Tampa Bay · Design and build
Water, heldby stone.
A pool and outdoor living studio in Tampa. We survey the yard, design it in three dimensions, and build it with one crew from the first cut to the last chemistry check.
4.9
62 Google reviews
310+
Built in Tampa Bay
17 yrs
Designing and building
1 crew
Start to finish
The position
Most of what goes wrong in this trade goes wrong before anyone breaks ground. A shape chosen from a brochure. A slope nobody surveyed. A number that was never a real number. We spend an unreasonable amount of time on the drawing so that the build is the boring part.
Cypress & Stone Pools · Tampa, FL
01Selected work
Six yards, six different answers
Every one of these started as an awkward lot. Scroll sideways.
01South Tampa · 2025
Bayshore infinity
Infinity edge, raised spa, travertine deck
02Westchase · 2025
Westchase courtyard
Geometric pool, outdoor kitchen, louvered pergola
03Odessa · 2024
Odessa lagoon
Freeform pool, rock waterfall, fire pit terrace
04Davis Islands · 2024
Davis Islands remodel
Full remodel, new spa, panoramic enclosure
05Apollo Beach · 2023
Apollo Beach sunset
Pool, spa, fire and water, full kitchen
06Lutz · 2023
Lutz family yard
Pool, sun shelf, cabana, play lawn
Eighteen more in
the full archive.
02Before and after
The part nobody photographs
Drag the handle. Fifteen weeks separate these two frames, and about eleven of them look like the left-hand side.
Odessa lagoon
Day three of the dig, and the same yard sixteen weeks later.
03What we build
One trade, six disciplines
A yard is one build, so we do not hand you between four companies. Hover any line to see it.
04Materials and finishes
The decisions that outlive the design
Three choices set the character of a pool and how it ages: what the water sits against, the band at eye level, and what your feet touch in August. Pick one and see it.
What the water sits against. Sets the colour of the pool more than anything else.
Samples of everything shown come to the design consult.
Interior finish
Pebble aggregate
05The build
Ten stages, published in advance
You get this list with dates against it on the day you sign, and you get told when a date moves. The permit is the only stage nobody controls, and we will not pretend otherwise.
Week 1
Site visit and survey
1 / 10
- 01
Site visit and survey
Week 1We measure the yard, find the setbacks, easements and the septic or well if there is one, and check what a truck can physically reach. Half of what makes a design work is decided here.
- 02
3D design and revisions
Weeks 1 to 3You see the pool in your own yard, from your own back door, before you commit to anything. We expect two or three rounds of changes. Nobody signs off on a plan view alone.
- 03
Engineering and permit
Weeks 3 to 8Structural engineering, then submission to the county or city. This is the stage nobody can speed up, and any builder who promises otherwise is guessing.
- 04
Layout and excavation
Day 1 to 3The shell is painted on the ground and you approve the position in person. Then the dig, and the spoil leaves the site the same day.
- 05
Steel and plumbing
Week 1 to 2The rebar cage is tied to engineered spacing, then main drains, returns, skimmers and the spa loop go in. Inspected before anything is covered.
- 06
Gunite shell
Week 2 to 3Shotcrete pumped and carved in one day, then cured wet for a week. This is the structure, and it is the part you will never see again.
- 07
Tile, coping and features
Week 4 to 6Waterline tile, coping stone, spa spillway and any sheer descents or scuppers. Precision stage. Slow on purpose.
- 08
Decking and hardscape
Week 6 to 9Base compaction, drainage, then paving. Walls, steps, fire features and the outdoor kitchen shell if one is in scope.
- 09
Interior finish
Week 9 to 11Pebble, quartz or plaster applied and acid-washed, then the fill starts immediately and does not stop until it reaches the tile.
- 10
Startup and handover
Week 11 onwardTwo to four weeks of brushing and chemistry to bring the finish up properly, equipment and automation walkthrough, then the warranty pack. We stay on your chemistry until it holds.
06Investment
What this actually costs
Ranges, not prices, because your yard is not the last one. Every figure below includes design, engineering, permit and startup. The line items other builders leave out are the reason their first number looks better.
Pool only
$68k to $95k
Engineered gunite shell, standard interior finish, waterline tile, 4-foot paver or travertine walkway, variable-speed equipment and automation.
- Design, engineering and permit
- Steel and gunite shell
- Interior finish and waterline tile
- Variable-speed pump, filter, LED lighting
- Startup and chemistry handover
Pool, spa and deck
$110k to $165k
The most common scope we build. Adds a raised spa with spillover, a full deck in travertine or porcelain, gas heat and a water feature.
- Everything in pool only
- Raised gunite spa with spillover
- Full travertine or porcelain deck
- Gas heater and dedicated line
- Sheer descent or scupper feature
Full outdoor living
$185k and up
The whole yard treated as one build: pool, spa, kitchen, shade structure, fire, landscape lighting and a screen or panoramic enclosure.
- Everything in pool, spa and deck
- Outdoor kitchen and bar
- Pergola, cabana or enclosure
- Fire feature and landscape lighting
- Full planting and irrigation tie-in
Allowances for rock, water table and unmarked utilities are named in the contract with a unit rate, so a surprise in the ground is never a negotiation.
07How we work
Four things we do not flex on
One crew, not a chain of subcontractors
The people who dig your pool are the people who finish it. No handoff between four companies who have never met, each blaming the last.
The 3D design comes before the contract
You walk through the yard in a headset or on a screen and change what you do not like while changing it is still free.
One schedule, published and updated
You get the stage list with dates and see it move. When the county holds a permit, you hear it from us before you notice it yourself.
We stay until the water is right
A new interior finish needs weeks of brushing and balancing. Most builders hand you a bucket. We keep coming back until it holds on its own.
08Clients
Rated 4.9 across 62 reviews
They talked us out of the design we came in asking for, showed us why it would not work with our slope, and drew something better. That conversation is the reason we signed.
Review text on this page is placeholder pending client sign-off.
09Google reviews
Unedited, and all in one place
Every review below is from a completed build, with what we built on it. The full set lives on our Google Business Profile and we do not curate it.
- Placeholder name2 months ago
They talked us out of the design we came in asking for, showed us why it would not work with our slope, and drew something better. That conversation is the reason we signed.
Pool, spa and travertine deck · South Tampa
- Placeholder name4 months ago
The schedule they gave us in week one is the schedule it finished on. Our neighbour's pool took nine months with a different builder and they still do not have a deck.
Full outdoor living build · Westchase
- Placeholder name5 months ago
Six weeks after the fill they were still coming out to check the chemistry. Nobody told us that was part of it. It just kept happening.
Pebble interior remodel · Carrollwood
- Placeholder name7 months ago
We had three quotes. Theirs was not the cheapest and it was the only one that explained what the other two had left out.
Pool, spa and outdoor kitchen · Lutz
10Where we build
Tampa Bay and the Gulf coast
Roughly a 45-mile radius of Tampa. We deliberately do not run crews further than that, because a build this long needs the crew to be able to come back the same afternoon.
Tampa, FL
Tell us about the yard.
Send the address and a photo of the back of the house. That is enough for us to tell you whether what you have in mind is realistic before anyone drives anywhere.