Pool Water Features in
Southeastern Pennsylvania

Waterfalls, sheer descents, grottos, slides, and swim up features designed into the pool shell from day one, engineered and built by one team as part of your complete backyard.
43 years
in business since 1983
15 years
building pools
Lifetime
structural warranty
7 counties
across Southeastern PA

What Sets Blue Tree's Water Features Apart

Many pool quotes list a waterfall as a line item at the end. At Blue Tree, the feature is part of the design from the first sketch. The designer who plans your pool plans the rock work, the plumbing runs, the lighting, and the sight lines around each feature, then stays on the project through the final walkthrough. Concrete construction gives Blue Tree's designers the freedom to shape grottos, raised spillways, swim-up seating, and slides into the pool's structure itself. Blue Tree has served Southeastern Pennsylvania homeowners since 1983, carries a 15-year pool construction track record, and staffs 8 or more designers and sales professionals with degrees in landscape architecture and horticulture. Blue Tree publishes its warranty terms, starting with the lifetime structural warranty on pool shells. Water features are one part of what our custom pool builders design into every project.

Written by Jeff Mattiola, Blue Tree's founder and pool construction lead, and reviewed by sales manager Jérôme Besnard.

Established
Lifetime
Structural Warranty
70 to 90
Employees

Our Water Feature Design & Build Process

Blue Tree designs and builds water features as part of the pool's construction, not as afterthoughts. Here is how a feature goes from the first sketch to the day the water turns on.
1

Step 1: Consultation & Site Walk

Your designer visits the property, walks the yard, and asks how you plan to use the pool. Do the kids want a slide? Should the sound of falling water reach the patio? The designer notes grade changes, drainage, sight lines from the house, and township setback rules, because each one shapes which water features fit your property.
2

Step 2: Design & 3D Rendering

The designer builds a CAD plan and 3D rendering that places the waterfall, grotto, or sheer descent in context, with the decking and planting around it. You see how the feature looks from the kitchen window before anything is built. Revisions are included, and the proposal that follows itemizes each feature with transparent pricing.
3

Step 3: Engineering & Materials

Rock work, raised walls, grottos, and slides add structural load and plumbing runs, and in some townships they change the permitting picture. Blue Tree handles the permits, impervious surface calculations, engineering review, and any variance applications in house. Your designer selects stone and finish materials with you, drawing on local suppliers including A&B Natural Stone for material that stands up to Pennsylvania winters.
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Step 4: Construction

Water features go in with the pool shell, not after it. Crews set the plumbing for spillways and slides during the rough phase and tie structural rock work into the gunite shell, then test each feature before finish work begins. Your designer stays involved through the build, and the crew restores the site with final grading and seed before the walkthrough.
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Step 5: Walkthrough & Ongoing Care

At startup, your designer and the construction manager walk you through the equipment: pump schedules, automation settings, winterization steps, and warranty terms. The pool shell carries a lifetime structural warranty, and the published warranty matrix covers plumbing, electrical, tile, and equipment. When you want a single team handling pool care season after season, Premier Outdoor Services picks up where construction ends.

Water Feature Options for Every Custom Pool

From a single sheer descent to a full grotto with a slide, Blue Tree builds every option below into the pool's structure rather than bolting it on afterward.
A swimming pool with clear blue water featuring three small waterfalls flowing from a stone wall. Behind the wall are blooming red flowers, green bushes, grass, and a wooden fence.

Waterfalls & Cascading Rock

Natural stone waterfalls built into the pool's structure, from a single spillway to multi-tier cascades that bring the sound of moving water to the whole yard.
A backyard scene with a swimming pool featuring a rock waterfall, a white slide, and an artificial turf putting green with a small flag, surrounded by a black metal fence and houses in the background.

Sheer Descents & Scuppers

Clean arcs of water from a raised wall for a more architectural look, with adjustable flow and a dramatic effect under evening lighting.
A backyard pool with a rock grotto and a white slide curving into the water. There is a small putting green with a flag in the background, and houses are visible beyond the pool area.

Grottos & Caves

Walk-in rock enclosures with seating tucked behind the falling water. A favorite with kids and the shadiest spot in the yard on a July afternoon.
A small rectangular backyard pool with a stone waterfall feature, blue underwater lights, and surrounding gray stone patio, bordered by grass and trees. Outdoor seating is visible in the background.

Pool Slides

Built-in slides set into rock work or a landscaped slope, sized and positioned to match the pool's depth profile.
A backyard with a swimming pool, hot tub, and slide next to a covered patio area. White Adirondack chairs and tables are arranged on the patio, and there’s a two-story pool house nearby. The sky is clear and blue.

Swim-Up Bars & Seating

In-pool stools and counters built into the pool wall, with shallow ledges for lounging, so the gathering spot sits in the water instead of beside it.
A clear blue swimming pool with a stone waterfall feature, flanked by flower pots, surrounded by a patio and lush green trees in the background under a bright sky.

Integrated Spas & Spillways

Concrete and gunite spas built with the pool, with raised spillways that send warm water over the edge into the pool below.

Designed for Southeastern
Pennsylvania's Climate and Terrain

Water features in Southeastern Pennsylvania live through freeze-thaw winters, and that reality drives how Blue Tree builds them. Crews pitch the plumbing to drain for winterization and select stone that handles ice without spalling, and the engineering accounts for the clay soils common across Montgomery, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Berks, and Philadelphia Counties. Sloped lots often make the best water feature sites; a grade change becomes a natural home for a cascading waterfall or a slide. Townships differ on impervious surface limits and setbacks, and raised structures can affect both. Blue Tree handles the permitting and engineering review before construction begins, so the feature you approve in the 3D rendering is the feature that gets built.
Backyard swimming pool with a small waterfall feature, surrounded by lounge chairs and umbrellas. A covered seating area and American flag are on the left, with a light-colored house and trees in the background under a blue sky.

Complete Your Water Features with the Rest of the Backyard

Pool Decks and Patios: ICPI-certified hardscape crews build the pool deck, sitting walls, fire features, and outdoor kitchen as one project with the pool, with slip resistance and heat retention designed in.

Landscape Design and Planting: Planting plans soften the rock work and screen the equipment pad, tying the pool into the rest of the property with material suited to USDA Zones 6b and 7a.

LED Landscape Lighting: Low-voltage LED lighting on waterfalls and sheer descents keeps the water in view after dark, with a 2-year warranty on the system.

Year-Round Care: Premier Outdoor Services handles pool maintenance and seasonal property care, so the team that built the feature is the team that looks after it.

A backyard pool with clear blue water, two white chairs partly submerged under a large umbrella, a stone waterfall feature, patio seating, lush greenery, and a wooden fence in the background.

Curated Transformations

Browse recent projects from across Montgomery, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Berks, and Philadelphia Counties.

Everything Your Outdoor
Space Needs. One Team.

From the pool to the patio to the plants that frame it all. We handle the full picture so nothing falls through the cracks.
Custom inground pool and paver patio with a fire pit behind a two-story home

Custom Pools & Water Features

Resort-style pools, spas, waterfalls, and grottos, designed for your property, not from a catalog
Aerial view of a curved paver patio with a pergola and outdoor dining set

Patios, Walls & Outdoor Kitchens

Structures built to last generations by craftsmen who take pride in the details
Front-yard landscape bed with a Japanese maple, layered shrubs, and fresh mulch at a stone home

Landscape Design & Planting

Native plants, seasonal color, and designs that thrive in Southeastern PA's climate
Blue Tree technician treating a backyard lawn with a stand-on spreader

Lawn Programs

Science-backed fertilization, weed control, and aeration for the lawn your neighbors will notice
Landscape lighting illuminating the facade of a brick home at dusk

Landscape Lighting

Professionally designed LED systems that add safety, security, and ambiance after dark
Blue Tree crew spreading mulch with wheelbarrows in a landscaped backyard

Year-Round Care

Seasonal cleanups, pool service, and ongoing care that keeps everything looking its best

Common Questions

Blue Tree prices water features as part of the overall pool project rather than as standalone add-ons. A custom concrete pool runs $75,000 to $200,000+ depending on size, finish, equipment tier, and the features you choose. A single sheer descent sits at the modest end of that variation; a full rock grotto with a slide is a larger structural project. Your itemized proposal prices each feature on its own line, so you can phase the work if the budget calls for it.

A waterfall or sheer descent adds a pump and plumbing runs, which means more equipment to manage, and Blue Tree sizes that equipment during design so it matches the feature. At the walkthrough, the team trains you on the equipment, from pump schedules to winterization. If you would rather not manage any of it, Premier Outdoor Services offers ongoing pool maintenance and service.

Slides and grottos top the list. A built-in slide set into rock work gives kids a reason to stay in the backyard all summer, and Blue Tree designs the entry depth and runout to match the pool. Grottos give them a cave to swim into and shade to cool off under. Shallow lounging ledges keep younger swimmers at a depth where parents can see them from a deck chair.

Sometimes. Townships across Montgomery, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Berks, and Philadelphia Counties differ on impervious surface limits, setbacks, and the way they treat raised structures, and a large grotto or raised wall can change the calculation. Blue Tree handles the township permits, impervious surface calculations, engineering review, and any variance applications in house, and builds that timeline into your proposal, so a township requirement never arrives as a mid-project surprise.

The same Blue Tree designer who plans your pool plans the features and stays on the project through the final walkthrough. Construction runs through Blue Tree's own crews, who handle excavation, plumbing, gunite, rock work, tile, and finish, backed by a 15-year pool construction track record. Blue Tree has served Southeastern Pennsylvania homeowners since 1983.

Blue Tree publishes its warranty terms instead of burying them. The pool shell carries a lifetime structural warranty. Plumbing and electrical carry 2 years of coverage, as do tile, coping, and veneer and the low-voltage lighting. Jandy equipment, including the pumps that run waterfalls and sheer descents, carries 3 years of workmanship coverage. Your proposal names the terms for each component before you sign anything.

Ready to Start?

Whether you're dreaming of a resort-style pool, a patio built for gathering, or a landscape that finally feels like you, let's talk.
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