Outdoor Living

The whole backyard, designed as one.

A pool is the centerpiece. Everything around it - kitchen, fire, structure, light - is what turns it into a space you actually live in.

What we build

Beyond the water.

A great backyard is not a pool with stuff added later. It is a single space designed from the property line in - the way you cook, the way you entertain, where the sun sits at 6 p.m. in July, where the wind comes off the lake in October, and how every surface drains during a Carolina downpour. We design and build the entire envelope: the structures over your head, the surfaces underfoot, the appliances that take a beating from heat and humidity, and the lighting that keeps the space usable after dinner.

Roughly one in five of our outdoor-living projects has no pool at all. The other four are full backyard transforms - pool, deck, kitchen, fire, structure, and lighting designed and permitted as one project, by one team, on one schedule. That is the difference between a backyard that looks assembled and a backyard that looks built.

Outdoor kitchens

Built-in grills, pizza ovens, refrigeration, and stone counters that hold up to Carolina summers.

Layouts engineered around how you actually cook - prep zones flanking the grill, a beverage station out of the work triangle, and seating that puts guests across the counter from the cook (not behind them).
Premium appliance packages from Lynx, Hestan, Kalamazoo, Twin Eagles, and Alfresco - gas, charcoal hybrid, kamado inserts, side burners, teppanyaki tops, ventilated warming drawers, and undercounter ice makers and kegerators.
Wood-fired and gas pizza ovens (Forno Bravo, Alfa, Gozney) with proper hearth depth and venting for true 800°F cooking - not the decorative units that crack after one season.
All gas, water, and electrical lines pulled and inspected before stone goes down. Drains under every appliance bay so a fridge leak never tears apart your counter.

Materials & finishes: Stone counters: leathered granite, quartzite, and dense porcelain slab. Cabinetry: marine-grade 316 stainless or HDPE - never wood-faced exterior cabinets.

Fire features

Custom fire pits, fireplaces, and fire bowls - gas or wood, always engineered for safety.

Gas fire pits sized to BTU output and clearance code, not just the look. Each one is permitted, pressure-tested, and tied into a remote or smart-home shutoff.
Stacked-stone fireplaces with proper firebox liners, throat dampers, and engineered chimneys - the kind that draw correctly instead of smoking out your patio every fall.
Fire bowls and fire-and-water features integrated with the pool's gas line and automation, so a single tap on the Pentair or Jandy app lights everything at sunset.
Wind-resistant burner pans with lava rock, fire glass, or ceramic logs - and a real lid for the off-season so the burner ports stay dry.

Materials & finishes: Stacked stone, board-formed concrete, Corten steel, and porcelain-clad surrounds. Burner kits from Warming Trends and HPC.

Pergolas, pavilions & cabanas

Cedar, ipé, or steel structures with automated louvers, lighting, and audio.

Engineered footings tied to local frost depth and wind load - every structure stamped by a NC- or SC-licensed engineer when the span calls for it.
Motorized louvered roofs (StruXure, Apollo, Equinox) that open for sun, close and drain in a thunderstorm, and integrate with screens, heaters, and lighting on a single remote.
Full pavilion builds with vaulted T&G ceilings, recessed heaters, ceiling fans rated for damp locations, and TV niches with dedicated low-voltage runs.
Cabanas with outdoor showers, half-baths, changing space, and pool-equipment storage - finished to match the main home, not bolted on as an afterthought.

Materials & finishes: Western red cedar, ipé, thermally modified ash, powder-coated aluminum, and structural steel. Roofs: standing-seam metal, cedar shake, or architectural shingle to match the home.

Pool decks & patios

Travertine, bluestone, porcelain pavers, and stamped concrete laid by craftsmen.

Sub-base built right: compacted aggregate to spec, geotextile fabric where soils call for it, and pitched drainage so water leaves the deck instead of pooling at the coping.
Travertine and bluestone in tumbled or honed finishes - cool underfoot in July, slip-rated for wet pool surrounds, and set in a full mortar bed (not sand-set) where freeze-thaw matters.
20mm porcelain pavers on pedestals or a mortar bed - UV-stable color, non-absorbent, and the only paver that won't stain from sunscreen, citronella, or red wine.
Stamped, broom-finished, or exposed-aggregate concrete with proper control joints, integral color, and a penetrating sealer rated for chlorinated splash zones.

Materials & finishes: Travertine, bluestone, limestone, granite, 20mm porcelain pavers, and architectural concrete. Coping: bullnose travertine, drop-face porcelain, or honed bluestone.

Landscape lighting

Low-voltage LED lighting designed to extend your evenings outside.

Layered design: path, accent, downlight, and feature lighting all on separate zones - never one floodlight pretending to do five jobs.
Brass and copper fixtures from FX Luminaire, Kichler, and Vista Pro - solid metal that develops a patina, not the painted aluminum that flakes inside two summers.
Smart transformers with astronomical timers, color-tunable RGBW zones, and Lutron or Control4 integration so the backyard fades up at dusk on its own.
Dark-sky-friendly aiming and shielded optics to keep glare out of neighbors' windows and the night sky overhead.

Materials & finishes: Solid brass and copper fixtures, direct-burial low-voltage cable, and weatherproof junctions. Smart control via Lutron, FX Luxor, or Control4.

Putting greens & sport courts

Synthetic turf greens and game courts for the part of the family that doesn't swim.

Tour-quality synthetic putting greens with multi-stimp surfaces, real undulation, fringe collars, and cup placements you can actually move week to week.
Compacted aggregate base, drainage core, and edging that keeps the green flat through Carolina rains - no soft spots, no wrinkles after the first summer.
Sport court systems for pickleball, basketball, and multi-sport play (VersaCourt, Sport Court) with shock-absorbing modular tile and proper striping.
Optional shade sails, rebound nets, and low-voltage court lighting so play doesn't stop at sundown.

Materials & finishes: Nylon and polypropylene putting turf with infill, modular polypropylene sport tile, aluminum edging, and powder-coated steel net posts set in concrete sleeves.

How it comes together

Designed and Built Local

Most outdoor-living disappointments come from sequencing, not taste. A pool contractor pours the deck before the kitchen footings are located. The mason finishes coping before the gas line for the fire pit is roughed. The electrician shows up after the pavers are set and trenches across them. We avoid every one of those by designing the full backyard up front - pool shell, deck elevations, structure footings, gas manifold, low-voltage runs, and drainage - on a single set of construction drawings.

That single drawing is what lets a Rock Water build feel calm on site. Stone, steel, gas, water, and low voltage all show up in the right order. Coping meets deck meets kitchen base at a clean line because someone drew it that way three months earlier. No change orders to fix sequencing mistakes, no torn-up pavers, no surprise transformer boxes sitting beside your fire pit.

We pull our own permits in Iredell, Mecklenburg, Catawba, and Lincoln counties (and across the SC line in York and Lancaster). Gas lines are pressure-tested. Structures are engineer-stamped where span and wind loads require it. Low-voltage and 120V circuits are inspected. Everything that should be warrantied, is - in writing.

Built for the Carolinas

What our climate actually does to a backyard.

The Lake Norman corridor sees real weather: 95°F summers with 80% humidity, sudden two-inch downpours, occasional hard freezes, and UV that fades anything not built for it. Materials and assemblies that work in Phoenix or San Diego do not always work here. We specify for our climate, not for a catalog.

That means dense, low-absorption stone for pool decks (cheap travertine wicks water and spalls). It means 316-grade stainless or HDPE cabinetry for kitchens (304 stainless rusts within a mile of the lake). It means properly pitched, drained pavilion roofs (flat assemblies leak by year three). It means brass and copper light fixtures (painted aluminum chalks and flakes). And it means engineered drainage everywhere - French drains under decks, channel drains at door thresholds, daylight outlets that actually daylight.

We have rebuilt enough other contractors' backyards to know what shortcuts cost. The detailing you cannot see - base prep, drainage, flashing, gas testing, sealant choice - is what makes the parts you can see last twenty years instead of five.

FAQ

Outdoor living, answered.

The four questions we get most often before designing a backyard.

Do you build outdoor kitchens and pergolas without a pool?

Yes. Roughly 20% of our outdoor-living projects don't include a pool. We design and build outdoor kitchens, fire features, pergolas, pavilions, and decking as standalone projects across NC and SC.

How much does an outdoor kitchen cost in the Carolinas?

Built-in outdoor kitchens with stone counters, a premium grill, refrigeration, and storage typically run $18,000–$55,000. Pizza ovens and outdoor pizza stations add $4,000–$12,000 depending on fuel type and finish.

What materials hold up best for Carolina outdoor living?

For decking and counters: travertine, bluestone, porcelain pavers, and quartzite hold up the best in our humidity and UV. For structures: cedar, ipé, and powder-coated steel last decades. We avoid pressure-treated pine for anything visible.

Can outdoor living be added to an existing pool?

Yes. We design outdoor-living additions around existing pools constantly - pergolas, fire pits, kitchens, lighting, and deck extensions. We assess existing structural and drainage conditions before quoting.

Ready when you are

Design your whole backyard, not just the pool.

Schedule a complimentary consultation with a Rock Water designer.

Schedule a consultation Call (704) 450-1023