inside it or outside it changes the entire specification. Settle this before anything else.
Wood burning under a screen enclosure is generally a no
Smoke discolours the mesh, embers damage panels outright, and sustained heat can discolour, warp, or damage the aluminum frame components over time. A cage is an expensive thing to slowly ruin, and it is the part of your outdoor space most likely to be tested by the next storm. If you want a wood fire, plan it outside the enclosure.
Gas and propane are the workable option
They burn far cleaner, produce no embers, and the flame is controllable and instantly extinguishable, which is why they are the norm inside enclosures here. That said, “cleaner” is not “no heat.” A gas feature still radiates, and it can still damage screen and aluminum if it is too close or under too low a ceiling.
What governs it: the fire pit manufacturer’s stated clearance requirements, your ceiling height, the roof style of the enclosure, the distance to the nearest screen wall, and what furniture sits around it. Those are specific to your unit and your cage, so the answer comes from the two manufacturers rather than from an article. Ask for it in writing before anyone builds anything.
Outside the cage opens everything up
On a patio, a lawn seating area, or a hardscaped zone beyond the enclosure, wood burning is back on the table and clearances get much easier. The trade off is that it is a walk from the pool, and in the rainy season it is a walk you will not make. Plenty of properties end up with a gas feature inside for everyday use and a wood pit outside for occasions, which is a perfectly reasonable answer.
Gas, Propane, or Wood?
Natural gas
The best option if you have gas at the property. No tank to refill, no fuel to store, instant on and off, and a controllable flame. Published figures put a natural gas unit at $400 to $3,000, averaging around $1,700, plus the line run. It is the option that gets used most, because using it takes no preparation.
Propane
Everything gas does, without needing a gas supply at the house. The trade off is the tank: storage, refills, and a cylinder to hide. For a fire table or a smaller feature it is entirely sensible, and for a portable unit it is the only realistic fuel.
Wood
The best fire, and the most constrained. Real flame, real crackle, and real smoke, embers, ash, and a cleanup. Cheapest to build at $300 to $1,000, and the most likely to be ruled out by your cage, your HOA, or a burn restriction. If you have the space outside the enclosure and the covenants allow it, it is lovely. Just do not plan one under a screen.
What a Fire Feature Costs
Published market ranges from Angi’s 2026 fire pit installation data, not our quote.
| Option | Published cost | Notes for a Southwest Florida pool |
|---|---|---|
| Portable unit | $75 to $500 | The only genuinely DIY option. Buy it, place it, use it. Nothing is plumbed and nothing is permitted. |
| Above ground, installed | $200 to $1,500 | Sits on the deck. Simplest permanent option. |
| In ground, installed | $1,000 to $3,000 | Built into the deck or the pool structure. Best looking and most involved. |
| In ground into an existing patio | up to $5,000 | Cutting into a finished deck is what pushes it up, which is the argument for doing it during deck work. |
| Propane unit | $300 to $950 | No gas line needed, but you are managing a tank. Practical if natural gas is not available at the house. |
| Natural gas unit | $400 to $3,000, averaging around $1,700 | The best option if you have gas at the property. No tank, no refills, instant on and off. |
| Wood burning | $300 to $1,000 | Cheapest to build and the one most likely to be ruled out by your cage or your HOA. See the first section. |
| Concrete | $200 to $1,000 | Modern look, holds up well here. |
| Stainless steel | $250 to $1,200 | Specify marine grade near the coast. Ordinary stainless spots and pits in salt air. |
| Brick | $300 to $2,200 | Classic, and it works with paver decks. |
| Stone | $350 to $3,000 | Premium. Porous stone near a salt pool wants sealing, same as coping. |
| Gas line run | $15 to $25 per linear foot | Distance from the meter is the variable. Licensed, permitted work in every case. |
The single most useful line there is the last one. Gas line cost is driven by distance from the meter, so where the feature sits relative to the house can move the price more than the feature itself does. Worth establishing early, because moving a fire bowl ten feet on a drawing is free and moving it after the trench is dug is not.
Fire Pit, Fire Bowl, or Outdoor Fireplace?
- A fire pit is open on all sides, people sit around it, and it is social. The default for a seating area.
- A fire bowl is a raised vessel, usually gas, frequently mounted on a pool wall, a raised bond beam, or a spa surround. It is architectural rather than social: you look at it rather than sit around it, and it is the option that photographs best. Often paired with water features so that fire and water sit on the same edge.
- An outdoor fireplace is a vertical structure with a chimney, against a wall or as a room divider. It throws heat in one direction, contains smoke far better than a pit, and costs considerably more. It also creates an outdoor room, which a pit does not.
For a pool deck under a cage, fire bowls tend to win. For a hardscaped area outside the enclosure, a pit or a fireplace both work. If you are building or remodelling anyway, this is worth resolving in 3D design rather than in the abstract, because the scale of these things is very hard to picture.
Poolside Placement: What We Actually Look At
- Distance from the water. Far enough that nobody steps from a wet deck into hot metal, close enough to feel part of the pool area.
- Prevailing wind. An open pool deck has more wind than a sheltered garden. Wind moves flame, moves smoke into seating, and on a wood fire moves embers.
- Traffic routes. The path from the door to the pool, and from the pool to the towels. A fire feature in a walking line is a burn waiting to happen.
- What is underneath. Footings, gas line routing, and whatever pool plumbing already runs under that deck. This is the strongest argument for using whoever built the pool.
- Seating that already exists. A feature nobody has anywhere to sit near is decoration. Plan the seating and the feature together, with hardscape or decking if it needs a surface.
- Overhead. Cage ceiling, pergola, or lanai roof. Clearance is measured up as well as out.
Thinking About Fire on Your Pool Deck?
Whether it can go under your cage, where the gas would come from, and what it will cost are all site specific. Call A&E Pools at (239) 888-6617 and we will look at the space and tell you what is actually possible.
See the fire features we install, or get in touch through our contact page.
Gas Work Is Not a DIY Project, and We Should Say So Plainly
You will find guides online, including the previous version of this page, that list “install the fuel system” as a step in a weekend build. It does not belong there.
Running or extending a gas line is licensed, permitted work. It involves correct line sizing for the appliance load, proper materials and joints, pressure testing, shutoffs, and inspection. The failure modes are fire, explosion, and carbon monoxide, and they do not announce themselves in advance. This is not caution for its own sake and it is not us protecting a job: it is the reason the work is regulated.
What a homeowner can reasonably do alone is buy a portable propane unit and put it on the deck. Everything else, anything plumbed, anything built in, anything cut into a deck, is contractor work. If you already have a gas feature and you ever smell gas, shut off the supply at the valve, do not operate any electrical switch, get everyone away from the area, and call your gas supplier from outside.
Safety Around a Pool Specifically
- Surfaces stay hot long after shutdown. This is the risk people actually meet, not the flame. Around a pool, with children barefoot and moving fast on a wet deck, a fire bowl that was on an hour ago is still a burn. Design the approach so nobody brushes past it.
- Keep the manufacturer’s clearances, to structures, screens, furniture, and anything overhead. They are not conservative padding, they are tested figures.
- Never use a fire feature to dry towels or clothing. Obvious, and it happens constantly.
- Keep an extinguisher within reach, and know where the gas shutoff is before you need it.
- Supervise, and shut it off before the last person goes in. Not banked, not left to burn down. Off.
- Wind matters more beside a pool. Open deck, no windbreak, and on a wood fire that means embers travelling.
Materials That Survive This Climate
Same rules as everything else outdoors here. Salt air, chlorine splash out, humidity, and UV all work on materials continuously.
Specify marine grade stainless near the coast, because ordinary stainless spots and pits. Seal porous stone the way you would seal coping, particularly on a salt pool, since salt wicks in and crystallizes exactly as it does on travertine. Powder coated aluminum and concrete both do well. And check that burner components are rated for outdoor coastal use rather than generic outdoor use. Our saltwater comparison covers what salt does to metal in more detail.
Permits, Codes, and HOAs
Three separate things to check, and they catch people in that order.
Permitting. Any gas line work is permitted. A built in structure may be too, depending on what it is and where. Your contractor should handle it and should tell you what is being pulled.
HOA covenants. Very common in Southwest Florida communities, and frequently more restrictive than the building code. Wood burning features are the usual casualty. Check before you design, not after you have fallen in love with a drawing.
Open burning rules. Florida regulates open burning, and local restrictions can apply seasonally. This mostly affects wood features rather than gas.
One more worth thinking about: a permanently installed fire feature is a structure on your property, which matters for insurance and for storms. Storm damage and pool insurance covers how outdoor structures are treated.
Doing It as Part of Something Bigger
Most fire features we install go in alongside other work, and that is genuinely the cheaper way to do it. Cutting a gas line and a footing into a finished paver deck costs meaningfully more than running them while the deck is open, which is why the published in ground figure jumps to $5,000 when an existing patio is involved.
If you are already looking at decking, hardscape, an outdoor kitchen, or a pergola, specify the fire feature at the same time. Same for new pool construction, where a fire bowl on a raised bond beam or beside a spillover spa has to be designed in rather than added. The full range of pool features and add ons is worth a look while you are deciding.
Why Southwest Florida Homeowners Call A&E Pools
A&E Pools is a family owned company on Jetport Commerce Parkway in Fort Myers, licensed in Florida as CPC1459515, building pools and outdoor living space across the region since 2017. On fire features the advantage is knowing what is already under your deck, what your cage will tolerate, and how the feature should relate to the pool rather than just sit near it.
We serve Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Estero, Bonita Springs, and Naples. Fire features photograph better than they describe, so start with our gallery, then what customers say, the areas we cover, or a bit more about us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I have a fire pit under my pool screen enclosure?
A gas or propane feature usually yes, subject to the manufacturer’s clearance requirements and to your ceiling height, roof style, and distance to the screen walls. Wood burning generally no: smoke discolours the mesh, embers damage panels, and sustained heat can discolour or warp aluminum components. Get the clearance figures from both the fire pit manufacturer and your enclosure manufacturer in writing before building.
How much does a fire pit cost to install?
Published 2026 ranges put a portable unit at $75 to $500, above ground installed at $200 to $1,500, and in ground at $1,000 to $3,000, rising to about $5,000 when cutting into an existing patio. By fuel: propane $300 to $950, wood $300 to $1,000, natural gas $400 to $3,000 averaging around $1,700. A gas line run costs $15 to $25 per linear foot.
Gas or wood for a poolside fire pit?
Gas, in most Southwest Florida cases. It is instantly controllable, produces no embers, needs no cleanup, and is the only realistic option under a screen enclosure. Wood gives a better fire and brings smoke, ash, embers, and cleanup, and it is frequently restricted by HOA covenants here. If you want wood, plan it outside the cage.
Do I need a permit for a fire pit in Florida?
Any gas line work is permitted, licensed work without exception. A built in structure may need a permit too depending on what it is and where it sits. Separately, check your HOA covenants, which in Southwest Florida communities are often stricter than the code, and be aware that Florida regulates open burning, which mainly affects wood features.
Can I install a gas fire pit myself?
No. Running or extending a gas line requires correct line sizing for the appliance load, proper materials and joints, pressure testing, shutoffs, and inspection, and it is licensed permitted work. The failure modes are fire, explosion, and carbon monoxide. What you can do yourself is buy a portable propane unit and place it on the deck.
What is the difference between a fire pit, a fire bowl, and an outdoor fireplace?
A fire pit is open on all sides and social, designed to sit around. A fire bowl is a raised vessel, usually gas, often mounted on a pool wall or raised beam, and is architectural rather than social. An outdoor fireplace is a vertical structure with a chimney that throws heat one way, contains smoke well, creates an outdoor room, and costs considerably more.
How far should a fire pit be from a pool?
Far enough that nobody steps from wet deck straight into hot metal, and out of the main traffic routes between the door, the pool, and the towels. The specific figure comes from the manufacturer’s clearance requirements for your unit. Wind matters more beside an open pool than in a sheltered garden, so consider the prevailing direction as well as the distance.
What fire pit materials last in Florida?
Concrete and powder coated aluminum both do well. Specify marine grade stainless near the coast, since ordinary stainless spots and pits in salt air. Seal porous stone the same way you would seal coping, particularly on a salt pool. And check that burner components are rated for coastal outdoor use rather than generic outdoor use.
Is it cheaper to add a fire feature during other work?
Considerably. Running a gas line and pouring a footing while a deck is open costs much less than cutting both into a finished surface, which is why published in ground costs jump toward $5,000 once an existing patio is involved. If you are already planning decking, hardscape, a kitchen, a pergola, or a new pool, specify the fire feature at the same time.
Let Us Look at the Space
Call A&E Pools at (239) 888-6617 or request a visit through our contact page. We will tell you what your cage will take, where the gas would come from, what it will cost, and whether it is worth doing alongside anything else you are planning.
Serving Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Estero, Bonita Springs, and Naples. Licensed Florida pool contractor CPC1459515, family owned since 2017.
Planning more than a fire feature? See fire features, outdoor living, pool heating for the same season, and financing.
