Best Pool Designers

A custom pool designer specializes specifically in the swimming pool — designing, engineering and building it, along with the spas, water features, decking and equipment that make it an environment. It is a focused discipline distinct from a landscape architect (who designs the whole garden and site), a general contractor (who builds the house), and a pool-service company (which cleans and maintains an existing pool): most pool specialists are design-build firms that design the pool and then construct it with their own crews, controlling the result from concept through the concrete shell, tile, coping and finish.

Because the pool is so often the centerpiece of a luxury home's outdoor life — and because a custom pool is a significant construction project that is expensive to correct once built — getting the design and construction right pays dividends for years. Choosing the right pool designer is about genuine custom-pool specialization, a portfolio of completed pools in a style and ambition that match yours, in-house construction and proper licensing, and command of the engineering, permitting and site realities that a pool demands. Local knowledge matters, since ground conditions, climate and code shape what can be built and what will last. Browse by city below to find custom pool designers who work in your area and the kind of pool you have in mind.