Paradise Outdoor Lifestyles

08/19/2026

Before you open your pool after a storm...⁣
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Look at the cover first.⁣
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If there’s standing water on it, pump that water off before you open it.⁣
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That’s one of the little things we go through during Pool School that’s easy to forget until you need it.⁣
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Keep the cover pump on the cover when it’s closed.⁣
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Let it do its job.⁣
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Then take a quick look at the tracks too.⁣
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Leaves, sticks and other debris have a way of finding their way in there, especially after weather rolls through.⁣
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Keep those tracks clean.⁣
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Then open the cover.⁣
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That’s it.⁣
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Nothing complicated.⁣
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But little habits like this make pool ownership a whole lot easier.⁣
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A lot of people spend a ton of time researching which pool they want...⁣
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and almost no time learning how to actually take care of it once it’s theirs.⁣
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We think that part matters too.⁣
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That’s why we don’t hand somebody the keys to a new pool and say, “good luck.”⁣
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Before we leave, we walk through the system together.⁣
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How it works.⁣
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What to watch.⁣
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What needs regular attention.⁣
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And who to call when something doesn’t look right.⁣
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If you’ve already got a pool and nobody ever showed you this stuff...⁣ save this one.

08/14/2026

Before you save another pool photo...⁣
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Go sit in your backyard tonight.⁣
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Seriously.⁣
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Give it 20 minutes.⁣
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Notice where the sun is.⁣
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Where the shade finally hits.⁣
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Where everybody naturally wants to sit.⁣
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How you get from the house to the yard.⁣
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What part of the space you never really use.⁣
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And what would make you stay outside another hour.⁣
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That stuff matters.⁣
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Because when you start planning a backyard from pictures alone, it’s easy to fall in love with somebody else’s space.⁣
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Their house.⁣
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Their yard.⁣
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Their family.⁣
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Their priorities.⁣
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The better place to start is with your own.⁣
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How do you want to spend a normal Friday night out there?⁣
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Who’s usually with you?⁣
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What do you wish was easier?⁣
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What do you wish you had?⁣
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Those answers tell you a lot more than a folder full of inspiration photos ever will.⁣
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Save the pictures.⁣
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They’re helpful.⁣
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But pay attention to your actual backyard too.⁣
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That’s where the plan really starts.⁣
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If next summer has been on your mind, this weekend is a pretty good time to start noticing.

08/11/2026

This part never gets old.⁣
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Standing next to a finished project like this, I don’t just see the pool.⁣
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I remember what it took to get here.⁣
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The conversations.⁣
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The decisions.⁣
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The days everything went according to plan.⁣
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And the days we had to stop, figure something out, and keep moving.⁣
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I remember the point where the homeowner could finally start seeing what we’d been talking about for months.⁣
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Then eventually...⁣
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The water goes in.⁣
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The equipment is running.⁣
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The yard gets put back together.⁣
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And one day, you step back and realize it’s done.⁣
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That’s a pretty good feeling.⁣
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But honestly, what sticks with me most is thinking about everything that happens after we leave.⁣
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Kids growing up around this pool.⁣
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Friends coming over.⁣
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Birthdays.⁣
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Cookouts.⁣
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Summer nights when nobody really wants to go inside yet.⁣
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And probably a whole lot of completely normal Tuesdays that end up being some of the best memories.⁣
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For a homeowner, this might be something they’ve pictured for years.⁣
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We get trusted to actually build it.⁣
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I don’t take that lightly.⁣
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Grateful for every family that’s given us the opportunity to be a small part of their story.⁣
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The pool is what we build.⁣
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The life that happens around it is why it matters.

08/05/2026

You don’t need a plan.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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You just need a starting point.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Most homeowners don’t call us with the entire backyard figured out.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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They usually know one thing.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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“𝘞𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘭.”⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Maybe you’ve saved a few photos.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Maybe you know how you want the backyard to feel.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Maybe you’ve been talking about it for years but still don’t know what will fit, what it will cost, or where to begin.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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That’s normal.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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You’re not supposed to have all of those answers yet.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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That’s what the first conversation is for.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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We start by asking questions.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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How will your family use the space?⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Who will normally be out there?⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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What does your property allow?⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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What matters most to you?⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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What would you like to add later?⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Then we start putting the pieces together.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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- The layout.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
- The pool.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
- The patio.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
- The grade.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
- The features.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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And the realistic investment involved.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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You don’t need to show up with a finished design.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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You just need to tell us what you’ve been imagining.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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We’ll help you turn that into a plan that actually makes sense for your home.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Send us a message when you’re ready to start talking it through.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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(515) 953-9008 | buildyourparadiseproject.com

08/04/2026

August is when your backyard starts telling you the truth.⁣
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By now, you’ve spent enough time out there to know what works and what doesn’t.⁣
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You know which corner gets baked by the sun at 5 p.m.⁣
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You know whether getting from the kitchen to the grill is easy... or whether the layout gets in the way.⁣
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You know where everyone naturally gathers.⁣
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You know where the shade finally lands.⁣
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And you know what still feels like it’s missing.⁣
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Maybe it’s a pool.⁣
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Maybe it’s more room around the patio.⁣
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Maybe it’s a better place to cook, eat, and spend the evening.⁣
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That’s useful information.⁣
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Because the best backyard plans don’t start with a list of features.⁣
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They start with how your family actually lives.⁣
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Pay attention to those little things for the rest of the summer.⁣
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They’ll give you a much clearer picture of what you want to change next year.⁣
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What’s one thing you’d change about your backyard?

07/29/2026

It’s been a brutally hot week.⁣
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The kind of heat where by 5 p.m. everybody is tired, covered in dust, and ready to get home.⁣
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But you can tell a lot about a crew by what the job site looks like before they leave.⁣
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At the end of every single day on one of our builds, two things happen:⁣
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Every scrap of debris gets picked up and hauled to the container.⁣
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Every tool gets cleaned, organized, and put away.⁣
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It’s not glamorous. Especially after working outside in this heat all day.⁣
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But for us, it’s non-negotiable.⁣
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A clean, organized job site is a safer job site.⁣
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And when a crew respects your property enough to leave it clean every night, you can trust they’re bringing that same attention to the parts of your project you can’t see.⁣
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My uncle taught me this when I started building pools with him at twelve years old:⁣
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Master the details, and the big stuff takes care of itself.⁣
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It shows up in the layout.⁣
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The drainage.⁣
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The way the concrete meets the coping.⁣
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And it shows up in whether there’s a pile of trash sitting in your driveway when you pull in from work.⁣
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The finished pool is what you’ll show people.⁣
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How we got there is what you’ll actually remember.⁣

Custom pools, patios, and outdoor living spaces for families across Central Iowa. Let’s build your backyard paradise.

07/27/2026

We didn't just start a pool this morning.⁣⁣⁣
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Pulled into our clients yard in Johnston early today. ⁣⁣⁣
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Just grass and a whole lot of potential.⁣⁣⁣
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By mid-morning you could already see the shape of it in the dirt.⁣⁣⁣
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Here's the thing about this one though. ⁣
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It's not just a pool going in.⁣⁣⁣
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It's a 20 by 40 with an 8 foot deep end. ⁣⁣⁣
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Retaining walls to work with the grade. ⁣⁣⁣
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Planter beds built right into the design. ⁣⁣⁣
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Landscape lighting so the space still works after the sun goes down.⁣⁣⁣
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The pool, the hardscape, the plantings, the lighting... all of it planned as one space. And all of it handled by our team.⁣⁣⁣
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That's the part people don't always realize they can have. ⁣⁣⁣
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You don't have to line up four different companies and hope they talk to each other. ⁣⁣⁣
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One team. One plan. One backyard that actually fits together.⁣⁣⁣
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Day one is my favorite day. ⁣⁣⁣
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Everybody's fired up, the machines are on site, and a family's someday is finally turning into something real in the ground.⁣⁣⁣
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We're documenting this one start to finish. Stick around.

07/23/2026

You don't have to build your whole backyard in one summer.⁣
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That catches people off guard.⁣
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They see a finished project... pool, patio, fire feature, outdoor kitchen... and they figure it's all or nothing.⁣
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It's not.⁣
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A lot of the families we build for start simple and add over time. ⁣
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Pool and the main deck this year. ⁣
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Maybe the outdoor kitchen next spring. ⁣
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Lighting and a fire feature down the road.⁣
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The key is planning the whole thing up front. ⁣
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Even the parts you won't build for a couple years.⁣
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That way nothing gets ripped out and redone later. ⁣
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The patio's already sized for the kitchen that's coming. ⁣
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The wiring for the lighting is in the ground before the concrete ever goes down.⁣
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You get the pool now. You add to it on your own timeline.⁣
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One thing worth knowing... Pool costs tend to climb around 15% a year. ⁣
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So the pool itself is usually worth doing sooner. ⁣
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The extras can always wait.⁣
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If you've been putting it off because the whole thing felt like too big a bite... let's just map it out.⁣
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No pressure. We'll figure out what makes sense to start with, and what can come later.⁣
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Call or text when you're ready.⁣
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(515) 953-9008

We design and build pools, patios, and complete outdoor living spaces for Des Moines families — making the entire process simple, clear, and stress-free.

07/15/2026

Before we design a single line, I ask one question.

How's your family actually going to use this space?

Because the answer changes everything.

This backyard belonged to a family that didn't want anybody to have a reason to go inside.

So we built for exactly that.

A pool with a slide the kids argue over.

A diving board.

A hot tub off to the side for after they're finally asleep.

A trampoline.

Even a little putting green.

None of it is random.

It's a layout built around how these people actually live...

Not a page in a catalog.

That's the difference between a pool dropped in a yard and a backyard that just works.

One gets used on hot days...

The other one runs the whole summer.

Swipe through.

This is what it looks like when the whole project is designed as one space.

07/09/2026

Most people in Iowa think a pool gets you three good months. Maybe four.

That's the number one thing I have to correct.

With the right setup, our pool season runs March through October.

That's closer to eight months than three.

Not far off what people get in Arizona, honestly.

Early spring, once it warms up, families are already in the water.

And fall gives you some of the best evenings of the whole year out there.

The trick is designing for it from the start.

Where the pool sits in the yard. How it catches the sun. The lighting that makes the space work after dark.

We're in the thick of it right now, and the water's warm.

If a backyard like this has been sitting on your someday list, this is a good time to start the conversation.

(515) 953-9008.

Custom pools, patios, and outdoor living spaces for families across Central Iowa. Let’s build your backyard paradise.