The desert evening is the whole point.
From May to September, a Scottsdale backyard is used before eight and after seven. Shade, fire, and light are not accessories to the pool; they are what make the yard livable the other fourteen hours. We design them together, off the sun path.
Structures & kitchens
- Ramadas and pergolas: block, steel, or timber, engineered for monsoon wind
- Outdoor kitchens: built-in grills, burners, refrigeration, real counter space
- Shade placed by sun modeling, not by symmetry with the house
- Power, gas, and water run during pool trenching, one dig instead of three
Fire, water & light
- Fire bowls, linear troughs, and fireplaces, all plumbed gas with key or switch
- Sheer descents, scuppers, and spillways sized so you can still hold a conversation
- Landscape and pool lighting aimed at dusk, on a real walkthrough, not guessed from a plan
- Low-glare fixtures: you should see the saguaro, not the bulb
Why we build it with the pool, not after
Half the cost of an outdoor kitchen is under the ground: gas, power, water, and drainage getting to it. When the pool trenches are already open, those runs are almost free. When a kitchen is added two years later, the same runs mean sawcut deck, a second round of inspections, and a patch line in the concrete you will see forever. If there is any chance you will want fire, shade, or a kitchen, tell us at the design stage and we will at least stub the lines.
Lighting gets the same discipline. We aim every fixture at dusk with you standing in the yard, because a lighting plan on paper has never once survived contact with a real mesquite tree.
Start with the process, or see the ramada and fire trough on Sonoran Terrace in the portfolio.
Start with a conversation, not a contract.
An hour in your yard or our Old Town studio. No obligation, no deposit, and you keep the honest budget range we give you.