Anyone can dig a hole. We engineer everything that goes in it.
Fourteen phases. Every one scheduled before the last one ends, documented while it happens, and verified before we move. You will never have to call and ask what is going on in your own backyard.
You are not buying a pool. You are buying 80 tons of water held in place for 40 years.
Most people who call us have already been burned or have heard the stories. The builder who vanished for three weeks. The change order nobody mentioned at signing. The plaster that failed in year two and the phone that stopped getting answered.
That is not a pool industry problem. That is a documentation problem. When nothing is written down, nothing can be checked, and the only thing you have is somebody’s word.
So we published the whole process. Every phase below is a real work order in our field system, with a real checklist, a real photo requirement, and a real email that fires to you when it is scheduled and again when it is finished. This page is not a brochure. It is the actual build.
Fourteen phases. Zero guessing.
Read it before you sign anything, with us or with anyone else. Then ask the other builder for theirs in writing.
Design Reconnaissance
We walk your site, talk through what you actually want, then file an FAA flight authorization and fly your lot with an RTK survey drone. What comes back is a centimeter-level 3D model of your real ground, not a sketch on graph paper.
- Design vision session with every decision maker present
- Access route and utility corridor walked and photographed
- FAA authorization filed, RTK aerial survey flown
- Home elevation measured and documented
Design Reveal and VR Walkthrough
We come back with your pool designed on your terrain model, then hand you a headset. You walk your finished backyard at true scale. Stand on the tanning ledge. Look back at the house from the deep end. Before a shovel moves.
- Full 3D design presented on your actual survey data
- VR walkthrough at true scale, everyone in the house takes a turn
- Revisions captured on the spot, or design approved as-is
- Next appointment locked before we leave the driveway
Proposal and Sign Day
One hour, line by line, built from your survey data and your approved design. Investment structure, milestone schedule, and your personal sign-to-swim timeline, all in writing before you sign anything.
- Every line of the proposal walked through out loud
- Milestone draws tied to verified, photographed completion
- Written sign-to-swim timeline handed over
- Your design consult fee credited to the project
Engineering and Permits
A licensed Professional Engineer stamps your structural plans, drawn on your terrain model. We submit the permit package and handle the HOA or ARC submission. You never touch city hall.
- PE-stamped structural plans and hydraulic calculations
- Setbacks and easements verified against survey data
- Permit package submitted, HOA or ARC handled where required
- Approved plan set delivered to your portal
Mobilization and Precision Layout
Erosion control goes in, site protection goes down, your permit gets posted, and your pool gets laid out on the ground using the same survey positioning that mapped the lot. Elevations confirmed on rotary laser, not string line and instinct.
- Erosion control and site protection installed
- Permit posted, job box staged, access route protected
- RTK stakeout of pool layout against the stamped plans
- You walk the painted outline before anything is dug
Dig Day
The loudest and most satisfying day of the build. Every pass follows the engineered profile with grade checked continuously on laser, so the hole matches the plans rather than the operator’s best guess. Charge your phone. You will want the video.
- Excavation to engineered depths and floor profile
- Grade verified on laser at every break point
- Over-dig confirmed for engineered shell thickness
- Spoils handled exactly as the contract says
Steel and Plumbing
The rebar cage is hand tied through your entire pool to the engineer’s schedule. Plumbing is roughed to the hydraulic plan, then pressure tested and held before one inch of it gets buried. We photograph the gauge with the needle in frame.
- Rebar cage tied to the PE schedule
- Plumbing roughed to the hydraulic plan
- Pressure test held and documented, gauge photographed
- Electrical rough-in and bonding to code
County Inspection
The county inspector walks your project and checks our steel, plumbing, and electrical against your stamped plans. This is the one phase where our opinion does not count. That is exactly why it is on this page.
- Inspector walks steel, plumbing, and electrical
- Everything checked against the PE-stamped plan set
- Green tag posted on site
- Tag photographed and uploaded same day
Shotcrete Day and the 28-Day Cure
Structural concrete is shot through your steel cage at high velocity, then steps, benches, and transitions are carved by hand. By sundown your pool exists in stone. Then it sits for 28 days, and your family gets a job.
- Shell shot to engineered thickness, verified and recorded
- Steps, benches, and ledges hand carved
- 28-day cure protocol begins immediately
- Your household gets the daily watering ritual, kids with hoses included
Tile, Coping and Deck
The beauty phase, and the one where craftsmanship shows up instantly and permanently. Tile lines, coping joints, and deck slopes are the details people run their hand across for the next thirty years.
- Waterline tile installed to your selections
- Coping set and checked to level
- Deck formed and finished per design
- Drainage slopes verified so water sheds away from pool and house
Equipment Set
Pump, filter, heater, sanitization, automation, and lighting, plumbed to the hydraulic plan and wired to code. Every component labeled. This pad decides your monthly power bill and how much of your life the pool consumes.
- Pad plumbed to the engineered hydraulic plan for flow efficiency
- Wired to code, inspected, and dressed clean
- Automation and lighting configured to your phone
- Every valve and line labeled, tour-ready
Plaster and Fill Day
Interior finish goes on by hand, and the moment it is done, water starts and does not stop until the pool is full. Fresh plaster has to fill continuously or it rings and stains permanently. We manage the fill start to finish.
- Interior finish hand applied to your selections
- Continuous fill, no interruptions, no rings
- 30-day startup chemistry protocol begins the same day
- Startup do’s and don’ts delivered in writing
Startup Chemistry Visits
The least visible and most consequential month of pool ownership. Your Wizard tests, doses, and brushes on a set schedule while the finish cures from the inside out. The first 30 days of plaster determine the next 20 years of it.
- Full water test every visit, numbers taken not guessed
- Dosed to the startup protocol
- Surfaces brushed by hand on schedule
- Results logged to your portal every single time
The Academy
Four sessions at your own pool, hands on. Science, Safety, Shell, Systems. We refuse to hand a family a six-figure pool and a wave goodbye. Your education is part of the build, not an upsell.
- Science · read and correct your own water
- Safety · family layers, chemical handling, equipment
- Shell · finish care and what your warranty actually covers
- Systems · equipment and app mastery, hands on
Two of your twenty weeks are spent waiting on purpose.
Concrete and plaster are chemical reactions, not products. Rushing either one is the most profitable corner in this industry and the most expensive one for you, because the damage does not appear until the warranty is over. Here is exactly where your calendar goes, and why.
Days of shell cure
Concrete keeps gaining strength as long as it stays hydrated. Cutting the cure short to hit a swim date trades decades of structural life for a few weeks on a calendar. Your household waters it daily, and yes, we genuinely mean the kids with hoses. Your family helps build the pool.
Days of startup chemistry
New plaster is porous and chemically active. The balance it sits in during month one sets how smooth and bright it stays for twenty years. We run a professional startup protocol with logged results, not a bag of shock and a prayer.
If a builder quotes you a faster timeline, ask them one question
“Which cure are you shortening, and will you put the reason in writing?” There are only three honest answers: they are building a different pool type, they are excluding something from scope, or they are cutting the cure. Any of those is fine if it is disclosed. None of them are fine if it is not.
Same backyard. Different method.
This compares process, not people. There are good builders in this valley. The difference is what gets written down.
| Step | Rocket City Water Wizards | Common practice |
|---|---|---|
| Site measurement | RTK aerial survey, centimeter-level 3D model of your actual ground | Tape measure and a walk of the yard |
| Design review | VR walkthrough at true scale before signing | A rendering or a 2D drawing |
| Structural plans | PE-stamped and drawn on your terrain data | Standard template adapted to the lot |
| Excavation control | Laser grade verified at every break point | Operator judgment and a grade stick |
| Pressure testing | Held to spec and photographed with the gauge in frame | Tested, rarely documented for the client |
| Shell method | Wet-mix shotcrete, thickness verified and recorded | Varies by builder, thickness seldom recorded |
| Cure discipline | Full 28-day shell cure and 30-day plaster startup, no exceptions | Frequently compressed to hit a swim date |
| Communication | Automated email when each phase is scheduled and again when finished | You call and ask |
| Payment structure | Milestone draws released against photographed completion | Calendar-based or front-loaded draws |
| Handover | Four-session Academy at your pool, then first swim | A binder and a handshake |
Twenty-plus years of Army aviation, pointed at your backyard.
“Aviation taught one lesson that carries into every build: the details you skip are the ones that fail you later. That is why the spec is written before excavation, why every milestone is verified before the next begins, and why we will move a pour date rather than warranty a mistake.”John · Founder and CEO · U.S. Army, Retired
The questions people actually ask.
What does a pool cost?
We do not quote pools over the phone, and you should be careful with anyone who does. Price is driven by access, soil, elevation change, utility routing, size, and equipment selection, and none of those can be assessed from a phone call. Your site survey exists to produce a real number instead of a range that changes later. What we will tell you up front: your design consult fee is credited back to your project at signing.
How long from signing to swimming?
Sixteen to twenty weeks for concrete, and roughly eight of those weeks are the two cure windows. Permit timelines vary by municipality and are the most common source of variance. You get a written sign-to-swim timeline at Phase 03, and every phase is scheduled before the previous one ends.
Do you build vinyl liner and fiberglass pools too?
Yes. Vinyl runs roughly eight to ten weeks and fiberglass is faster still, because neither has a shotcrete shell cure or a plaster startup. The phase count is shorter and the documentation standard is identical. Ask us which type actually fits your yard and your budget. Sometimes the answer is not concrete.
What happens if something goes wrong mid-build?
You hear it from us first, in writing, with the option set and the cost impact stated before anything changes. Our weather rules are published and enforced: no concrete pour when the forecast calls 60 percent rain inside a seven-day window, and no liner pull under 60 degrees overnight without special provision. We will move a date rather than warranty a mistake.
Who actually shows up at my house?
Our own crews and our own vetted trade partners. Staff are background-screened to a defense-industry standard, which is a habit from a previous career that turned out to be a good one to keep when people are working behind your house while your kids are home.
Where do you build?
Northern Alabama and Southern Tennessee. Huntsville, Madison, Athens, Decatur, Harvest, Toney, New Market, Owens Cross Roads, and the surrounding communities. If you are outside that footprint, call anyway and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.
Do you offer financing?
Yes. We work with Hearth and Sunbit, and you can get pre-qualified before your site survey so you walk into the design conversation already knowing your number.
Phase 01 starts with a flight.
Tell us where the pool goes. We will schedule the site survey, fly your lot, and put a real 3D model of your property in front of you. No pressure, no phone quotes, no salesperson in a polo pretending to measure.
- Call or text833-420-9973
- New constructionsales@rocketcitywaterwizards.com
- HoursMon to Fri 8am to 4pm · Sat 9am to 1pm
- Existing clientsClient portal