Do you design a backyard in 3D before building it?

On a full rebuild, yes. This Nesconset yard was modelled and rendered before any ground was broken, which is how the owner saw the finished space — materials, levels, the position of the spa and fire terrace, and the way the lighting would read at night — while changes still cost nothing but time. It also means the crew builds from a settled plan instead of working things out in the yard, which is where delays and compromises usually come from.

What is involved in putting a pool into a yard that never had one?

More than most people expect, and most of it happens before anything looks like a pool. The yard has to be excavated and spoil removed, access routes opened for machines on a lot that was never built for them, and elevations set across the whole space rather than just the pool itself. On this Nesconset property the rear yard was bare lawn, so grade, drainage and base depth could all be engineered from scratch for what was actually being built — which is an advantage, not a complication.

How is a raised spa with a waterfall built into a pool?

It is a structural job before it is a decorative one. The spa sits on block built to carry it, with the sheer-descent spillway formed into that structure and the plumbing run through it as it goes up. Coping is then set to a consistent line around both the spa and the pool so they read as one body of water. Added afterwards, the geometry rarely lines up.

Is landscape lighting worth including in a hardscape build?

On a yard built for entertaining, it is what makes the space usable for half the hours you own it. The important part is running it as part of the hardscape rather than adding it later — sleeves, conduit and fixture locations are set while the base and the masonry are going in, which is why the fixtures sit flush in the paving instead of being surface-mounted afterwards.

How long does a full backyard rebuild like this take?

This one ran across three seasons, breaking ground in winter and finishing for summer. A full rear-yard rebuild involving a pool, structural masonry, a kitchen, a fire terrace and a complete deck is sequenced across months rather than compressed into weeks — excavation and structure first, then subsurface systems, then masonry, then deck, coping, lighting and finishes.

Do you build projects like this elsewhere in Suffolk County?

Yes. We build across Nassau and Suffolk County, including Nesconset, Smithtown, Hauppauge, Commack, Lake Grove, Stony Brook and the surrounding towns. The scale varies by property; the engineering behind it does not.

Blue-hour aerial of the finished lit pool, spa and paver deck in Nesconset, Long Island

Nesconset · Suffolk County

Built For After Dark

A backyard the owner had been planning for years — modelled in 3D and rendered in full before ground broke, then built from a bare lawn into four zones made to be used after dark.

Full backyard rebuildWinter to summerSuffolk County

Living zones in one yard

Raised spa and waterfall

Seasons, winter to summer

Crew, start to finish

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The Brief

Years in the planning, built once

The owner of this Nesconset property had been planning this backyard for years before anyone broke ground. By the time we were involved there was already a clear idea of how the space should work — our job was to turn that into something that could actually be built, and then build it.

We worked it up together, design through to construction. The whole yard was modelled in 3D and rendered in full, so every decision was settled on screen while it was still cheap to change: where the raised spa sits, how the paver banding shifts between zones, where the fire terrace lands, how the lighting reads once the sun is down. Nothing here was worked out on site with a crew standing around waiting.

The yard itself was bare — patchy lawn, dirt and a small grid-paver patio behind the house. Starting from open ground is more work up front and a real advantage afterwards: every elevation, drainage run and base depth was set for what was going in, rather than inherited from whoever came before.

Everything was settled on screen while it was still cheap to change.

One Rear Yard

Pool, spa, kitchen and fire in a single frame

Every zone was set to one deck plane and one material language, which is what lets a yard carrying this much still read as calm.

Where It Started

The same yard, from directly above

Bare lawn on the left, the finished build on the right — photographed from the same position over the property. The pool on the far side of the white fence is the neighbour's; everything inside the fence line was built from open ground.

Overhead of the bare rear yard before construction, with patchy lawn and a small grid-paver patio, Nesconset — The original yard — patchy lawn, bare dirt and a small grid-paver patio behind the house

Overhead of the finished lit pool, spa, kitchen and fire terrace, Nesconset — The finished build, lit — pool, spa, kitchen, dining and fire terrace

During The Build

What it looked like underneath

Steel wall panels braced to line with the floor poured, a structural collar around the outside, the steps and bench formed in, and open trenches carrying circulation, gas and the conduit for every light fixture. This is the stage that decides whether the finished waterline sits true and the coping lands flat the whole way round — and all of it was buried before the first paver was set.

Site Walkthrough

Filmed on site in winter, before backfill. A few weeks later none of this was visible again — which is the only chance anyone gets to see whether a build was done properly underneath.

The Build

Three stages, winter to summer

Each stage below had to be right before the next could start. This is the order the work actually happened in.

The raised spa spilling into the lit pool over a sheer descent at dusk, Nesconset

The spa, and the water that falls out of it

The raised spa sits on block built to carry it, with the sheer-descent spillway formed into that structure and the plumbing coordinated through it as it went up. Coping is set to a consistent line around both the spa and the pool so the two read as one piece of water rather than a pool with something added beside it. Facing goes on last, once the structure behind it is already right.

Outdoor kitchen and bar run lit at dusk, Nesconset

A kitchen, a bar, and somewhere to sit at the fire

The yard is zoned rather than open: a full outdoor kitchen and bar run in matching stone, a dining terrace stepped into the deck beside it, and a circular fire terrace raised on its own round platform at the far end. Each zone is defined by a change in the paver banding rather than by walls, so the space stays open while every area still has an edge.

Circular raised fire terrace with surrounding lighting at dusk, Nesconset

Built to be used after the sun goes down

The lighting is the part people notice last in daylight and first at night. Fixtures are set into the deck, into the risers and into the masonry throughout, with the pool lit from within and the planting beds washed from below. It is run as part of the hardscape build, not added to it, which is why the fixtures sit flush in the paving and the whole yard reads as one lit composition rather than a set of fittings.