With recent local regulations, custom homebuilders have been forced to get creative in designing pools that highlight their Las Vegas mansions.
Builders and those in the local swimming pool industry have taken different approaches to working with the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Las Vegas Valley Water District to accommodate their overall goals of water conservation.
During July 2022, the Clark County Commission approved changes to service regulations by the LVVWD to limit the size of swimming pools for all new single-family homes to a surface area of just 600 square feet, in order to mitigate evaporation losses. This regulation was just one of a dozen that, in total, aimed to reduce water consumption within the region after decades of drought and diminishing water availability from the Colorado River.
“I think it is a sensible restriction. We just had to get creative,” said Tyler Jones, CEO of Blue Heron. “It is more about working within the constraint to still create a functional, beautiful pool.”
Exotic large swimming pools, waterfalls, water walls, infinity-edge overflows and any other water feature with a large outdoor surface area may become a thing of the past, replaced by different solutions like smaller, bubbling water features positioned under shaded areas and integrated spa pool experiences.
“We like the sound of trickling water,” Jones said. “What matters is the design. How is it oriented? How do you access it? How does the water feature tie in with the view of the surrounding landscape?”
Blue Heron has designed and built new luxury custom homes within the Ascaya community of Henderson that incorporated smaller swimming pool designs.
Two Elite Custom Luminary Homes from the company, Arise and Egress on Chisel Crest Court, were both priced at more than $10 million with internal living spaces that exceeded 7,000 square feet. The luxury homes included more than five bedrooms and baths, floor-to-ceiling glass pocket doors, innovative geometric architecture and dazzling views of the Las Vegas Valley from atop the McCullough Mountains.
The swimming pools in both large-scale homes have been integrated into outdoor experiences that included a covered patio, natural landscape, underwater lighting, outdoor fire tables, built-in grills and material finishes that generated a sense of well-being and relaxation.
Ozzie Kraft Enterprises has been building residential and commercial resort swimming pools in Las Vegas, since the company was first established in 1942.
“Yes, the restrictions have affected how we approach swimming pool design. They have obviously limited the size of pools and spas. Keep in mind, this is not just for luxury homes, but all homes,” said Terence Thornton, watershape designer and project manager at Ozzie Kraft. “All the waterfalls, water fountains and features we install are controlled by pool or home automation, so they only run when selected to do so by the homeowner.”
“One cool new design trend we are doing is elevating the pool and/or spa out of ground and incorporating acrylic viewing panels into the water vessel to give a sense of being larger and providing grandeur,” Thornton said. “We are incorporating other outdoor living features such as outdoor kitchens, outdoor living rooms with media centers, fire features and play spaces into projects to create amazing spaces for families to enjoy and entertain.”
Last year, Ozzie Kraft also partnered with other members of the swimming pool industry to commission an independent study of the LVVWD regulations, to see if there might be more flexible solutions to the pool size restrictions that would meet or exceed the overall water conservation goals. So far, LVVWD has not accepted these proposals and the restrictions approved by Clark County Commission remain in place.
“Since the 600-square-foot regulation on swimming pools had been approved by the Clark County Commission as of July 2022, there have not been any recent considerations by the Las Vegas Valley Water District to change it,” said Beth Moore, public information coordinator for the Las Vegas Valley Water District and Southern Nevada Water Authority.
One proposal from the study was to limit the proportional swimming pool size of a new single-family home to 7 percent of the land lot size with a cap of 1,000 square feet instead of 600 square-feet.
This would allow for a range of swimming pool size options over a spectrum that could average out with a goal to conserve even more water within the region than the 600 square-foot regulation. Their proposal would allow larger homes with bigger lot sizes to include larger pools up to 1,000 square-feet. Since most new production homes have been built on smaller lot sizes than luxury home sites, their proportional pool size would often be less than 600 square-feet.
Additional proposals by the swimming pool industry were to allow a luxury home that exceeded the 1,000 square-foot cap to pay a higher water conservation fee to the LVWWD. Revenues from water conservation fees could help fund other water conservation efforts within the community that would offset the usage of a larger swimming pool.
Also, the use of automated pool covers to reduce evaporation might allow luxury homeowners to include larger pools if evaporation was mitigated at an equivalent rate as the 600-square-foot pool size limit.
Proportional and conditional regulation proposals suggested by the swimming pool industry aimed to allow businesses within the supply chain to offer a wider variety of products to new residential homebuyers, depending on the size of their property.
“I don’t think the ‘one-size-fits-all’ regulation is the best,” said Dan Coletti, owner of Sun West Custom Homes. “It feels like it is a heavy penalty to homeowners with larger properties. The regulation should be more adaptive. Production homes built on smaller lots in Las Vegas in the past usually included swimming pools that were just 375 to 450 square-feet.”
Coletti also noted that luxury homeowners with larger outdoor patio spaces and limited swimming pool areas often added more plants to the surrounding landscape, as well as outdoor kitchens and recreation areas. Expanded irrigation and additional appliances within the same outdoor space may not have always achieved the overall water-saving goals that the LVVWD intended through its regulations.
Sun West Custom Homes recently built The New American Home of 2025 within the Ascaya community of Henderson.
The $15 million luxury home showcased the latest building science technologies and newest products during the International Builders’ Show in February 2025.
A smaller swimming pool and outdoor patio area were blended with the indoor living space through the use of motorized glass pocket doors that made both spaces feel larger in scale when opened. A recessed reclining space for bathers also was installed next to the swimming pool and featured a stunning view of the Las Vegas Valley below.
Meanwhile, as our valley continues to struggle in drought conditions, custom homebuilders and pool industry professionals are hitting the drafting board to come up with new design ideas.