Jud McCranie wrote:
We have an above ground pool that has been unused for 3 years. It is
not in good shape.

What does "not in good shape" actually mean?

We drained out all of the water except for about 3
inches. We had the pool guy come look at it to give an estimate to
clean it up and get it back in shape. Before he came he estimated
$45-50 (which I thought was low). He came and said for us to first
put water back in the pool. Now he wants to charge us $200 to pump
out that water! Does this make sense?

I drained my pool using a submersible pump from Harbor Freight. I think
it cost about $50 on sale. It took two days, but I have very deep pool,
built back in the days when diving boards were the norm.

Remember that you have to drain the pool into a drain that goes into the
sewer, you can't drain it into a storm drain out on the street.