More than just pools — we build the backyard your family will measure summers by. Bill quotes it, Lexi designs it, and the same two people walk you to first swim.
Bill brings decades of hands-on construction craft. Lexi brings a younger design sensibility and a sharper read on how families actually use their backyards in 2026.
The result is a small studio practice — not a high-volume pool shop. Every Darnell build is sketched in person, rendered before a shovel touches dirt, and managed by the same two people from consultation to fill day.
Each project sketched in person, rendered in 3D, and built by a small site team Bill and Lexi run themselves. Tap any build to see the materials, the spec, and the client's own words.
We don't have a house style we push on every client. We have a vocabulary — and we work out which dialect of it your backyard is asking for.
Rectilinear geometry, dark plaster, brushed metal, vanishing edges. The Hill Country reimagined.
Hand-cut limestone, terracotta planters, courtyard scale. The old world set into Texas hills.
Grottos, swim-up bars, cascading water features. Built for entertaining at scale.
50-ft swim lanes, built-in tanning shelves, daily ritual swimming for serious athletes.
Custom gunite spas for the homeowner who wants the daily ritual without the full pool footprint.
One continuous social room — pool, BBQ island, fireplace, pergola, designed as a single layout.
No surprises. No subcontracted mystery. The same two people who quote your pool are the same two people who hand you the keys to it.
Every feature below is built into the pool from day one — engineered into the plumbing, the gunite, and the deck. None of it is bolt-on.
Gas, electric, or solar. Year-round usable Hill Country pools.
Gentler on skin, lower maintenance, cleaner long-term water.
Pentair, Jandy, or Hayward systems controllable from your phone.
Stone-face spillovers, sheet falls, and grotto cascades.
Gas-fed fire bowls on raised plinths. The signature evening detail.
Shallow 9–12″ shelves with deck-mounted umbrellas, built in.
Raised spas with cascading sheet spillover into the main basin.
Pebble Tec, Pebble Sheen, and Pebble Fina — premium quartz aggregates.
Outdoor kitchens, fireplaces, pergolas, fire pits, cabanas — we design and build the entire backyard as a single project, with a single crew, on a single timeline.
Full outdoor kitchens with refrigeration, prep sinks, side burners, and optional wood-fired pizza ovens. Built into the same hardscape as the pool — same stone, same finish, same hand.
Cedar pergolas anchored on stone columns or steel-frame shade structures with cable-tensioned canvas. We engineer them with the deck — never bolt them on afterward.
Wood-burning and gas fire pits built into seating walls or standing freely as the backyard's evening centerpiece. Full outdoor stone fireplaces for the larger builds.
The deck makes the pool. Travertine for cool-underfoot Hill Country summers, hand-cut limestone for the Mediterranean builds, or custom-finished concrete for the modern projects.
Bill spent decades in Hill Country construction before turning the work over to pools full-time. Lexi grew up on his job sites — and came back as the design lead after building out a career of her own.
What you get is not a salesperson and a foreman. You get the father and the daughter, on every walkthrough, on every drawing, and on every problem the build throws at us.
Verified reviews from Darnell pool owners on Google and Yelp — pulled live, not curated for the site.
Most Hill Country pools land between $60K and $150K. We work with two specialist pool lenders and your home equity bank — pick whichever fits the build.
Specialized swimming pool financing — fixed rates, terms up to 25 years, no home equity required.
Unsecured pool loans up to $200K with rapid approval and flexible terms tailored for new builds.
If you prefer your existing bank, we'll work with their appraisal and draw schedule on your home equity line.
Promotional rates and 0% intro APR options change quarterly · Confirm current offers with your loan officer at consultation
We come to you. Site visit takes about 90 minutes — Bill walks the property, Lexi sketches the first layout, you tell us how you actually want to use the backyard. No fee, no pressure, no sales pitch.
From there we'll quote a fixed bid against a 3D render. If it's a fit, we set a dig date. If it isn't, you keep the sketch.
If your lot is in the greater Austin region or anywhere along the Hill Country waterways, we'll come walk it. The studio is in Bee Cave; the work happens at your house.
