Changing the shape of a swimming pool

Yes — these are among the most common and practical concrete pool modifications. New steps, wide entries, submerged seats, swim-out benches, ledges, sun shelves, Baja shelves, beach areas and custom bar stools can be added to many existing concrete pools. The feature has to be reinforced and structurally connected to the original shell, and its size and position should suit circulation, water depth and the load the structure can accept.

Often. The usual conversation is a new reinforced wall or feature tied into the original shell, rather than filling a large area with concrete. How much can be reduced is decided from the actual pool construction rather than a generic measurement, and selected changes at both ends sometimes distribute the modification more sensibly than one very large build-up.

Often. Curves can be softened, selected areas straightened, awkward indents removed, and old love seats, beach entries, steps or ledges taken out. These refinements are usually made inward rather than by cutting the shell open and extending outward. Larger build-ups need more conservative structural planning and may require additional engineering.

Sometimes. Opening the spa into the pool can create a relaxation corner, a children's play area, a new entrance or more swimming space. The trade-off is that the spa generally loses its ability to be heated independently, and plumbing, water levels, structural connections and the final interior all need to be considered first.

Yes, but it is more complex than adding a step, seat or ledge. A raised floor has to manage bonding, internal water pressure and rising hydrostatic pressure beneath the work; if water migrates under a new floor, separation or movement can occur. Where the real aim is easier access, wide steps, a seat, a swim-out or a ledge often give the benefit with far less structural intervention.

Not normally. A wall across the pool creates a permanent junction between old and new concrete while resisting water pressure continuously, and different movement between the materials increases the risk of cracking and interior failure. Changing selected ends, curves or internal features is a more reliable way to reduce usable pool size.

If it is concrete, a great deal of it. Steps, submerged seats, ledges, a beach entry, a spa wall opened out, curves straightened, an unused bay taken back, a deep end brought up — all of it is new reinforced concrete tied into the shell you already have and then finished as one interior, so the join does not read as a patch later. What decides how much is possible is the shell itself: its thickness, where the reinforcement runs, ground conditions and water-table pressure. Photographs show none of that, which is why the answer comes after an inspection.

It is quoted per pool, because the concrete is the smaller half of the job. A new step or bench is engineered, tied into the original reinforcement, waterproofed and then finished across the cold joint — and the interior is normally redone as one surface rather than patched, which is the part most people have not budgeted for. Access for materials, how much of the shell has to be opened and whether the work needs additional engineering move it further. The inspection and the written quote are free.

In Los Angeles gardens, the rectangle, and it has been for about two decades — straight lines suit small lots, modern houses and covers that run on tracks. The kidney and freeform shapes of the seventies and eighties are what most of our reshaping work starts from: a bay nobody swims in, a love seat nobody sits on, a spa wall in the wrong place. Popularity is a poor reason to change a shape, though. How you actually use the pool is the reason.

A freeform pool takes a cover cut to a template measured from the pool itself, not ordered by size, and the curves are why it costs more than a cover for a rectangle. Automatic covers are the harder case: they run on tracks down two parallel sides, so a shell with curved or non-parallel walls either cannot take one or takes one across a rectangle drawn inside the shape. If a cover is part of why you are reshaping, say so at the inspection — it decides where the straight runs have to go.