3 Things You Need to Know About Pool Excavation
Read article
Custom Pool Builders in Waddell Since 2004
Let's Make Your Dream Pool Come to Life
Concrete pools and spas built for Waddell acreage, on irrigated lots below the White Tanks where the yard still floods on schedule. Family owned, owner run, building out here since 2004.
Recognized as a Best Pool Builder by Phoenix Architects20+ Years
Twenty Years of Backyards Built in Waddell
Waddell backyards transformed since 2004
Turning Dream Pools into Reality. One Pool at a Time.
We begin with the land in front of us, not a shape we already like. Out here that means understanding how water already moves across your property. On a flood irrigated lot the yard is designed to hold water on a schedule, and dropping a pool and a deck into the middle of that without thinking it through causes problems for years. Every Waddell build starts with a proper walk of the parcel.
Your Backyard Paradise Awaits!
Ready to talk it through? Start with a Waddell pool builder who understands irrigated ground and horse property.
Meet Nate Green, Founder of Saturn Pool Company
Nate and his family have called the Valley home since 2003, and he has been building pools since 2004. Waddell is old farming ground turned into acreage living, and it builds differently to anywhere else in the west Valley. Twenty years on he runs it the same way. Build it properly, price it honestly, answer your own phone.
It is why most of our Waddell work arrives by referral. Out here people ask the neighbor with the good pool before they call anyone, and a build that still looks right after ten summers argues better than anything we could write. Prepare to be excited.
20+ YearsBuilding Waddell backyards since 2004
Family-OwnedPersonalized service on every project
LicensedBonded & Insured, ROC #199211
HundredsOf custom pools built across the Valley
What we build
What can Saturn Pools do for you?
Four things, done properly, for Waddell homeowners. Design leads, construction follows, and on irrigated acreage the levels matter more than the shape.
01 / Design
Custom Pool Design Services
Every Saturn pool begins as a conversation about your land rather than a page from a catalogue. On a Waddell lot the first question is your irrigation. Where does the water enter, how does it spread, which parts of the yard are meant to flood and which are not. Then the practical things acreage brings: where the horses are, where the arena sits, how far the equipment pad ends up from the house. Get the levels right and the pool sits above the flood line without looking like it is on a plinth.
+
Pool and deck set above the irrigation flood level
+
Decking and shade planned across the whole parcel
+
Interior finish, waterline tile and coping picked as one set
+
Pool sited clear of corrals, arenas and prevailing dust
02 / Construction
New Pool Construction
We build concrete, in-ground pools, the most durable shell available in desert ground. A poured shell copes with ground movement and heat swings in a way a prefabricated one cannot, and it leaves you free on shape, depth and size. Most builds run 8 to 12 weeks depending on scope, permits, inspections and weather. Waddell is unincorporated, so permits go through Maricopa County Planning and Development rather than a city. One advantage here is the digging. This is old farmland with deep soil rather than the rock you hit further north.
+
Engineered concrete shell poured to the approved drawings
+
Maricopa County permits and inspections handled for you
+
Proper compaction and engineering for soft farmland soil
+
Work scheduled around your irrigation rotation
03 / Spas
New Spa Construction
A spa can be lifted into the pool as a spillover feature or built on its own as a standalone retreat. Either route, it is drawn and poured within the same project, so tile, finish and decking read as one piece rather than an afterthought bolted on a year later. Waddell sits low and warm at around 1,200 feet, so the pool season runs long here and a spa is less about surviving winter and more about somewhere to sit after a day of work outside.
+
Raised spillover spas built into the pool
+
Standalone spas for the end of a long day outside
+
Tile, finish and decking carried across pool and spa
+
Equipment placed to keep runs short on a big parcel
04 / Features
Pool Features and Add-ons
This is where a pool stops being a rectangle of water. Water features, fire, lighting, shade and decking all change how often the yard gets used. Shade is the one worth spending on here. West Valley summers are long and unrelenting, and unless your lot has kept its mature citrus or cottonwoods there may be very little to sit under. A ramada does more for daily use than almost anything else we could build.
+
Waterfalls, sheer descents and bubblers
+
Wide tanning ledges built for a long swim season
+
Firepits, LED lighting and automated equipment
+
Ramadas and real shade for west Valley summers
Your Backyard Transformation Starts Here
Let's Design the Pool You've Always Wanted
From first sketch to final splash, our Waddell crew handles every detail so you can simply enjoy the result.
Schedule Your Free ConsultationAbout Saturn Pools
A family business that never outgrew the family part.
Designing and building backyards in Waddell since 2004
Saturn Pools is family owned, and Waddell has been on our map since we started in 2004. Very little about how we operate has changed. The owner is on every job, a single call reaches design and sales together, and no question needs relaying through a department to get answered.
A pool is a serious long term investment and a Waddell build gets treated that way. We stay alongside you from the opening design conversation through to the final walkthrough, and we remain easy to reach long after the water goes in. Plenty of our customers date back to the early years, and their referrals still bring in most of what we build.
Read the full story2004
Building pools in Waddell since
Family owned
The owner is on every job
Hundreds
Of backyards completed across the Valley
8 to 12 weeks
Typical build, start to first swim
Locally owned and operated
Our Commitment to Quality
The best part of your pool is the part you will never see.
Steel, plumbing and gunite go underground the day after they are inspected. Nobody photographs that stage. It is also the part that decides whether your pool still looks right a decade from now. Waddell digs easily, which sounds like good news and is exactly why care matters. Soft farmland soil needs proper compaction and a shell engineered for it, and on irrigated ground the deck levels have to be right the first time. Shortcuts taken below grade always surface later.
Waterline
01
Quality over volume
Some builders treat an easy dig as an easy job and skip the groundwork that soft soil actually needs. We take on only the work we can supervise properly, and we build for the ground in front of us.
02
One call, one owner
One number reaches both sales and design. With a county submittal and an irrigation layout to work around, that saves a great deal of chasing.
03
Premium materials
Premium materials and proven methods, with the detail work checked before gunite covers it. Soft ground is unforgiving of a shell that was not engineered for it.
04
A warranty that holds
The pool and its equipment carry a warranty, walked through with you and backed by each manufacturer. We are still reachable once the water is in.
ROC 199211
Licensed, bonded and insured
Since 2004
Building pools across the Valley
Family owned
The owner is on every job
Pebble Tec
Manufacturer backed finish
Service Area
Twelve communities. One crew.
We build across the Valley with one crew, and Waddell sits out past Cotton Lane below the White Tanks. We work acreage along Waddell Road and Glendale Avenue, through the irrigated lots on the western edge and up toward the Regional Park. Choose your city below to see the local build details that apply there.
Start where you are
You do not have to be ready to build. You just have to be ready to talk.
Three ways in, depending on how far along you already are. Every one of them is free.
01
Just looking
See finished builds
Real backyards we designed and built across the Valley, from first sketch to first swim.
Open the gallery
02
Getting numbers
Get a free estimate
Pricing for your yard and your wish list, so you can plan a budget before you commit to anything.
Start my estimate
03
Ready to design
Book a design call
Sixty minutes to sketch your pool, talk through features and be honest about budget.
Pick a time
Why homeowners choose us
Why Waddell owners keep sending us down the road to their neighbors.
Most of our work arrives by word of mouth, one Waddell property at a time. Referrals only happen when the build went well and the builder is still around afterward to take the call.
01
Two decades of building here
We have built here since 2004, across twenty summers and twenty monsoon seasons. Hundreds of customers on, the same people still handle design and construction.
02
Quality before volume
We would rather build fewer pools properly than spread crews across a packed calendar. Soft ground and irrigation levels both need care rather than speed.
03
Answers, not a runaround
One call reaches both sales and design. We answer questions as they arise, and we cover the things that actually matter on acreage here, starting with keeping your irrigation working exactly as it did before.
04
We do not disappear
The relationship does not end when the water goes in. If something needs attention two years down the line, the same team is still here to handle it.
If Anthem Pets referred you to Saturn Pools, and we build your pool, we’ll donate $100 to AP! And even if you don’t choose us, would you please consider a donation to a great organization that helps to care for our pet family?
FAQ for Waddell Residents
These are the questions Waddell owners ask us most. Irrigated acreage in unincorporated county land raises a different set of issues to a subdivision lot, so several of these answers are particular to building out here.
How much does a concrete swimming pool cost in Waddell?
Price comes down to interior and decking materials, the equipment package, and features such as waterfalls, lighting and firepits. Waddell has one genuine advantage on cost. This is old farmland, so the ground is deep soil rather than the granite and caliche that slow a dig elsewhere in the county, and excavation is usually straightforward. What can add cost is the length of plumbing and power runs on a large parcel, and any regrading needed to keep your irrigation working around the new pool.
A real figure needs a real look at the property. We walk the parcel, trace how the irrigation runs, check the levels and the access, then come back with pricing built around your land instead of an average.
How long will my new pool take to build in Waddell?
Pool projects typically take 8 to 12 weeks once construction begins. Scheduling, scope, permits, inspections, material availability and weather all move that. Excavation is rarely the hold up here given the soil, so the schedule mostly follows county plan review and inspections. One local wrinkle worth planning for is your irrigation rotation, since we would rather not have the yard flooded on the day a crew needs to be working in it.
What happens to my flood irrigation if I put in a pool?
It stays, and the pool gets designed around it. Many Waddell properties hold irrigation rights delivered through the Maricopa Water District, with water ordered on a rotation and distributed across the lot to flood it. That system is part of the value of the property and it has to keep working. In practice that means we map the delivery point and the flow path before siting anything, set the pool and its deck above the flood level, and keep the equipment pad clear of ground that goes under water. Done properly you keep the irrigation and gain the pool.
Who issues the pool permit in Waddell?
Maricopa County, not a city. Waddell is an unincorporated community with no town hall of its own, so pools, spas and pool barriers are permitted through Maricopa County Planning and Development. The county works to the 2021 code cycle with its own amendments, and plan review is digital, covering building code, zoning, drainage and site conditions together. Because drainage forms part of that review, an irrigated lot needs its levels shown properly on the submittal rather than sketched in. We prepare the package and manage the inspections.
I keep horses. Does that change where the pool goes?
Yes, and it is worth planning rather than leaving to chance. Plenty of Waddell properties carry horse privileges, and a pool close to a corral or an arena will collect dust and hair no matter how good the filtration is. Prevailing wind matters more than distance. We look at where the dust actually travels before siting the pool, keep the equipment pad away from where horses are handled, and think about the route a truck takes for deliveries so it is not crossing the pool deck. None of it is complicated, but it has to be decided early.
Does old farmland soil make the dig easier?
It helps and it is worth understanding why. Decades of farming and irrigation left deep, worked soil rather than the rock shelf you hit north of the Valley, so excavation is generally faster and cheaper here. The trade off is that soft soil needs proper compaction and a shell engineered for those conditions, because ground that digs easily also moves more readily if the groundwork is skimped. A concrete shell handles that well when it is built for it, which is a good part of why we do not use prefabricated shells.
Where should I drain and backwash on an irrigated lot?
On your own land, well away from the irrigation basin and any neighboring property. On acreage that is rarely difficult, since there is usually somewhere sensible for it to go. What you want to avoid is discharging into the part of the yard designed to hold irrigation water, because that ground is already saturated on a cycle and adding chlorinated water to it does the planting no favors. We plan the discharge route during design and go through it with you at handover.
