Custom Pools and Hand-Carved Waterscapes in Western Washington

Our new site is live! If you visited our old website, you may have left thinking we clean pools. We do not. We never have. We design and build them (incredible, custom ones), and then we carve the rock around them by hand.

Here is more about what we build and what it is like to work with us.

What we build

Custom pools with hand-sculpted rock. Grottos you can walk behind. Waterfalls that spill into the deep end. Waterslides, caves, jump zones and swim-up bars. Full backyard waterscapes where the water, the rock and the lighting were designed together instead of added on.

We also build clean-lined pools with coping and tile for people who want something modern and geometric. Two different looks, the same standard of construction.

And we take standalone concrete and hardscape work: patios, driveways, retaining walls and decorative concrete.

What we do not do is service, cleaning or maintenance. We refer all of that out. Building incredible yards is our whole business.

The rock is the difference

Most builders order rock and set it in place. We carve ours on site.

High-strength shotcrete goes over a reinforced steel framework with double rebar, then it is textured and stained by hand. It is the same proven construction method used for zoo exhibits and public waterscapes, and there are artisans on our crew

who have done that work.

That is why no two of our projects look alike. A grotto in Sammamish is not a repeat of one we built in Puyallup. The rock is shaped around your yard, your slope and the way you want to move through the space.

We are the only builder in the Pacific Northwest doing this rock work in house.

You see it before we build it

Most builders hand you a CAD drawing. A drawing is hard to read if you do not read drawings for a living and a six figure backyard is the wrong place to guess.

For carved rock projects we build a half-inch scale clay model of your backyard. You can hold it, turn it, walk around it with your family and tell us to move the waterfall three feet left.

For clean-lined tile and coping projects we produce a full 3D rendering instead, because that is the format that shows those surfaces honestly.

Either way, you approve the design before anyone breaks ground.

One crew, start to finish

Design, excavation, steel, plumbing, shotcrete, rock work, finish. We manage every stage, start to finish. You are not chasing four companies to find out who is coming Tuesday.

Julio Castillo and Layne McNair are lifelong friends with fifteen years in the trade. Julio handles design and takes client calls himself. Layne runs the job sites.

What the calendar really looks like

Permitting in Washington runs six to twelve months depending on the jurisdiction. That is the part most people do not expect, and it is the reason to start the conversation long before the summer you want to swim in.

Once permits are in hand, a custom shotcrete build takes four to six months. A fiberglass pool takes six to eight weeks from breaking ground.

Because permitting sets the pace, people sign year round rather than waiting for spring.

The fiberglass option

We install Latham fiberglass shells for people who want to be swimming sooner. The shell arrives finished, the timeline drops to weeks instead of months and the shape is fixed.

Fiberglass buys you time, not a lower price bracket. On the same backyard the two options land close together.

Where fiberglass gets interesting is that we can still build carved rock above the waterline, or add a grotto, waterslide or water feature around the shell.

What it costs

Custom builds start at $150,000, including automated equipment, three feet of surrounding patio, all excavation and backfill.

Standalone concrete and hardscape work spans a much wider range and is quoted per project.

We publish the floor because it saves everyone time. If that starting budget works for your project, the rest of the conversation is about what you want to build.

Where we work

Western Washington. Completed projects in Auburn, Lake Tapps, Burien, Sammamish, Puyallup, Bremerton, Lakewood and Cle Elum, with most of our work across King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties. We will travel for the right project.

Start the conversation

Look through the portfolio on the new site, then call. Julio answers the phone at (425) 336-9310, or send a note through the contact form and we will get back to you.

Pacific Northwest Pools and Concrete Design. Washington contractor license PACIFNP750J5.