Swimming Pools: There’s A Lot To Consider Before You Dive In

By Larissa Lytwyn

Newtown resident Gary Wayne Tyrrell, cofounder and manager of Evan Wayne Associates in Brookfield, expresses his passion for landscaping and architecture through swimming pool construction.

“Our motto is ‘Swimming pools for more than just swimming,’” noted Mr Tyrrell’s wife, Diane, who is Evan Wayne Associates’ assistant manager.

Since opening in 1996, Evan Wayne Associates, originally based in Newtown, has thrived serving towns in lower Fairfield County including Greenwich and New Canaan.

More recently, however, Mr Tyrrell has been targeting a more local base. “We would love to work more in the Newtown area,” he said.

Newtown, he continued, is becoming more commercial and affluent. “There is a real market developing up here,” he said.

Mr Tyrrell said it is important for potential pool-buyers to consider all aspects of the project, including their property’s size, geographic layout, zoning laws, and additional requirements such as fencing.

“Pools have to be enclosed for safety reasons,” Mr Tyrell explained. “So the client has to consider putting a fence [or some form of barrier] around their pool.”

 He also recommends that potential pool-buyers also examine their property’s current zoning policies, including wetlands protocol. Sometimes pools are unwittingly constructed in areas that disturb wetlands — leading to fines for the homeowner.

The average pool itself, Mr Tyrrell said, costs around $80,000. Often, homeowners must tack on the additional costs of fencing and aesthetic improvements.

Evan Wayne Associates, however, condenses the project, from pre-planning to blueprint design to construction, into a single concept. “We establish the cost right up front so that our clients know just what they are getting into,” Mr Tyrrell said.

Most of Evan Wayne Associates’ projects amount to a total cost of upwards of  $100,000 to $500,000.

  Ideally, potential pool-buyers have a consultation with an Evan Wayne Associates representative. The potential client’s property is surveyed and prospective challenges such as ledges, rocky soil and dramatically sloping hills are accounted for.

   A design, shaped from the pool buyer’s vision, is then realistically constructed based on the geographic components of the client’s property.

   Size, Mr. Tyrrell noted, is generally irrelevant to a project’s feasibility and cost.

 “I’ve done projects on properties as small as 70 by 100 feet,” he said. “I’ve also done work on homes set on seven or eight acres.”

   Evan Wayne Associates’ in-ground pools, framed by white-picket fences or stone or brick walls, are often latticed with meticulously sculpted greenery.

   Arched gates and even verandas, porches or boathouses can be assimilated into the landscape.

   However, said Mr Tyrrell, “sometimes, what a client wants is outside their budget.”

Thus, he explained, a pre-design evaluation is essential before any building contracts are made.

“I’d rather lose a project than try to give the homeowner something they really don’t want,” he said.

Often, Mr Tyrrell said, clients approach Evan Wayne Associates with blueprints of pool designs drawn by architects that are based largely on the homeowner’s vision, with little or no examination of the property’s actual layout. 

Following an evaluation of the property, the blueprint Evan Wayne designers come up with is often — pleasantly — different than what the client expected.

“A good design is taking what you want into what you didn’t even think you wanted,” Mr Tyrrell noted, eyes twinkling.

Potential clients, he concluded, should be trusting, creative and willing to think outside the box.

Evan Wayne Associates is at 92B Whisconier Road in Brookfield. For further information call 775-1622 or visit www.EvanWayne.com.