Drawn with the pool. Dug once.
Outdoor Living Across Georgia
Outdoor living is not one product. It is a kitchen, a fire, some shade, a deck and the ground between them, and the difference between a backyard that works and one that was assembled in stages is almost entirely down to what got decided first. We design and build the whole of it, and we build pools, which means the trenching happens once. Aqualis Pools also takes on projects across Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Designed for Living, Built for Enjoyment
What an Outdoor Living Project Is, and What It Is Not
It is not a single purchase with a single price. It is a set of decisions that can be built in one pass or over several years, and the honest version is that most of the cost sits in the parts nobody photographs: the trenching, the drainage, the gas run, the footings, the electrical supply.
It is also not something you have to commit to all at once. You do have to decide it all at once, which is a different thing and the point of this page.
And it is not a furniture arrangement. If the plan is to buy a grill and a sofa and put them on the existing patio, that is a perfectly reasonable thing to do and it does not need us. What we are useful for is the version that involves ground, services and structures.
The Order Is the Part People Get Wrong
A backyard fills up with things that need something buried first. A kitchen needs gas, water, power and a drain. A fire feature needs a gas line or a decided propane position. Lighting needs conduit. A pergola or pavilion needs footings. Every one of those is straightforward while the ground is open and awkward once it is not.
Which is why the sequence goes: decide everything, dig once, build in whatever order the budget allows. A conduit and a capped gas stub cost very little to put in while the excavator is on site. Cutting a finished patio two years later to reach the same point costs a great deal more, and the repair never quite disappears.
If a pool is part of the plan, that is the moment everything else should at least be drawn. We are already excavating, already running electrical to a pad, already trenching. new pool construction and the outdoor living around it are one site visit and one set of trenches if they are planned together, and two of everything if they are not.
This is the practical reason to use a pool builder for the backyard rather than a separate contractor afterwards, and it is the reason this page exists rather than the seven pages it links to.
What Goes Into an Outdoor Living Project
The kitchen. The piece that most rewards deciding early, because it is the one that needs gas, water, power and drainage all in the same place. outdoor kitchens are also the element that fixes the layout of everything else, since the rest of the space arranges itself around where people cook and stand.
The fire. Two different objects that get talked about as one. An outdoor fireplace is a built structure with a chimney, a footprint and a wall it works against. A fire pit is something you sit around in the open, and it can be a far smaller decision. They cost different money and they change the space in different ways.
The shade. A pergola is an open frame that filters light and carries planting. A pavilion is a roof, which means it keeps rain off, changes what can sit underneath it and is a different structure to build and to permit. Where neither is the answer, other shade structures cover the gap. Getting this choice right is mostly about being honest with yourself about whether you want dappled light or actual cover.
The deck, and which kind. This site has more than one deck page and the difference has never been explained anywhere, so here it is. A custom deck is a framed structure, attached to the house or standing on its own, which is what you want where the ground falls away or where you want a level platform off a back door. pool decking is the paved surface that surrounds a pool, chosen for grip and for how hot it gets underfoot. Different products, different trades, and plenty of projects want both.
The ground between everything. Patios, paths, retaining walls and driveways are hardscaping, and they are what turn separate features into one space. They are also the work most often left until last and most often compromised by that, because levels and drainage are decided by the ground, not by what is standing on it.
What an Outdoor Living Project Costs
It depends almost entirely on how much of it involves digging. A pergola on an existing patio is a contained job. A kitchen with gas, water and drainage on a sloping site is not, and the visible parts are a modest share of that number.
What moves it: how far services have to be run, whether the ground needs retaining or levelling, whether structures need roofs and therefore footings and permits, the materials chosen for the surfaces, and above all whether the work happens alongside a pool build or after one.
Where the work forms part of a larger project, pool financing options apply to it in the same way they apply to the pool.
What Our Clients Say
Aqualis Pools is rated 5.0 on Google, from a small number of reviews, and every one can be read on the profile.
Outdoor Living Across Georgia
We design and build outdoor living projects for homeowners in Lawrenceville, Buford, Loganville, Athens, Auburn and nearby Georgia communities. The full list is on our service areas page, and finished work is in the gallery.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, and most of the value of planning properly is that you do not have to. What matters is that the whole layout is decided before the ground is closed, so that services can be run to where the kitchen, the fire and the lighting will eventually go. Building in phases against a finished plan is normal. Building in phases without one is how patios end up being cut open.
Yes, and it is the cheaper way to do it. The excavation, the electrical supply to the equipment pad and the trenching are happening anyway, so adding conduit, a gas stub or footings while the site is open costs a fraction of what it costs to go back for them. If a pool is in your plans at all, this is the conversation to have first.
Typically some combination of a kitchen or cooking area, a fire element, a shade structure, a deck or patio, lighting, and the paving and drainage that ties it together. Which of those you need depends on how the space will actually be used, which is the first thing we ask and the reason no two plans look alike.
A custom deck is a framed structure, usually raised, either attached to the house or freestanding. Pool decking is the paved surface immediately around a pool, specified for grip when wet and for how hot it gets in the sun. They are different builds and many projects include both.
It depends on how much groundwork and structural work is involved, and on permitting where roofed structures are part of the plan. A single feature on existing hard standing is short work; a full backyard with services run to it is a construction programme.
A well-built outdoor space that suits the house adds to how a property presents, and that is fair to say. Whether it returns its cost at resale is debated, and it varies with the market and with how specific the build is to one owner’s taste. Build it because you will use it.
Start Planning Your Outdoor Living Space
Two answers get a plan moving. Is a pool part of this, now or later? And of everything on this page, which one thing would actually get used every week? The first decides the sequence; the second decides where the money goes first.
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