Why plan the whole yard before building any of it?
Most backyard trouble comes from pieces designed separately. A patio crew sets a grade that sends water toward the spot the pool builder digs a year later. A kitchen arrives after the deck is down, and its gas line goes in through a saw cut. Each crew did its own part well, and the yard still doesn’t work as one.
We handle all four parts ourselves: fiberglass or gunite pools, custom hardscaping and outdoor living design. In practice that means one schedule, one set of drawings and one person to call.
What should the first design meeting cover?
The first meeting is about how you’ll use the yard. Do you host thirty people or six? Do the kids need a shallow area? Does the afternoon sun bake the back of the house? Bring photos of outdoor spaces you like and a budget range, even a rough one, so the plan puts money where it matters to you.
We also walk the lot: soil, grade, drainage, trees worth keeping, where the utilities come in, and whether equipment can reach the back of the property. The second step of our process, custom design and planning, turns all of that into a detailed plan with every feature, material and layout set before construction starts.
Can you build a backyard in phases?
Yes. A common order is the pool and the deck around it first, then the kitchen or pergola in a later season. Phasing works when the full design is finished up front. During the first phase we run conduit and gas and water stubs to where the future kitchen will sit, so phase two connects to what’s already there instead of cutting into it.
Some things can’t wait. Grading and drainage for the whole yard usually belong in phase one, because bare ground erodes and fixing it later means disturbing finished work. Planting can often come later, and living with the first phase for a season tends to make the choices for the second one easier.
If spreading the cost is part of the plan, our financing page links the three lenders we work with: HFS Financial, Lyon Financial and VistaFi.
How does one plan handle drainage across the yard?
Water ties every part of a backyard together. The pool deck, the patio, the roof of a pavilion and the lawn all shed water, and each surface needs somewhere to send it. On one plan, the pitch of every surface leads to the same set of drains and outlets, and the pool sits where runoff from the rest of the yard won’t wash toward it. When each contractor drains only their own piece, the low spot lands wherever two pieces meet.
Which permits and inspections apply to a Nashville backyard?
Inside Metro Nashville-Davidson County, pool permits come from Metro Codes, and its pool permitting page asks for a pool-alarm receipt along with meeting the barrier requirements of the pool code it has adopted. That follows state law, which bars a local government from issuing a residential pool permit unless a pool alarm is planned (Tenn. Code § 68-14-805).
Electrical and gas work carry their own permits and inspections, and setbacks, easements and HOA rules shape where a pool can sit at all. We check those before the layout is final, so a plan doesn’t get redrawn halfway through the build.
Before the first shovel, Tennessee law requires notice to 811 at least 3 working days ahead, and digging that runs past 15 calendar days needs fresh notice (Tenn. Code § 65-31-106). On a phased job, each phase gets its own.
What happens once construction starts?
The third step is the build itself, from excavation through the finishing work, with the site cleaned up daily and regular updates on where things stand. Eli Wilkinson said it in his Google review: “The project site was kept clean and organized each day.” The last step is a final walkthrough, where we go over every detail with you before the job is called complete. Jordan Vidro’s review sums up the schedule side: “Everything was completed on time.”
Our project gallery shows finished yards from around Middle Tennessee. Read the Nashville service area page for what we cover in Davidson County, and request a consultation to start with the first meeting.