Pools and backyard layouts
Rectangular pool, paver deck, and landscaping composed as one outdoor room.
Wave Outdoors Pool Design & Build
Custom Pool Builder for the Whole Property
Wave Outdoors Pools designs and builds custom pools as part of the whole property.
The goal is water that turns a Tuesday evening into the best part of your day. We pair the pool with the deck, landscape, and features around it as one outdoor room. Based in Buffalo Grove, Wave builds from Barrington to the North Shore and Chicago's north side. See the areas we serve.
Pool design & build
The signature move
How do you choose a pool builder for the whole yard?
Choose a pool builder by comparing the site assessment, design process, proposed pool system, written scope, permit and engineering responsibility, and warranty coverage. Ask who coordinates the deck, drainage, fencing, utilities, and surrounding landscape so each proposal is being compared on the same scope.
Wave starts on the design table, not the lawn. Custom 3D design is available as a paid add-on for project-specific review before construction. The panels below are separate examples, a design rendering and a completed Wave project, not a before-and-after pair or a promise of the same scope.
3D design example
Completed project example
Design review before construction.
Whole-property planning
Pool types
Which pool system and poolside direction fit your yard?
Wave leads with custom concrete pools, then considers fiberglass when property access, space, and available shell forms support it. Concrete is built on site, allowing the shape, size and features to be designed for the property. Fiberglass starts with a manufactured shell, so an available layout and the route for delivery and placement are central to the choice. Compare both systems within the complete backyard plan, including the deck and any poolside structures.
The pool photography on this page shows Wave projects. Use the portfolio to compare pool shape, surrounding materials, and how each pool fits the property; confirm the selected system in the project discussion.
Project planning
What shapes pool cost, scope, and timing?
Typical planning ranges are $80,000–$150,000 for fiberglass and $120,000–$200,000 for gunite or concrete. These are planning ranges, not quotes or minimum prices.
Pool project cost is shaped by site conditions, access, size, materials, features, utilities, safety work, surrounding construction, and full-project design and permitting coordination versus build-only work.
A full-project scope can coordinate the pool, design, permits, deck, fencing, lighting, and landscape; build-only work keeps the construction scope narrower. Ask for the proposal to separate pool construction, site work, surrounding surfaces, utilities, and optional features so you can compare what is included, not only the total.
Plan the schedule in stages.
Planning commonly includes about eight weeks for design and engineering coordination and about one to three months for permitting. After approvals and site readiness, fiberglass construction typically takes three to four weeks and concrete construction six to eight weeks; excavation itself can take a few days.
These are planning ranges, not schedule guarantees. Municipal review, site conditions, project scope, selections, and season can move each stage.
Ask what the warranty covers.
Warranty coverage is available. Ask which coverage applies to the selected pool system, labor, and installed components, and who honors each part.
Confirm the builder is licensed and insured.
Wave Outdoors Pools is licensed and insured. Ask any builder for current certificates with the proposal, and confirm who carries the risk for work on your property.
Our approach
How do poolside features fit the plan around the water?
Plan the pool, deck, lighting, planting, fencing, and gathering spaces as one outdoor room. Include the surrounding site work in that discussion: Wave offers yard grading and drainage, along with paver patios, retaining walls and walkways. Ask which elements belong in the initial construction scope and which can be considered separately.
How it works
How does a pool project move from design to construction?
Design
We assess the property, then develop the pool design around its conditions and your project goals. Engineers or architects are involved when the project requires them. Custom 3D design is an optional paid add-on for reviewing the proposed space before construction.
Define the scope
Use the proposal to separate pool construction, site work, surrounding surfaces and optional features. Compare material allowances and exclusions as well as the total, and identify any decisions that remain dependent on site conditions.
Permits and engineering
Wave handles village permits and engineering coordination for your pool project. Discuss code-compliant safety fencing, automatic covers, and pool alarms as you plan the space.
Build
Crews with 20+ years of experience build custom concrete, fiberglass, and above-ground systems.
Verified poolside feedback
What clients said about Wave work around their pools.
“The pool company installed the pool while Wave installed the pool deck, paver patio, retaining wall, grading and garden.”
Eric Freckman · Google review for Wave Outdoors Landscape + Design
“Our backyard now features two new pavilions around the pool: one for a kitchen and another for lounging.”
Kurt Riesenberg · Google review for Wave Outdoors Landscape + Design
These reviews are for our parent brand, Wave Outdoors Landscape + Design, and describe poolside landscape, hardscape, and outdoor-living work. They do not claim that Wave installed the pool shell in those projects.
Already have a pool?
Start with the pool that is already in your yard.
Wave Outdoors Pools offers renovation and remodeling for existing pools, including pool-deck replacement and resurfacing. The existing deck and site conditions determine the applicable replacement or resurfacing scope. Start by identifying what needs to change: the surrounding deck, the overall layout, or a specific pool surface. Ask us whether shell resurfacing, replastering or liner replacement is a fit for your existing pool.
Portfolio
See the pool and the whole outdoor setting.
Explore pool, deck, outdoor-room and lighting photographs from the portfolio.
Decks and outdoor rooms
A fiberglass shell with a built-in bench, set into a curved paver deck.
Outdoor lighting after dark
A cedar pergola and outdoor kitchen, lit for evening use.
Pool planning journal
Good questions lead to a better pool plan.
Read practical guides to pool construction, costs, materials and safety before shaping your project.
Pool Cost
How to read and compare inground pool quotes
Compare written pool-quote scope, inclusions, allowances, exclusions, equipment and plaster details before choosing a bid.
Gunite & Concrete Pool Installation
What is gunite, and how it differs from shotcrete and poured concrete
Gunite explained in plain English: the dry-mix form of sprayed concrete, wetted at the nozzle, how it differs from shotcrete and poured concrete.
Fiberglass Pool Installation
How long does it take to install a fiberglass pool?
The fiberglass pool installation timeline stage by stage: excavation, shell set, plumbing, backfill, decking and startup.
Pool Fence Installation
Can you install a pool fence yourself?
Which pool fences a homeowner can realistically install, what the permit and final inspection check, the mistakes that fail, and when to call a pro.
Pool Fence Installation
How much does a pool fence cost?
What national guides publish for pool fence cost per linear foot by material, what else drives the total, and what a suburban homeowner should budget for.
Gunite & Concrete Pool Installation
Gunite pools in a cold climate: what Illinois winters do to the shell
What freeze-thaw winters do to a gunite shell in the Chicago suburbs: frost uplift, hydrostatic relief, the winter water level, and closing without draining.
Where we build
From Barrington to the North Shore.
Wave Outdoors Pools is based in Buffalo Grove and builds within about 20 miles of it, across the North Shore suburbs and on Chicago's north side. Larger pool projects can take us farther. See every area we serve.
North Shore
- Evanston
- Wilmette
- Kenilworth
- Winnetka
- Glencoe
- Highland Park
Lake County
- Long Grove
- Kildeer
- Hawthorn Woods
- Lake Zurich
- Deer Park
- Lincolnshire
Barrington area
- Barrington
- Barrington Hills
- North Barrington
- South Barrington
- Lake Barrington
Chicago's north side
- Sauganash
- Edgebrook
- Forest Glen
- Norwood Park
- Edison Park
Ready to talk about your backyard?
Tell us about your space. If you are looking for a pool construction company, we can discuss the property, compare the viable pool paths, and define the next design decisions.