Splish splash

Always a symbol of wealth and luxury, backyard swimming pools have turned into something akin to a necessity after two years of pandemic lockdowns.

By CARLA ROBINSON

The families and friends who once formed COVID hangout “pods” are now used to spending that kind of time together - and are looking for summer hangout space.

“Covid really just changed everything, especially when it comes to swimming pools,” said Ellen Nalle Haas of Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty. “Two years ago we were even getting calls from people in Manhattan seeking not only houses to buy immediately, but houses to buy immediately with swimming pools.”

And it still hasn’t let up, she said. Haas is now getting calls from people who, if they can’t buy a pool right away, are looking for houses with yards big enough to accommodate one.

“We call it the COVID construction boom,” said Doug Lacey, owner of JC Pool and Spa in Phoenixville, Pa. “Anyone who’s an outdoor pool service provider - from installers to landscapers - are booked solid through this year, and potentially next year also.

“People have been trapped at home for so long,” he continued. “They’re thinking they may as well turn their own backyards into a vacation spot, since they’re not going anywhere.”

The same is true for Michael Ciarrochi, vice president and co-owner of Armand Aquatech Pools Inc., a luxury pool designer with a client base on the Main Line.

“Last year we built more pools than we had in the entire decade prior,” Ciarrochi said.

A lifestyle statement

While some people will always reject a pool, in most cases people who spend more than $2 million for a home are going to expect that it comes with a pool.

And today’s pools are much more than a fancy hole full of blue water. They’ve become more of a lifestyle statement - a luxurious and convivial way to signal that you’re totally of the moment.

According to Bruno Morganheira, a designer at Crystal Clear Signature Pools in Southampton, Pa., more and more customers are asking for a modern-style pool with technology that’s totally up to date.

“What homeowners love now is automationthey want to be able to control everything from their cell phone,” he said.

That means everything - the temperature of the water, the intensity and the color of the LED lighting, the force of the jets if there’s a spa involved and the speed of the pumps if there’s some kind of waterfall feature.

“All those little functions that you used to have to walk back to the pool panel to turn on and off - they want to be able to just open their phone and work it from there,” Morganheira said.

They’re also looking for more natural options than the old-fashioned chlorine.

“If they’re putting in a new pool, more and more they’re asking for salt pools,” said real estate agent Marilou Buffum, an agent with BHHS Fox & Roach in Chestnut Hill. And landscaping is important, too, she said.

“They want it heated and filtered of course, but the sighting of it also matters, as does the landscaping around it,” she said. “People who want a pool definitely want to have it almost as an extension of their house, the way they are doing their patios to become extensions of their living space,” Buffum said.

A house she sold recently is a case in point, she said. The pool, which is nestled into a historic curved stone wall, sits in a multi-level garden just off the living space of the house, and has a view that looks over the park.

“That pool was definitely a point of major interest,” she said.

Cost and Construction

It’s definitely possible to install a fiberglass pool with a vinyl liner for $40,000 to $50,000, but luxury is a different animal altogether.

Baseline costs for these pools, which are typically made by hand out of specialty cement and not off-the-shelf pieces and parts, are typically $150,000 to $200,000.

But those costs can easily double or even triple once you start adding extra features and landscaping.

“It can go well beyond that - especially if we’re also putting in an outdoor kitchen, a fireplace, or a pool house. We’re really creating a total outdoor environment,” Morganheira said.

The same is true for Ciarrochi, whose family-owned business has been building high-end pools for three generations. Their pools cost more, he said, but they’re uniquely designed to complement a specific landscape, and they last forever.

“We don’t build cookie-cutter pools,” Ciarrochi said. “Each pool is unique, and tailored to the site — and I have had the pleasure of updating some of the pools my grandfather installedthey’re still in great shape.”

Armand pools are all steel-reinforced concrete, with a sand and cement mix called gunite. It’s a labor-intensive and expensive process.

“But it lasts forever and it’s very forgiving — it allows us to create any kind of shape we want,” Ciarrochi said.

Still, supply chain issues and rising costs for labor are pushing prices up enough to raise eyebrows, even in this luxury market,

“We’re seeing anywhere from a 5 to 20 percent swing in the price of products, both raw materials and finished goods,” Ciarrochi said. “For instance, due to recent legislation that mandates energy-efficient motors, we can only use pumps that are made in China and Italy. And it’s really hard to get your hands on those pumps.”

Who are the people putting in such extravagant outdoor oases?

“It really can be anyone,” Ciarrochi said. “I’ve had the honor of working with professional athletes as well as the owners of some of our local sports teams. One client may be one of the leading surgeons in the country, while others are young people in their 20s or 30s who just happened to have a great idea when they were in college, and patented a product you may have seen on “Shark Tank.”

“I’ve even had some arms dealers as clients,” he added. “That’s why your cell phone doesn’t work when you go onto their property.”

Modern design is hot in luxury pools right now, but there’s always demand for a more natural look, according to two of our region’s luxury pool designers, Armand Aquatech Pools Inc. and Crystal Clear Signature Pools.

Clockwise from top left on facing page: a formal design complete with pool house and fountains; a lap pool is tucked against a dramatic stone wall; pool or pond? this pool blends with the landscape; fountains and umbrella ‘islands’ enliven this pool; an informal pool complements its near-rural setting.

Previous page: a rectangular pool is nestled into a naturalistic setting with grass and shrubbery surrounding a flagstone border.

In the swim

SWIMMING POOLS originally became popular in the United States during the mid- to late-19th century.

Their designs remained simple and rectangular, especially because keeping the water clean and sanitary wasn’t easy until the advent of modern filtration systems and chlorination.

As time went on, though, swimming pools slowly became more elaborate, and were often clad in white ceramic subway tiles associated with cleanliness in the 1910s and 1920s.

When they first became popular during the mid- to late-19th century, they were primarily used for exercise and bathing.

But then the Hollywood films of the 1940s and 1950s began portrayed them as places of leisure and luxury, where famous actors and actresses casually basked in the sun or took an afternoon dip in glamorous swimsuits.

They became even more popular in postwar America, when newer technologies made pool construction easier.

Soon, backyard swimming pools were popping up across the country and taking new shapes and sizes, with curved kidney-shaped pools becoming all the rage.

Even today, pools have remained a hallmark of high design and a must-have in just about every celebrity property or vacation home.

Summer barbecue season has arrived, and it promises to be an especially busy one. Many backyard enthusiasts who spent the last two years of COVID sprucing up their patios and gardens are now more than ready to show off their handiwork and host friends and family.

They’re also kicking their menus up a notch. Mt. Airy resident Sonya Combs, who has been running her catering business Smokin’ Sone Fresh Grill for the past eight years, said she’s noticed that people are getting more adventurous this year — choosing larger and more unusual cuts of meat with a wider range of flavorings.

Instead of cooking up individual steaks, for instance, she’ll drive out to Lancaster County, where she knows the meat is fresh and organic, and pick up a giant tomahawk steak.

“It’s like a giant ribeye with a long bone in it - it looks like something you’d see in the Flintstones,” she said. “So instead of doing individual steaks we’ll cook that up and have it family style, with everyone gathering around and sharing it.”

Combs prefers to order her meats locally, she said, but for some of the larger or more unusual cuts she needs to look elsewhere. When alligator meat is on the menu, for instance, she needs to order all the way from New Orleans.

“That’s not exactly something I’d be able to find at Reading Terminal,” she chuckled.

Charcoal vs. Propane?

Nothing beats cooking favorite foods over an open flame. But there are many ways to do that — and pretty much everyone has strong ideas about which choice is best.

For those with no special devotion to charcoal, a propane grill is worth all the love it gets. It can light up in a matter of seconds, it cooks the food evenly and reliably and it presents much less fuss when it’s time to clean up. Who doesn’t love fast cooking and even faster cleanup? Just a short brush to clean the grate, and boom — done!

But charcoal aficionados — like Combs — will rave about the extra flavor they get with the smoky fuel, and the distinctively rich drippings that vaporize and flavor the food. The sizzling sounds those drippings make when they hit the burning glow of well lit coals is, of course, also part of the magic, as is the distinctive smell of flaming charcoal.

“I am definitely a charcoal person,” Combs said. “I will use propane if I need something quick, or if I’m doing seafood and I want more control over the heat. But there’s nothing like that deep smoky flavor that you get with charcoal.”

She’s also pretty picky about her wood. She’ll take a long drive outside the city to pick up pecan, apple, mesquite and hickory wood chips so she can be sure they haven’t been treated with any chemicals.