Cristallo Pools designs custom pools and complete backyards, every one drawn from scratch and rendered in 3D before construction begins. The design team works through your site, your style, and your budget across five stages, from the first consultation to a build-ready plan. You see the pool in your yard before you commit.
Custom Pool Design: Who It's For
Custom design is the right starting point for homeowners who want a pool built specifically for their property, not chosen from a catalog of stock shapes. Cristallo works most often with three kinds of owners: people finishing a new or recently bought home who want the backyard to match it, owners of waterfront, golf-course, or estate lots where the pool has to be sited around views and setbacks, and homeowners planning a full backyard where the pool, deck, spa, and landscape are designed as one. The common thread is wanting an original design that fits the specific yard, which is the part a pre-set plan cannot do.
It is also the right path when the yard itself is the constraint. Sloped lots, narrow side yards, water tables, screen-enclosure footprints, and HOA rules all shape what can be built, and a custom design works around those conditions rather than forcing a stock shape to fit. If you are weighing a fully custom design against a faster off-the-shelf pool, the deciding question is usually how much the finished pool needs to fit the specific property, and how much you want to see it before you build it.
How The Design Process Works, Step By Step
Cristallo runs design in five stages, from first conversation to a build-ready plan. Each stage has your sign-off before the next begins, so the design moves at your pace and nothing is finalized without your approval.
- Initial consultation: We meet to discuss how you want to use the backyard, the style you are drawn to, and your budget, so the design starts from how you actually live.
- Concept development: The design team turns that brief into initial concepts, each drawn specifically for your lot and sightlines rather than a template.
- Design refinement and 3D rendering: We refine the concept with your input and render it in 3D, so you can see the pool, deck, and features in your actual yard and adjust before anything is committed.
- Material selection: You choose surfaces, tile, decking, and lighting from premium lines, balancing how it looks against how it wears in Florida sun and salt air.
- Final approval and build-ready plan: Once you sign off, we finalize the engineering and permitting plan and hand off cleanly to construction.
See It In 3D Before You Build
Every Cristallo design is rendered in 3D so you can walk the pool, deck, and backyard before construction starts. The design library includes full walkthroughs of real projects, from a complete backyard overhaul to a Frenchman’s Creek pool-and-backyard design, so you can see the level of detail the team works to. Seeing the finished space in 3D is what removes the guesswork from a custom build, and it is the step most stock-plan and catalog designers skip.
The rendering is also where changes are cheap. Moving a sun shelf, widening the deck, swapping a tile, or reshaping the spa costs nothing on screen and everything in poured concrete, so the 3D stage is where the design gets right before money is committed. By the time you approve the plan, you have already seen the pool from the angles you will actually use it, which is why most clients sign off with confidence rather than hoping the finished pool matches what they pictured.
What The Design Covers, Surfaces To Lighting
A Cristallo design covers the whole backyard, not just the pool shell. Interior finishes come from premium lines like Pebble Technology (PebbleTec), Wet Edge, and NPT; waterline and feature tile from Lunada Bay, Bisazza, and Artistry in Mosaics; decking from Belgard, Del Conca, and Natural Paving; and landscape lighting from FX Luminaire and Kichler. Features designed in from the start, integrated spas, sun shelves, vanishing edges, water features, fire elements, and saltwater systems, are planned into the shell and the plumbing rather than added later.
Designing these elements together is what separates a custom plan from a stock one. Because the finishes, decking, lighting, and features are selected as one scheme rather than chosen piecemeal during construction, the colors, materials, and sightlines are coordinated before anything is built. That is also where the 3D rendering earns its place: you see the actual finish combinations on your own pool before committing to them, instead of approving samples and hoping they work together.
Why Homeowners Choose Cristallo For Design
Cristallo designs every pool from scratch and renders it in 3D before construction, so no two builds are alike and you see the finished space before you commit. The same team designs and builds, which means the plan is drawn to what can actually be constructed on your specific lot rather than handed off to a separate builder to reinterpret. On waterfront, golf-course, and estate lots, that matters more than on a standard yard, because the design has to account for setbacks, views, drainage, and Florida’s coastal conditions from the first sketch.
The credentials back it up. Cristallo holds Florida contractor licenses CPC1458452 and CBC 1255924, won the PHTA International Award of Excellence in 2025 and the Pinnacle Award in 2024, and has been featured in Luxury Pools Magazine. That award reflects work judged against builders nationally, which is something most local design firms cannot claim, and it is a concrete trust signal rather than a self-described label.
Pool Styles We Design
Cristallo designs in every major pool style, matched to your lot and how you want the backyard to feel. Infinity-edge (vanishing-edge) pools suit properties with a view, where the water appears to drop into the horizon. Geometric and straight-line designs bring clean, modern lines to contemporary homes. Freeform pools use organic curves and can carry waterfalls, rock features, and beach entries for a more natural look. Resort-style and lagoon designs turn a larger lot into a full backyard retreat with integrated spas, sun shelves, and water features. The style is chosen during design and rendered in 3D before anything is built, so you see the look on your own property before committing to it.
Design-build Vs. Design-only, Should You Hire A Designer Or A Design-build Firm?
In addition to standard pool designs, we specialize in pool and spa design that provides a luxurious retreat right in your backyard. Our designs harmoniously combine pools and spas, creating spaces perfect for relaxation and entertainment, with features like spillover edges, integrated seating, and ambient lighting.
Dimension | Design-build (Cristallo) | Design-only firm |
|---|---|---|
Who builds it | Same team designs and builds | You hire a separate builder |
Accountability | One team, concept to handover | Split between designer and builder |
Buildability | Designed to what can actually be built on your lot | Plan may need rework to build |
3D rendering | Included before build | Varies; sometimes extra |
Best for | Owners who want one accountable team | Owners who already have a builder |
Design-build means the team that designs your pool is the team that builds it, so the plan is drawn to what can actually be constructed on your lot and one team is accountable from first sketch to final walkthrough. A design-only firm hands you a plan you then take to a separate builder, which can work if you already have a builder you trust. Cristallo is design-build, which is why the 3D plan is build-ready rather than a concept someone else has to reinterpret.
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Where We Design
Cristallo designs pools across Palm Beach County and Martin County, including West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Lake Worth, Wellington, Jupiter, and Palm City. For a design consultation in your town, the city design pages cover each area in detail, and the team can confirm your specific address is in the service area on the first call.
Designing locally matters more than it looks. A team that works these neighborhoods knows the HOA and permitting rules that vary from one community to the next, the coastal and water-table conditions that affect shell engineering near the Intracoastal, and the lot patterns common to the area’s golf-course and estate communities. That local knowledge is built into the design from the first sketch, rather than discovered during construction.
Our Design and Planning Service Areas
Frequently Asked Questions:
How Does The Pool Design Process Work?
Cristallo designs in five stages: initial consultation, concept development, design refinement with 3D rendering, material selection, and final approval. You sign off at each stage, so nothing is finalized without your approval, and you see the pool in 3D before construction begins.
How Long Does Pool Design Take?
Most designs are finalized within a few weeks, depending on the complexity of the project and how quickly selections are made. Larger full-backyard projects take longer than a single pool. The design team gives you a timeline at the first consultation.
Do You Design The Whole Backyard Or Just The Pool?
Both. Cristallo designs the pool, deck, spa, water and fire features, landscape, and lighting as one integrated plan, so the elements work together rather than being added piece by piece. You can also scope the design to the pool alone if that is all you need.
What Materials Can I Choose From?
Surfaces come from premium lines like Pebble Technology, Wet Edge, and NPT; tile from Lunada Bay, Bisazza, and Artistry in Mosaics; decking from Belgard, Del Conca, and Natural Paving. The design team helps you balance how each looks against how it wears in Florida.
Do You Handle Permits And Engineering?
Yes. The design ends in a build-ready plan that includes the engineering and permitting Cristallo manages through construction, including HOA approvals. On waterfront and gated-community lots, that planning is often what sets the schedule.
Can You Design Around My Existing Landscaping?
Yes. The design can work with mature landscaping, existing structures, and lot conditions so the new pool fits the yard you already have. The 3D rendering shows exactly how the pool sits against what is already there.
How Do I Start A Pool Design?
Book a free design consultation by calling (561) 766-0353 or requesting one online. The first meeting covers how you want to use the space, your style, and your budget, and there is no cost to see initial ideas.
Can I See My Pool Before It Is Built?
Yes. Every Cristallo design is rendered in 3D so you can walk the pool, deck, and backyard before construction starts. This is the step that removes the guesswork from a custom build and the reason most clients feel confident signing off.
Designed and built by Cristallo Pools, Florida-licensed pool and spa contractors (CPC1458452 | CBC 1255924), winners of the PHTA International Award of Excellence 2025 and the Pinnacle Award 2024, featured in Luxury Pools Magazine, designing original pools across Palm Beach and Martin Counties since 2011.
Ready to see your backyard in 3D before you build? Book a free design consultation. Call (561) 766-0353 or request your consultation online.