2012 NESPA Design Awards Recipient
2012 NESPA Design Awards Recipient

Custom Pool Pros of Linden, NJ is pleased to announce that we have been the recipient of the prestigious 2012 NESPA Design Awards for “Outstanding Achievement in Design and Building Concrete” as well as the Gold Award for “Residential Concrete Pools – Freeform.”

NESPA is part of the Association for Pool and Spa Professionals (APSP) that represents the highest standard for Pool and Spa Professionals in the North East and the entire USA. They have been established since 1958 and are recognized both regionally (covering pool and spa building and design not only for New Jersey and New York States but Connecticut and Pennsylvania as well) and nationally. NESPA is highly respected for spearheading the industry of pool and spa design, quality and standards in our profession.

As one might conclude, we here at Custom Pool Pros in New Jersey are honored to have been awarded such a prestigious award from NESPA and to be recognized by our peers for our quality custom swimming pools and designs.

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To give you a little more insight into just how much goes into our pool designing we thought we’d share a little bit of the details on the project that won this award in excellence.

This particular project was quite challenging. Our customer really wanted something magnificent and on a grand scale, we were naturally up for the challenge! First, they wanted the design to incorporate a large swimming pool of 1500 sq ft or more. The pool design also had to include features like a negative or vanishing edge, a spa with a vanishing edge feature, a big forty-five foot twisting slide through a natural rockscape, culminating into a grotto with seating and water spillway. Other client requirements included a 60-foot by 120-foot full sized tennis court, winter/summer pool house, and a plaza deck that would attach to the house.

This particular project was quite challenging. Our customer really wanted something magnificent and on a grand scale, we were naturally up for the challenge! First, they wanted the design to incorporate a large swimming pool of 1500 sq ft or more. The pool design also had to include features like a negative or vanishing edge, a spa with a vanishing edge feature, a big forty-five foot twisting slide through a natural rockscape, culminating into a grotto with seating and water spillway. Other client requirements included a 60-foot by 120-foot full sized tennis court, winter/summer pool house, and a plaza deck that would attach to the house.

Carefully taking down all the customer requirements, we headed straight for the drawing board to begin designing the custom swimming pool first. All of the other requirements and features, we felt, would fall into place once the initial design was done. We also wanted to get an idea of how the pool design would work together with the backyard space, in relation to the other requirements the customer had and to the homes overall appearance as well.

Problems such as the swimming pools elevation presented some of the biggest challenges. For instance, the homes back elevation was smack dab in the center of a ten-foot basement at the time.

It became obvious to us that bringing the grade closer up to the first floor by elevating 25,000 square feet of backyard was completely possible because we have had success doing this exact type thing on other projects already. However, by doing this we would be creating more problems that we would have to solve to meet the other requirements of our customer.

Finally, in the end we basically solved all of those potential issues with the creative idea of opening up the basement with full access through two sets of double doors, full size windows and two matching staircases leading up to the plaza deck. Ultimately, the customer warmed up to the idea after meeting with them and discussing the details several times.

A huge feature that helped influence their decision making was the idea of using a fully tiled reverse vanishing edge that would face the house. Now we had a pool feature which would normally not be in view from the house playing a vital point in allowing the walkout basement an aesthetic focal point – let alone the view from the custom plaza deck.

We feel that photos really show everything, and one can see just why NESPA and our client were so impressed with the overall pool design and the end product. The custom swimming pool ended up being 1800 square feet with the grotto, the 45 foot swimming pool slide including the vanishing edge that spills gently over into the pool, large sized steps with eighteen inch treads for easy walking while you climb up to a beautiful oversized sun-shelf.

The pool lighting features included nine LED lights that give the water spilling over the vanishing edge a pleasant glow for evening viewing. Roman Corinthian Columns decorate the spacious plaza deck while the entire walking surface was laid with granite as well as the balusters.

All of the surfaces of the walls were finished with stucco to blend into the homes preexisting look and culture stone clad columns were used to tie the homes front façade in. Attention to detail is the key as we completed the pool house with both heat and air conditioning, a full service bathroom with a separate shower, a custom fire place, complete barbeque set up – vent hood and all, designed with a façade to match both the home and the plaza deck. Utilizing beige travertine for the pool patio while tying it together with matching two inch thick, 8 inch wide coping and sanded beige grout created a very clean finish.

The final touches include the pool having front pillars as part of the pool fence giving the entrance area a very elegant estate feel. The entire project was custom designed from start to finish including all of the landscaping and capping it all off is the incredible full size tennis court with both a fence and privacy screening.

At Custom Pool Pros, we are very proud of our work and take pride in all the jobs we do, big and small. We put 100% into every pool design while taking into account full utilization of the space we have to work with, functionality of the design, and over all aesthetics, keeping in mind what every client wants and how the pool will enhance their home. We focus on quality at every step of the pool building process. We want to thank NESPA and our clients for giving us the opportunity to showcase our custom swimming pools and spas  and look forward to creating more innovative pool designs in the future.