Plan the fence with the pool
Not after. Where the barrier lands changes how much usable yard you're left with, and it's cheaper to work that out on paper.
Benton County, Arkansas
Bentonville sits on flat ground, and that helps
The digging up here is rocky, but the grade is about as friendly as it gets.
Flat on top, rocky underneath
Bentonville sits on the top of the Springfield Plateau, and it's flat. We sampled elevations across town and the whole city spans about 56 feet. Compare that to a place like Rogers, where the east side drops more than 200 feet, and you can see why the conversation here starts somewhere different.
Flat is the friendliest ground there is. No retaining wall, no grade to fight, and the machines drive straight to the hole. What you trade for it is the digging itself, because there's a lot of chert in this ground and it doesn't come out clean.
What's actually under a Bentonville yard
These are published figures for the soils and bedrock mapped around here. Your lot is your lot, and we'd rather come look at it.
Over 80 inches
How deep the soil runs before bedrock on the Clarksville soils that cover most of this watershed. You're unlikely to hit refusal digging a pool here.
Up to 70 percent
The chert content the USGS records in the Boone Formation limestone underneath. Chert is the reason the spoil pile looks like gravel.
0.05 inches per hour
The infiltration rate the city itself cites for the tight clay and rock subsoil. Water doesn't go anywhere on its own, which makes drainage a design question rather than an afterthought.
The fence rule people get wrong
Bentonville publishes its barrier requirements, which not every city around here does, and it's worth knowing before you plan the yard. The pool enclosure has to be at least 48 inches tall, and the gap between the bottom of the fence and the ground can't be more than 2 inches. Your plot plan has to show the pool, the existing fencing, the easements and the gates.
Pool permits in Bentonville run through the Building and Fire Safety Division of the Fire Department, which surprises people. Pulling it is our job, not yours.
Watch the easements
No fence goes in a platted drainage easement, so those lines matter to the layout before anybody starts digging.
We pull the permit
You don't chase it, and you don't sit in the office. That's on us.
Two good options, not a right answer
Gunite
- Any shape and any depth, drawn around your yard rather than picked off a page
- Built in place, so it can follow a slope, a corner or an odd property line
- A deep end and a diving board are both on the table
- Tile, plaster and aggregate finishes that you choose
Fiberglass
- A finished shell by Imagine Pools, smooth from the day it goes in
- Thirteen models to choose between, with a size that suits most yards
- The shell arrives complete, so the job moves faster once it's on site
- It can be set over the house by crane when a gate won't do it
We build both, so we have no reason to talk you into either one.
What comes with every pool
Every pool we build comes with a variable speed pump, color changing LED lights you can run from your phone, and 4 feet of concrete around the pool, which can typically be broom finished or textured. This season we're also including a salt system, a wireless robotic cleaner, the textured concrete upgrade and chemical start up. Electrical hookup isn't included, because state law requires a licensed electrician for that part.
What a pool costs here
Gunite starts at $75,000, and that's the whole job. Fiberglass starts at $69,000. Where it lands depends on the model and the size, and a bigger fiberglass build can run close to a gunite pool the same size.
How long it takes
Active construction runs three to six weeks. From the day we break ground to the day you swim is usually ten to sixteen weeks, because permitting, inspections, curing and weather all sit between the working days.
Three to six weeks of building
Ten to sixteen weeks start to finish
Questions people in Bentonville ask us
Permitting in Bentonville
Building and Fire Safety Division handles it, and pulling the permit is our job rather than yours. If you'd rather read the city's own words on it, here's the page.
Bentonville also publishes a fence guide with the barrier rules in it, which is worth reading while you're still planning the yard.
Bentonville permits and building department
This link leaves our site and opens in a new tab.
Where else we build
Fort SmithSebastian CountyVan BurenCrawford CountyGreenwoodSebastian CountyAlmaCrawford CountyBarlingSebastian CountyRogersBenton CountyFayettevilleWashington CountySpringdaleWashington and Benton Counties
We also build across Northwest Arkansas, Central Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma.
Let's talk about your Bentonville yard
Tell us what you're thinking, and we'll come look at the yard.