The decision to install a pool is not just a decision about the pool. It is a decision about the backyard. The pool will become the centerpiece of the outdoor space, and everything around it, the deck, the landscaping, the lighting, the fire features, the shade structures, and the overall flow between the house and the water, will either be designed to complement the pool or added piecemeal afterward.

Pool installation that treats the pool as part of a complete outdoor living environment produces a backyard the family uses every weekend from Memorial Day through Labor Day and every evening the temperature allows. Pool installation that focuses only on the shell and the equipment produces a pool that sits in an unfinished yard while the homeowner spends the next five years trying to figure out what goes around it.