Modern Pools has designed and built custom pools in Austin since 1999. We are a studio of more than ten people, led by principal designer Jan Garcia Sotelo and Keli Sotelo, who runs operations. A licensed civil engineer and an architect work on staff, so the structure, the drainage, and the way a pool looks are all handled under one roof.

Most of our work sits west of town on Hill Country lots, where the grade is steep and caliche and limestone start a foot or two down. Those sites need engineered retaining walls, real drainage, and a shell built for ground that moves. It is the part of the job we have spent 25 years getting right.

What gets published here comes out of those builds. When an article says a pool takes ten to sixteen weeks, or that rock excavation is the line item most likely to move a budget, that number came off a job site in Travis County, not off a search result.

We also write about what not to do. A full width tanning ledge on a narrow pool takes away a quarter of the water. A deep end on a small pool costs a family the shallow space they actually use. Talking someone out of a feature is often the most useful hour in a design meeting.

Modern Pools is an Austin Minority Business Enterprise and a Texas Certified HUB, and a member of IPSSA and AIA Austin. The work has earned LEED Gold and Platinum, an Aquatics International Dream Design award, a number one ranking from BUILD Magazine, and recognition from Preservation Austin. It has appeared in Architectural Digest, Texas Architect, Tribeza, and Luxe Interiors + Design.