Pools & Spas in the San Fernando Valley
Pool and spa design and build across the San Fernando Valley, from the flat postwar lots of Van Nuys and Northridge to the hillside streets south of Ventura Boulevard. Our yard and showroom are in Sun Valley, so this is home ground: one team designs the pool with the shade, the deck and the planting around it, and our own crews build it.
Pools in the San Fernando Valley
The Valley floor is hot. Summer afternoons regularly pass a hundred degrees, and the far western Valley runs hotter still, with little marine air to take the edge off. A pool earns its keep in that heat only if there is shade beside it and a deck you can cross barefoot, so we check the sun path before the shell is drawn.
The ground splits two ways. North of Ventura Boulevard most lots are flat postwar parcels, often still carrying their original concrete and drainage. South of it, and along the foothills above Porter Ranch, Granada Hills, Chatsworth and West Hills, the same pool arrives on a slope with hillside review and brush clearance attached.
Pergolas, cabanas and deciduous trees placed against the late-afternoon western sun, lighter paving around the water and a pool set where the family will actually get in. In the Valley these are design decisions, not accessories.
Much of the Valley was built out between the 1940s and the 1970s. Settled slabs, tired drainage and repairs dating back to the 1994 earthquake are common, so we read what is already in the ground before deciding what gets reused and what gets rebuilt.
Coast live oak, valley oak, western sycamore and California black walnut are protected in the City of Los Angeles. We map the root zone first and hold the shell, decking and trenching outside it, planning for city review where work comes close.
South of Ventura Boulevard and along the northern foothills, hillside grading review, retaining engineering and brush clearance in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones can all come into a pool permit. We identify which apply during the site analysis.
Valley communities we serve: Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Toluca Lake, Northridge, Granada Hills, Porter Ranch, Chatsworth, West Hills
Start here
The style follows how you want to use the yard. Pick the backyard you are actually after and the shape, the spa and the surfaces mostly follow from it. Every project below was built here in Southern California, so the planting, the shade and the surfaces are chosen for this climate.
01 A family-friendly backyard Room to swim, and room around the water. A shallow entry, shade to sit in, and turf that stands up to being used. See complete backyards 
02 A resort-style retreat A raised spa, moving water and planting layered in close. The pool is the centerpiece and the yard is built to match it. See resort-style projects 
03 A pool and entertaining space The pool is half of it. An outdoor kitchen, covered dining and a fire feature keep people outside after the swimming stops. See entertaining spaces 
04 Remodel an existing pool New tile, coping and plaster change the pool. Rebuilding the deck, planting and lighting changes the yard. See pool remodels Pool styles
Modern, Freeform, Formal, Infinity edge, Fiberglass, Pool and spa. Pick one to see who it suits, what it asks of the property, and a project where we built it.
Best for Contemporary and mid-century houses, and anyone who wants the pool to look built rather than dropped in.
On your property Needs a level or terraced area. On a slope the cost is in the retaining that makes the level, not in the pool.
Best for Families, and lots where a rectangle fights the shape of the yard.
On your property Suits a Valley lot with a mature oak or walnut on it, since the outline can be drawn around the root zone instead of through it.
Best for Traditional, Spanish and Colonial houses, and gardens that already work on an axis.
On your property Needs space on both sides to stay symmetrical. Tight to one boundary it stops being formal and becomes a lap pool.
Best for Properties with a view or a drop, where the far edge of the pool can be made to disappear.
On your property Belongs on the hillside lots south of Ventura Boulevard and along the foothills, where there is a drop and a view. On the flat Valley floor there is nothing to run the water toward.
Best for Smaller yards, tighter budgets, and jobs where a shorter build matters more than a custom shape.
On your property A practical fit for a flat Valley lot where the shell has a clear route to the hole. Narrow side yards and hillside lots usually rule it out.
Best for Anyone who wants the yard usable in January, not just August.
On your property A raised spa has to be structured with the pool, not added later. Heating is where most of the running cost goes.
One coordinated team
Everything marked here is in this one photograph, and the same company drew and built all of it. So are the cabana, outdoor kitchen and fire table just outside the frame. A pool builder gives you a pool. This is the rest of it.
How a pool gets built
The five stages below are the pool version of the same five-step design process we run on every project.
Before: the yard as we found it Somebody comes out and measures. Grade, boundaries, setbacks, trees worth keeping, and where the panel, meters, valves and drains actually sit. On a pool that survey decides where the excavation can go before anything gets drawn.
Base plan The pool, the deck around it and the planting get drawn together, same scale, same sheet. This is where the yard either works as one space or it does not.
Materials Coping, waterline tile, interior finish, decking and equipment all get picked against samples. Structural work like retaining and sections through a slope gets engineered at this stage, not discovered later.
3D rendering Permits go through our own permitting department. Then excavation, steel, plumbing, shotcrete, decking and finish, with a supervisor on site and a different trained crew for each trade.
Finished Planting, lighting and equipment start-up, then a walkthrough on how the system runs and what it needs. Plants get a monitoring period after that.
Featured project
A tiered backyard quieted down into a spa-first retreat, with a linear fire feature, turf-to-paver terracing and a clear look out across the valley. More pairs like this are in our before-and-after archive.
Concrete tiers and lawn already stepped down behind the house, and the property line ran right along the hillside edge. Those two things decided everything that followed: the grade changes across the site, and that edge.
The first sketches worked to the elevation change and put in an infinity-style water feature, modern hardscape and clearly defined living areas. Walking the layout with the homeowners is what kept it open. A tiered yard like this crowds up fast if you fill every terrace.
Before your consultation
You do not need answers to these before you call. Knowing what the questions are makes the first conversation a lot more useful.
The yard decides more of this than taste does. Setbacks, equipment access, the fall across the site and how much room you want left around the water all narrow it before style comes into it.
Concrete is formed on site in shotcrete, so the shape is yours and the build takes longer. Fiberglass comes as a molded shell in a fixed size. Quicker, but it has to physically reach the hole.
Raised, flush or spilling. Sharing equipment with the pool costs less to build and less to run than a separate hot tub, but the structure has to be drawn in from the start.
The two details you look at most and touch most. They decide whether the pool looks modern or traditional more than the outline does.
A baja shelf is somewhere to sit in a few inches of water. Benches and wide steps add usable space without adding depth.
Heating decides whether the spa gets used in January. Saltwater runs a chlorine generator instead of buying chlorine, and it can go on any of these pool types.
Lights in the water, and lights on everything around it. Running the conduit with the rest of the work is the only way to get fixtures where you want them.
Barrier and drain requirements are set by code. Most of the Valley sits inside the City of Los Angeles, so a pool goes through its Building and Safety department, with protected-tree review, hillside review and brush clearance where they apply. Burbank issues its own permits. We pull the permits in house, and what the city asks for shapes the drawings, not the other way around.
Investment & schedule
A pool is shaped by the property it goes into: the design, the access, the engineering and how much of the yard around it is in scope. We settle those during design, so you are deciding with the site in front of you rather than a guess.
No quote written off a photograph can account for what your property is like.
Decking, drainage, utilities, planting, shade, lighting and where people actually sit all bear on where the pool goes and how it gets built. Settling them on one set of drawings is what keeps conduit out of the wrong trench and stops paving being cut to fit afterwards.
Access, engineering, permits, finishes and scope vary a lot from one property to the next, so the investment and the schedule for a pool are set once we have seen the site and the design is settled.
Tell us about the property and what you want the yard to do. We will walk through the design, site and permitting factors likely to shape it.
What homeowners say
Pacific Outdoor Living did an incredible job transforming both our front and back yards. They turned our rarely used backyard into a stunning and functional space, incorporating a new pool, pavers, and artificial turf. We met with at least four other pool builders, but POL stood out for their ability to handle every aspect of the project seamlessly, from design to construction to landscaping.
I would definitely recommend Pacific Outdoor Living. We had a great experience. They helped us through all the permitting and difficulties of having a hillside home and following LA pool requirements.
Pacific Outdoor Living gets a 5 star review because of their outstanding customer service and job performance. We recently renovated our backyard with an in-ground pool and outdoor space. The job took no more than two and a half months to complete. Samantha the designer, worked with us to sketch exactly what we wanted and provided us with a 3D model of how our backyard would look like. It came out exactly what was sketched.
We had our entire backyard remodeled by Pacific Outdoor Living last year, and we couldn’t be happier with the results. As a mom of two little boys, I wanted a space that was both beautiful and functional for our family, and that’s exactly what we got. We removed everything, including the old pool, and built a brand-new pool, artificial grass, fire pit area, and a basketball court for my husband.
The pool, spa, and patio renovation turned out beautifully, and the custom waterslide became a favorite feature for the family. Our kids absolutely love it, and it's become the gathering spot for our entire neighborhood. The quality of the work and attention to creating a family-friendly space was exceptional.
They did a great job with our pool deck and pool remodel. Everything was planned in detail before even beginning, and proceeded exactly as expected. Samantha was a great designer to work with, and Scott made sure all needs were met during construction. The company as a whole is just extremely professional and dependable.
We had our backyard remodeled, which included pool installation, pergola build, and driveway paving. Our designer Julian was able to create the backyard that we envisioned and our project manager Trent made sure the whole process was smooth & efficient. They finished the project within budget and even ahead of schedule.
Questions
All of it. Our yard and showroom are in Sun Valley, and we build pools from Burbank and Studio City across Sherman Oaks, Encino, Tarzana and Woodland Hills to West Hills, and north through Van Nuys, Northridge, Granada Hills, Porter Ranch and Chatsworth. Being central keeps drive times short for crews and equipment, and a project manager can be on site the same day if something comes up.
Shade first. Covered structures over the lounging and dining areas, pergolas placed for the western afternoon sun, deciduous trees where they help and lighter decking around the water. Then a pool set where people will actually get in, with heating to stretch the season at both ends. Fans and misting help once those decisions are right.
Generally yes. The City of Los Angeles Baseline Hillside Ordinance limits grading, retaining wall heights and setbacks on hillside lots, and retaining engineering and brush clearance in the higher fire hazard zones can apply too. We identify which apply during the site analysis so the pool is drawn to clear them.
Mostly the planting and the space around the house. Tracts along the northern foothills, such as Porter Ranch north of Rinaldi Street and the hillside edges of Granada Hills, Chatsworth and West Hills, sit in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones. We keep the first several feet around the structure clear, plant low and irrigated near the house and the pool equipment, and confirm your specific parcel during the site analysis.
The design stage generally runs two to five weeks depending on the size of the project and how many revisions it goes through. Construction varies with scope: small jobs can be a week, and large projects can run three to six months. Your designer and job supervisor give you a firmer timeline once the design is complete.
Yes. Pool remodeling is one of the services we offer, and several of the projects in our portfolio kept the existing pool shell and rebuilt it with new tile, coping and plaster along with the deck and planting around it.
Yes, and it is the reason the company is set up the way it is. We design and build the pool, hardscape, carpentry, planting and lighting with our own crews, so the same team is responsible for how those pieces meet.
Yes. Concrete pools are formed on site in shotcrete, which lets the shape be drawn to the yard. Fiberglass pools arrive as a molded shell in a fixed size and shape, which shortens the wet trades but depends on the shell being able to reach the excavation.
Yes. The design fee covers site measurements, an illustrated design, a 3-D design and revisions as needed, so you see the layout and the materials before anything is built.
A complete outdoor living environment involves more than individual features, so pool and outdoor kitchen cost depends on how the whole yard comes together. On the pool, the price moves with size and depth, how much grading or retaining the site needs, the coping, tile, interior finish and decking, and whether there is a spa, heating, water features or automation. On the kitchen, it moves with counter length, appliances, and the gas and electrical runs. We design the pool, kitchen, patios, lighting, and landscaping as one cohesive space, so every element complements the others and you have a clear understanding of the overall investment before construction begins.
Look at completed projects, not just conceptual designs, and look for ones like yours: a similar architectural style, a similar lot, the same features. Our portfolio covers a broad range of outdoor environments, from hillside pools and full backyard remodels to courtyards, outdoor kitchens, and drought-tolerant gardens. Evaluate the finished work and the details that bring a design to life.
Not all estimates represent the same scope or level of craftsmanship. Compare materials, construction methods, specifications, allowances, and overall project completeness, not just the final price. A low number built on vague allowances tends to come back later as change orders. Estimates priced from a measured, detailed design are the easiest to compare line for line.
Yes. A new pool or spa needs a building permit, and the gas, electrical, and any retaining walls around it can need approvals of their own. Requirements vary by city, so our in-house permitting department maps them during design and typically pulls every permit the job needs. You do not have to take time off work to queue or work out the requirements yourself.
Yes. The San Fernando Valley is our home ground, with our yard and showroom in Sun Valley. Each Valley community has its own page with an address checker, so you can confirm coverage for your exact property there.
Tell us how you want the backyard to look and work. We will walk you through the right pool design, the scope and what happens next.
What happens next: we set up a visit, measure the property and talk through what you want the yard to do. Then you get a design to look at before you commit to anything.
