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AI concept image of Greystone courtyard pool in Lincoln Park, Chicago: a Roman-end pool with a hot tub.
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Chicago, IL · Townhouse courtyard

Greystone courtyard pool in Lincoln Park, Chicago

A tidy little Roman pool in a brick-walled yard, with a raised hot tub and a pergola for the shoulder seasons.

One photo of your yard is all it needs.

Suits: Colonial houses on a townhouse courtyard in Midwest.

Drawn for a three-story limestone and brick Chicago greystone with bay windows and a carved stone entry, with a walled brick yard with hydrangeas, boxwood, a small ornamental pear tree and neighboring roofs in the background.

Planning cost, IL
$40,000 to $135,000
A range from published prices, not a quote
Build time
3 to 6 months
Contract to first swim
Size
24 × 12 ft
3.5 to 5 ft deep
Water
about 8,800 gal
Water surface
280 sq ft
Hot tub
7 ft round
about 850 gal

Quick answers about this design

Worked out from this design's own model, so they differ from page to page.

How much water does this pool hold?
About 8,800 gallons. It is 24 by 12 ft with about 280 sq ft of water, 3.5 ft deep at the steps and 5 ft at the deep end. The gallons come from adding up the depth over the real floor, steps and shelf included.
How big a yard does it need?
Plan on a clear area of about 42 by 39 ft for the pool, the tub, 4 ft of deck around the water and 5 ft to the fence line. The deck as drawn here is about 43 by 40 ft.
What does this design cost?
A planning range for IL is $40,000 to $135,000 all in: the pool, deck, coping, fence and features listed on this page. Permits and engineering are not in it. It is a range built from published prices, not a quote, and real jobs usually land inside it rather than on its edges.
How long does it take to build?
Plan on about 3 to 6 months from a signed contract to the first swim. Permits take from a few days to several months, depending on the town, before work starts.

Chapter 1 of 4

The design

What is in this pool, and how it turns in 3D.

The design, spelled out

Every choice in this pool, what it is, and why it suits this house and this part of the country.

Depth profile

The floor is 3.5 ft deep at the steps and stays level for about 7 ft, slopes over about 8 ft, then runs level at 5 ft for the last 9 ft.

3.5 ft5 ftwater line24 ft long

Design notes

Written with AI tools from this design's own measurements and sources, not by a pool builder. How we write

Why it works here

Brick coping and concrete pavers match the brick walls of the greystone, and the small Roman shape keeps the 24 x 12 pool in scale with the courtyard. A raised round hot tub on the far side and a pergola over the dining table help the yard work in the shoulder seasons.

What to watch

Walled yards leave little room for equipment, and a courtyard may be reached only through the house or a narrow gate. The walls and house are not drawn in the model.

How it reads

Blue quartz and white waterline tile brighten the small Roman pool inside warm brick walls. Brick coping, concrete pavers and the courtyard walls make one coherent tone, so the water is the single bright note. Hydrangeas and boxwood keep the edges soft. At midday the courtyard feels enclosed and sunny, and toward evening the pergola shadow falls over the dining table. The curved steps soften the corners.

Through the year

A walled yard holds warmth, so late spring and summer are the best months. Winter brings cold and snow, and leaves from the ornamental pear drift into the water in fall. Because the hot tub is raised on the far side, clear snow and ice from the pavers around it before anyone climbs in.

Every choice, row by row (13)
ShapeRoman

A rectangle with a half-round bump-out at one short end. The curved end gives a natural place for steps and a softer, classic look.

Size24 × 12 ft

A pool about 12 ft wide and 24 ft long. Big enough for a few people to cool off and play, small enough for a tight lot. That is about 280 sq ft of water and about 8,800 gallons.

StepsCurved steps

Curved, wedding-cake steps. A formal, graceful way into a Roman or larger pool. The steps lead into water 3.5 ft deep.

Hot tubRaised, spills over, 7 ft round

A hot tub raised on a wall and spilling over into the pool. The raised wall gives a seat-height edge and a small waterfall, at the price of extra masonry. The tub holds about 850 gallons.

Pool finishQuartz

Plaster with quartz aggregate, smooth with a bit of sparkle. Usually holds color and resists staining better than plain plaster, and stays gentle on feet. A freeze season stresses plaster, so ask how the pool is winterized to protect the finish.

Finish colorBlue finish, classic deep blue water

A blue interior. Gives a classic, deeper blue water.

Waterline tileWhite

White porcelain at the waterline. A clean, bright line that looks crisp against dark water. It runs about 68 linear ft around this pool.

CopingBrick

Red brick with a rolled edge. A traditional edge that suits brick houses and colonial or Tudor styles. It runs about 68 linear ft around this pool. Coping takes the worst of freeze and thaw, so it should be rated for it and set in a flexible joint.

DeckConcrete pavers

Grey interlocking concrete pavers. Pavers move with the ground and can be lifted and reset, which helps where the soil freezes or shifts. The deck is about 1,290 sq ft here. Where it freezes, the base and the joints matter more than the surface.

PlantingKeep what's there

The planting already in the yard. Keeps mature trees and shade in place and saves disruption.

Add to the yardPergola

Pergola: A pergola over part of the deck. Gives shade and a room feeling. It may need a permit and engineering where it is windy or snowy.

FurnitureDining table

Dining table: An outdoor dining table and chairs. Turns the pool into the place where meals happen.

LightMidday sun

Shown in midday sun. Shows the true color of the water and the finish.

Coping
68 linear ft
Deck
1,290 sq ft

Why it fits the townhouse courtyard

The yard: a walled brick yard with hydrangeas, boxwood, a small ornamental pear tree and neighboring roofs in the background. A courtyard or rooftop pool is a small, walled room, so every inch has to do a job. Walls give privacy and shade, and also limit access and sun. A compact plunge pool with a clean edge and a single feature water element fits better than a bigger pool crowding the seating. On a roof the same rule holds, and a structural engineer signs off on the weight of the water.

Why it fits the Colonial house

The house is a three-story limestone and brick Chicago greystone with bay windows and a carved stone entry. A colonial house wants symmetry, brick or flagstone and a formal edge. A tidy rectangle, stone coping and a calm palette respect the house's proportions. Clipped hedges and simple furniture keep the formality.

Turn this design around in 3D

This is the model behind the numbers above, with this design's own shape, steps, finish and deck. It loads when you scroll to it.

The same choices as the picture, as a model you can turn.

AI concept image of Greystone courtyard pool in Lincoln Park, Chicago: a Roman-end pool with a hot tub.

Turn it, zoom in, switch the dimension lines on.

In your yard

How would this swimming pool look on your home?

See this exact design as a photorealistic video, filmed in your own yard, from one photo.

You pick the film, add one photo, and see the picture before you decide anything.

A sample yard photo

A frame from an example film

A sample yard photo on the left, and on the right a frame from an example AI film of a pool in a backyard.

Chapter 2 of 4

Will it work for you

Your yard, your climate, and what the pool asks of you after the build.

Will this fit your yard?

A planning estimate, built from the model's own dimensions. Your town's setbacks decide the real answer.

Clear area to plan on

42 × 39 ft

About 1,638 sq ft. The pool and tub alone is 24 × 20.5 ft.

Plan on a clear area of about 42 by 39 ft for the pool, the tub, 4 ft of deck around the water and 5 ft to the fence line. The deck as drawn here is about 43 by 40 ft.

The 4 ft walkway and 5 ft setback are our planning allowances, not code. Towns set their own distances from the water to the lot line and the house, so ask yours before you commit to a layout.

Will it fit your yard?

Enter the clear area, from the house to the back fence and side to side.

Midwest: what the climate asks of this pool

A Midwest pool lives with a hard winter, so the swim season, the cover and the winterizing plan are part of the design.

  • The pool is usually closed for the winter. A safety cover, drained lines and a plan for the first warm weekend are normal costs of ownership.
  • Freeze and thaw cycles move decks. Pavers, a good base and joints that can flex last longer than a rigid, thin surface.
  • A pool heater or a heat pump stretches the season at both ends. Think about it while the equipment pad is being planned.
  • Back yards are often generous but fenced, so there is room for a deck, a lawn and a pergola without crowding the water.

Keeping it up

What this pool asks of its owner, by finish, climate, deck and feature.

  • Quartz in this climate

    A quartz finish needs the water balanced before the pool is closed, because a freeze season is hard on any cement-based surface.

  • Concrete pavers deck

    Sweep sand into the paver joints each year and pull weeds early, before they lift the pavers.

  • The hot tub

    A hot tub is a second body of water with its own chemistry. Keep it covered between uses and drain and clean it on the maker's schedule.

  • Winter

    Close the pool before the first hard freeze: lower the water, blow out the lines, drain or turn off the features and fit a cover. A heater or heat pump is an option for the shoulder seasons.

  • Yearly running cost

    Owners commonly budget $3,000 to $5,000 a year for chemicals, power, service and repairs (HomeAdvisor, in-ground pool cost, 2026).

Chapter 3 of 4

Cost and timeline

A sourced range to plan with, and how long it takes.

What this design costs: a planning range

Built line by line from this design's own measurements and published prices. It is a range to plan with, not a quote.

Planning range, IL

$40,000 to $135,000

Everything on this page, built: the pool, the deck, the coping, the fence and the features. It is a range, not a quote. Every line is at its lowest published price for the low end and its highest for the high end, so a real job lands inside it rather than on an edge.

Prices are scaled for IL by a damped regional factor of 1.00 (the state's cost of living is 100.0 against 100 for the US, and we use half the gap). Land clearing, landscaping beyond what is listed, a pool house's interior and financing are not in it.

Where the range comes from

The pool
$25,000 to $69,000
278 sq ft of water at $90 to $250 a square foot (shell, excavation, plumbing, equipment, plaster). Steps and the sun shelf are part of the shell.
Coping
$1,500 to $2,000
68 linear ft at $25 to $30 a foot.
Deck
$4,000 to $9,000
1,288 sq ft at $3 to $7 a square foot installed. HomeAdvisor's installed figure. Fixr's $6 to $8 is materials only.
Hot tub
$6,000 to $18,000
A spa added to a new pool.
Raised tub wall
$2,000 to $8,000
The raised wall, where there is none.
Pergola
$2,000 to $6,500
A 10 by 12 ft pergola. The one source is dated 2022.
Tight access
Up to $20,000
Up to $20,000 more when the site is hard to access. Bob Vila puts the average excavation at $3,400, which the base pool price already includes, and says it can reach $20,000 when access is hard. Nothing extra if the machines get in.
How we built this range, and the sources

We measure this design in the 3D model (water area, shell area, coping, deck, tub, what stands on the deck), multiply each quantity by a published price range per unit, add the lines and scale them for the state. The prices are from the pages below, collected in October 2026. Where two sources disagree the range spans both, and the line says so.

The method is written out, with every rate, at docs/POOL-IDEAS-COST-MODEL.md in our repository, and one file holds the rates, so a change of price changes every page at once.

  • HomeAdvisor's installed figure. Fixr's $6 to $8 is materials only.

How to get a number you can trust

Ask two or three local builders to quote the same scope in writing: the pool, the deck, the fence, the electrical, the permits and the landscaping, each on its own line. Then compare the lines, not the totals. Share this page with them: the size, the choices and the 3D model give a builder a starting point. To see how the published prices are built up and where they disagree, read inground pool cost, line by line.

How long it takes to build

From a signed contract to the first swim, before the yard additions.

Contract to first swim

3 to 6 months

Permits take from a few days to several months, depending on the town, before work starts. Weather, inspections and the builder's schedule move every date.

  • Tight access slows excavation and delivery. Ask how the crew gets machines and materials in.
  • The yard additions are usually built after the pool is finished, so they add weeks that are not in this range.
  • The hot tub is built with the pool, so it adds days of plumbing and tile rather than weeks.

What it is made of

The materials list for this design, with its own quantities from the model.

The materials list (6 lines)
InteriorQuartz, blueabout 560 sq ft of shell
Plaster with quartz grains mixed in. Smoother than pebble and tougher than plaster, with a little sparkle under the water.
Waterline tileWhiteabout 68 linear ft, 10 in. band
White porcelain shows a waterline ring more than a darker tile, so it wants a regular wipe.
CopingBrickabout 68 linear ft
Rolled-edge brick gives a traditional line. The mortar joints need attention over the years and the surface can be uneven underfoot.
DeckConcrete paversabout 1,290 sq ft
Interlocking concrete pavers. Easy to repair one piece at a time, and the joints need topping up with sand now and then to keep weeds out.
Yard additionPergola
A shade structure over part of the deck. It has to be anchored for local wind and snow loads.
Hot tubRaised, spills over, roundabout 850 gal
Built with the pool, with its own jets, heater share and cover. Tile and coping match the pool.

Chapter 4 of 4

Talk to a builder

What to ask before you sign, and how to bring this design to them.

Questions to ask a builder about this design

Specific to what is in this pool. Ask them before you sign.

  1. 01What does closing and opening this pool involve each year, and which parts of the deck are rated for freeze and thaw?
  2. 02How will excavation equipment get into the walled courtyard, and what does that do to the schedule and the brick around the pool?
  3. 03Do the pool and the tub share a heater, and can the tub run alone in cold weather?
  4. 04Does the pergola need a permit or engineering for wind or snow, and who builds it?
  5. 05What base sits under the pavers, and how are they locked in against movement?

Make it yours

Start with this design and add a photo of your own yard. The free visualizer places the pool on it, with your choices ready to change.

See this pool in your yard, freeUpload your yard

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This is a design idea for a sample yard, and every picture is an AI concept image, not a built pool. Sizes, gallons and areas are estimates from the same maths as the 3D model, and the price and time ranges are planning figures from published sources, to help you talk to a builder.

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