Posh Patios Provide At-Home Getaway

About 40 percent of homeowners will invest in a major outdoor purchase for their home this year, such as a pool, patio or deck, according to a Unity Marketing survey.

The marketing study said consumers spent about $15.7 billion in 2004 on outdoor living products.

Scott Hundley, the owner of Pinnacle Pools in Rogers, said customers are turning their backyards into a vacations spot.

Pinnacle Pools installs about 30 swimming pools per year, of which Hundley says at least half have an outdoor kitchen. He said the cost of a pool could run from $40,000 to $500,000.

The trend is growing. The Hearth, Patio and Barbeque Association reported that sales of natural wood products for outdoor smoking and cooking has more than tripled since 1993. The HPBA said more than half of the new homes built in 2003 had a porch, patio or deck, and existing homeowners spent more than twice the amount on exterior remodeling and renovation than they did on new home construction, the HPBA reported. Consumers spent $3.2 billion on outdoor furniture in 2003, and the pool and spa industry accounted for $20 billion.

Brian Cook, owner of Ozark Patterned Concrete Inc. of Lowell, said his business, which is about 90 percent residential, has had a 40 percent jump in revenue in two years. He said by year’s end his company will have installed about 200,000-SF of architectural concrete in this area.

He said the average installation of stamped or imprinted concrete around a pool costs about $15,000.

Mitch Lawson, manager of the Patio in Bentonville, said the store’s hottest ticket items are hot tubs and grills.

Lawson said a higher-end grill setup could cost from $14,000 to $16,000.

Hot tubs can cost from $2,000 to $11,000, depending on what bells and whistles are used.

Roger Gildehaus, who is retired from a 26-year career in merchandising with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said he worked with Pinnacle Pools to outfit the back of his 1.4-acre lot in Bentonville’s Lexington subdivision.

But Gildehaus’s pool, with its three-pronged rock waterfall, lighting features and fully-equipped pool house, is more like the patio at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas than standard backyard fare.

In fact, the same folks who provided the cabanas beside the pool at the Las Vegas rockers haunt, Safari Thatch & Bamboo Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla, designed the thatched-roof tiki-themed hut adjoining his pool.

“We like having get-togethers instead of going on an expensive vacation,” Gildehaus said. “It’s so hard to get away.”

Gildehaus declined to disclose the cost of the project, but said he probably shaved about 15 percent off his total by contracting the job himself. Ozark Patterned Concrete did the decorative concrete work around the pool, which included faux stone and wood finishes.

Main Street Builders LLC of Bentonville built the pool house, which included coordinating the thatch materials from the house to the tiki hut. Pinnacle Pools built the concrete pool, which has a ledge all the way around and a table on one end. At its longest, the pool is 77 feet, and at its widest it is 37 feet.

Cook said a concrete job the size of Gildehaus’s costs about $50,000.

Cook said he’s installed one other table in a pool this year in the home of Don Glass. The table costs about $1,500.

Halle Gunter, group media manager for Safari Thatch & Bamboo, said residential sales account for about 40 percent of the 20-year old companies billings.

Safari’s list of clients includes Walt Disney World and Busch Gardens in Florida and the Atlantis Hotel in Bahamas, in addition to stars Gloria Estefan, Nick Carter and several NBA players.

“Those types of [residential] jobs have $200,000 budgets,” Gunter said of the high-profile clients.