50 feet from the bank
On a protected stream, the buffer runs no less than 50 feet back from the top of the bank, and further where the ground is steep.
Washington County, Arkansas
Fayetteville checks the rules before the dirt
More of your yard is regulated here than anywhere else we build, and finding that out early is the whole game.
The most regulated ground in Northwest Arkansas
We like Fayetteville, but we'll be honest about it. The city maps and regulates its own ground more closely than anywhere else we work. It publishes official map layers for slopes over 15 percent, for a hillside and hilltop overlay, and for a four tier streamside protection zone. Trees over three inches across are protected and need a permit before they come out.
None of that means you can't have a pool. It means somebody needs to check your specific lot against those maps before you fall in love with a layout, and that somebody should be us. Permits here also take longer than they do in the rest of the region, so the timeline conversation starts earlier.
The rule most people have never heard of
Fayetteville's streamside protection zone is the one that catches people, and it's worth reading twice.
150 square feet
Inside that buffer, accessory structures are capped at 150 square feet. A pool and its deck are far bigger than that, so on a protected stream lot this isn't a variance conversation. It's a no.
Check first, always
That's exactly why we look at your lot against the city's maps before we draw anything. Finding this out after you've picked a shape is the expensive way.
Seven kinds of rock in one town
Detailed geologic mapping of the Fayetteville quadrangle found seven different formations reaching the surface inside it, and about 45 percent of that surface is black shale rather than the limestone people expect. There's a fault running east to west through the middle of the city, so the rock under a lot can genuinely change from one side of town to the other.
Add a city that climbs roughly 700 feet from the river valley on the east to the top of Kessler Mountain inside the city limits, and you get a place where no two backyards excavate the same. We don't guess at that. We come look.
Slope
If your lot falls inside the hillside overlay, that shapes what's buildable and how much of the budget goes into holding ground.
Trees
Anything over three inches across is protected. That changes how we get equipment in, and it's worth planning around rather than fighting.
Time
Permits run longer here than elsewhere in the region. Better to build that into the schedule than be surprised by it.
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 Fayetteville ask us
Permitting in Fayetteville
Building 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.
Worth reading alongside the streamside and hillside checks above, since in Fayetteville those decide more than the permit does.
Fayetteville 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 CountyBentonvilleBenton CountyRogersBenton CountySpringdaleWashington and Benton Counties
We also build across Northwest Arkansas, Central Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma.
Let's talk about your Fayetteville yard
Tell us what you're thinking, and we'll come look at the yard.