Your backyard, finally finished
New Pool Construction in Southern California
A pool shaped around your yard, not a catalog — with the tanning ledge, the steps, the attached spa and the water color you pick. Designed, built and finished by one family crew who have put their name on more than a hundred pools in these five counties.
(951) 419-4206Free design visit. Financing available. Licensed — CSLB #1148412.
Run by Oscar Retana, twenty-one years on Southern California pools, with his sons on the same crew. One fixed price in writing, and you will know every one of us by name.
Where we work most: Riverside, Redlands, Hemet, Murrieta, Corona and Anaheim — and across five counties: Moreno Valley, Temecula, Menifee, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Fontana, Chino Hills, Irvine, Orange, Pasadena, Glendora, Whittier, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista and everywhere in between.
Oscar Retana and his sons — the crew that will be in your backyard. CA’s Finest & Quality Pool Plastering Inc, Riverside County.
Who will be in your backyard
One family, start to finish
“I want you to know our names by the end of the first week. That is the whole difference.”
Oscar has spent twenty-one years building and rebuilding pools in Southern California, and his sons work alongside him. The same three or four people are in your backyard from the day the machine arrives to the day the water goes in.
That matters more on a new pool than on anything else we do. A build has excavation, steel, plumbing, gunite, tile, coping and the finish — on most projects that is a parade of different companies, each one waiting on the last and none of them responsible for the whole thing. Here nobody is handing off, so nobody is blaming.
And it is why the work holds. We do it the way we would want it done at our own house, because it is our own name on it — and because in this business the next job comes from the neighbour who watched us do this one.
You will have Oscar’s number. He tells you where the job stands every day the crew is on site, in English or in Spanish, whichever you prefer.
The good part
What you can have in it
This is the conversation people actually enjoy having, and it is the one we start with at the design visit. Everything here goes into the shell while it is being built, which is the only time it costs what it should.
A shape made for your yard
Not a model number. We look at the space you have, where the sun lands in the afternoon, where you want to sit and where the gate is — and the pool gets drawn around that.
Freeform, rectangle, L-shape, a lap lane down one side. The yard usually tells you which one once somebody stands in it with you.
designed on site
A tanning ledge you will actually use
A Baja shelf a few inches deep, wide enough for two loungers and a small table in the water. It is the single most loved thing in any pool we build.
Kids play on it for hours, grandparents sit on it, the dog can get out on it, and it is where everybody ends up on a July afternoon.
the favourite, every time
Steps and benches where you want them
A wide entry you can walk into instead of climb into, a bench along the wall for the adults, a swim-up ledge by the spa.
Say how your family uses water and we will put these where they belong rather than where they usually go.
built around your family
A spa attached to the pool
Built into the same shell, spilling into the pool, sharing the same finish and the same tile. Not a plastic tub on the patio.
It is the part of the backyard that gets used in December, and it costs a fraction built with the pool than added later.
used all year
The color of the water
Plaster, quartz, or mini pebble and StoneScapes — the finish is what decides whether your water reads pale blue, deep lagoon or almost black-green.
We bring samples you can hold, and we will tell you where there is a finished pool nearby in the color you are leaning toward so you can go stand next to it.
pick it in daylight
Tile and light that make it yours
The waterline band is the strip your eye lands on — glass, mosaic, stone. It changes the whole character of a pool for a small share of the project.
And LED lighting, which is what turns the pool from something you look at in the day into something you look at every evening.
the finishing touch
Come and tell us what you picture
The design visit is free, it happens at your house, and there is no pressure afterwards. Bring photos of pools you like — it is the fastest way for us to understand what you are after.
Our testimonials
Real experiences. Real results.
Hear it from the people whose backyards we worked in. Then read the reviews straight from our Google profile, below.
A customer on how the job went, start to finish.
Another customer, another backyard in Southern California.
Real reviews from real clients
Every one of them written by somebody whose pool we worked on, in Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, Los Angeles or San Diego county. Several are in Spanish, because a good share of our customers are.
We would rather you read them before you call us than after.
The scope
What a pool we build includes
Three stages, one fixed price in writing, and the same family crew from the first day to the last.
Design and paperwork
We come out, look at the yard and draw the pool around it — size, shape, depth, where the spa sits, where the equipment goes and how we get a machine in there.
Then the plans and the permit application, handled by us. You get the permitting timeline in writing, separate from the construction timeline, so you always know which part of the schedule is ours.
we handle it
The shell and the plumbing
Excavation, the steel, the plumbing rough-in, then the gunite or shotcrete shot and left to cure properly. This is the structure, and it is what you are really buying.
Skimmers, returns, drain covers and autofills go in at this stage, set into the shell. Done right here, you never think about them again.
built to last decades
Tile, coping and the finish
Waterline tile, the coping you walk on, and then the interior surface — plaster, quartz or mini pebble and StoneScapes.
This last stage is what we have spent twenty-one years on. It is the part that decides how the pool looks, how it feels underfoot and how long it lasts.
our twenty-one years
And then the fill and the start-up. We start the fill and do not stop it, then walk you through the brushing and the chemistry for the first two weeks. A new surface is curing while the pool fills, and that fortnight does more for its life than anything else you will ever do to it.
Every build also comes with: one fixed price in writing before anything is dug, line by line; a photo and your approval before we change anything; an update from Oscar every day the crew is on site; a written one-year guarantee on our workmanship; and samples you can hold — and stand on, in the sun — before you choose a thing.
What is quoted separately: decking and hardscape beyond the coping, landscaping, outdoor kitchens, and fire or water features. Those are their own trades, and we would rather show them as their own numbers than fold them into one figure that moves later.
What it costs
What a new pool costs in Southern California
One honest starting point instead of a menu, and then the things that actually move it.
Where a new pool starts
From $80,000
That is the figure published across this market for a standard inground gunite pool, and it is where a real project begins rather than where it ends. Size, depth, the finish you choose and everything you put around the pool all build on top of it.
This is an approximate figure for orientation only. It is not a quote and it is not a price promise. Your number comes after we have come out and looked at the yard, and it is fixed in writing before anything is dug.
Financing is available. This is the one project in our catalog that runs into six figures, so it is the one where the question matters most. Ask us about it when you call — it is worth knowing your options before you decide on the design, not after, because it often means you get the tanning ledge and the spa in the same build instead of wishing for them later.
What moves the number up or down
The yard, more than anything. A flat backyard a machine can drive into is a different project than a hillside, a narrow side gate or poor soil. It is the first thing we look at when we come out, and it is the item most often underestimated by whoever quoted you over the phone.
The size and the shape. A bigger shell is more excavation, more steel, more gunite and more finish. A simple shape costs less to build than a complex one.
The finish and the tile. Plaster, quartz or pebble are different materials at different prices, and the waterline tile can be modest or can be the piece you spend on.
Everything outside the pool. Decking, hardscape, an outdoor kitchen, fire and water features. These are what turn a pool project into a backyard project.
That is why we come out and look instead of pricing it over the phone — and why the number you get from us does not move afterwards.
Easy to say yes to
How paying for it works
Nobody should have to hand over a large sum before a shovel touches their yard. With us, you do not.
You pay as the work gets done. The deposit to start is small, and after that every payment is tied to a stage you can walk out and look at — excavation finished, steel in, gunite shot, tile set. The money follows the work, never the other way round.
California actually puts a ceiling on that first payment: on a swimming pool contract the deposit cannot exceed 10 percent of the price or $1,000, whichever is less — and on a project this size, that means $1,000. We work well inside it, and it is in your contract in plain language.
Financing is available if you would rather spread it out, and it is worth asking before the design is settled rather than after. Plenty of people end up with the tanning ledge, the spa or the better finish in the same build simply because they asked the question early.
And the price itself does not move. One fixed number in writing before anything is dug. If we open something up and find a surprise, you get a photo and you decide what happens next — before we touch it.
From the first drawing to the first swim
How a pool comes together, stage by stage
Most projects in this region run twelve to twenty weeks. Here is what is happening in each of them, so you always know where yours is.
Design and permitting: four to eight weeks. The pool gets drawn, the plans go in, and the local department reviews them. We handle the filing and keep you posted — and because this stage belongs to them rather than to us, you get it in writing as its own line so the schedule is never a mystery.
Excavation and the shell: two to three weeks. The big week. The machine arrives, the hole takes the shape you chose, the steel goes in, the plumbing is roughed in, and the gunite is shot and left to cure. This is when it stops being a drawing.
Tile, coping and decking: three to four weeks. The part that looks like progress every single day. The waterline tile goes up, the coping gets set, and the pool starts looking like the photos you showed us.
Finish, fill and start-up: two to three weeks. The interior surface goes on last, then the fill, then two weeks of brushing and chemistry while the new surface cures. This is the stage we have spent twenty-one years on, and it is the one that decides how the pool looks for the next twenty.
We would rather tell you four months and hand it over in three than the other way round. And every day the crew is on site, you hear from Oscar.
In every pool we build
- One fixed price in writing before anything is dug
- A small deposit, then payments tied to finished stages
- A photo and your approval before anything changes
- An update from Oscar every day the crew is on site
- Samples you can hold — and stand on, in the sun
- A written one-year guarantee on our workmanship
- English or Spanish, whichever you prefer
None of this is an upgrade. It is how we do every job, and it is why most of our work comes from somebody who was sent by a neighbour.
Written guarantee on our workmanship
If something fails because of our workmanship within the first year, we come back and repair it. No cost, no argument — and it is in writing before we ever start, not promised verbally at the door.
Real work, real results
Pools we have built and rebuilt
No stock photography — every project shown here is one of ours, in a real backyard around the Inland Empire.
off your first remodeling or new construction project
For every new customer, on top of whatever the quote already says — your first pool remodeling or new pool construction project with us. Veterans and active-duty military, always. And ask about financing while you are at it. Just mention it when you call.
One honest note
Already have a pool in the yard?
Then tell us before you decide, because there may be a shorter road to the same backyard.
We build new pools and we remodel the ones that are already there, so we have no reason to push you toward either one. If the shell you have is sound and it simply looks dated, a complete remodel starts around $7,800, takes two to three weeks, and gets you a new interior surface, new tile and coping and even a Baja shelf if the shape is what is bothering you.
A pool from 1987 with a new pebble finish, new glass tile and new travertine coping does not look like a 1987 pool. Everything you can see is new.
And when building really is the right answer — the pool is in the wrong part of the yard, the footprint is wrong for your family, or the shell itself is past saving — we will say so, and we will build it.
Build new if
- There is no pool in the yard yet
- You want a shape the existing shell cannot become
- The pool is in the wrong place entirely
- The shell itself is past saving
Remodel if
- The shell is sound and the pool simply looks dated
- You want a new finish, new tile and new coping
- You want somewhere to stand, and the rest works
Where we work
New pool construction in Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties
We are based in Riverside County and we build across five of them. Every yard is different, which is why the design visit happens at your house and not over the phone.
Riverside County
Riverside, Hemet, Murrieta, Corona, Moreno Valley, Temecula, Menifee, Perris, Lake Elsinore, Eastvale
San Bernardino County
Redlands, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Fontana, Chino Hills, Upland, Rialto, Highland, Yucaipa
Orange County
Anaheim, Irvine, Orange, Yorba Linda, Fullerton, Tustin, Brea, Villa Park
Los Angeles County
Pasadena, Glendora, Whittier, Claremont, San Dimas, La Verne, Arcadia, Covina
San Diego County
Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos, Escondido, Encinitas, Fallbrook
The practical questions
New pool construction questions we get asked
The ones that come up before anything else, answered straight.
How much does it cost to build a new pool in California?
A standard inground gunite pool in this region starts around $80,000, and goes up from there with the size, the finish and everything you put around the pool.
What moves it most is the yard itself. A flat backyard a machine can drive into is a different project than a hillside, a narrow side gate or poor soil. Decking, hardscape and outdoor kitchens are quoted separately.
That figure is approximate and for orientation only — it is not a quote and not a price promise. Your number comes after we have seen the yard, and it is fixed in writing before anything is dug. Financing is available.
What can I have built into the pool?
The things people enjoy most are the ones that go in while the shell is being built: a tanning ledge, a wide walk-in entry, benches along the wall, an attached spa that spills into the pool, and the lighting.
All of them cost a fraction built now versus added later, because later means draining the pool and cutting into a finished surface.
Bring photos of pools you like to the design visit. It is the fastest way for us to understand what you are picturing, and it usually turns out to be more achievable than people expect.
How much do I have to pay up front?
Very little, and then you pay as the work gets done. Every payment after the deposit is tied to a stage you can walk outside and look at — excavation finished, steel in, gunite shot, tile set.
California puts a ceiling on that first payment anyway: on a swimming pool contract the deposit cannot exceed 10 percent of the price or $1,000, whichever is less. On a project this size that means $1,000, and it is written into your contract in plain language.
If you would rather spread the whole thing out, ask about financing — ideally before the design is settled.
Do you offer financing?
Yes. Ask about it when you call and we will walk you through the options.
Do it before you decide on the design rather than after. Knowing what is possible often means the tanning ledge, the attached spa or the better finish end up in the same build instead of on a list of things you wish you had done.
Do you build new pools?
Yes. New pool construction from the ground up — design and permits, the excavation and the shell, the plumbing, the tile and coping, and the interior finish — with the same family crew and a fixed price in writing before anything is dug.
We also remodel the pool you already have, which is most of what we have done for twenty-one years. That is why we will tell you honestly which of the two fits what you want.
How long does it take from signing to swimming?
Twelve to twenty weeks for most new builds in this region. Design and permitting take four to eight weeks, excavation and the shell two to three, tile and coping three to four, and the finish, fill and start-up another two to three.
We give you the permitting timeline in writing as its own line, separate from the construction timeline, so you always know which part of the schedule is ours. And we would rather tell you four months and hand it over in three.
Who actually does the work?
Oscar and his sons. The same three or four people are in your backyard from the day the machine arrives to the day the water goes in — nobody gets handed off to a crew you have never met.
You will have Oscar’s number, and he tells you where the job stands every day the crew is on site, in English or in Spanish.
Do you handle the permit?
Yes, that is part of the project. The plans get drawn and submitted and we deal with the department and the inspections.
Which office reviews it depends on where your house sits — a property inside city limits and one in an unincorporated part of the same county are not handled by the same place, and some neighbourhoods have an HOA approval on top. We find out what applies to your address and tell you at the design visit.
What license does a pool builder need in California?
Building a pool in California requires a contractor with the C-53 Swimming Pool classification, which the Contractors State License Board defines as the classification for a contractor who “constructs swimming pools, spas or hot tubs.”
Whoever you hire, look their number up at cslb.ca.gov — it takes thirty seconds and shows the classification, the status and the bond. Ours is CSLB #1148412, and we would encourage you to check it exactly the same way.
Is the work guaranteed?
Yes — a written one-year warranty on our workmanship, handed to you with the paperwork rather than promised verbally. If something fails because of our work in that first year, we come back and repair it.
¿Hablan español?
Sí. Oscar y su equipo hablan español. Llame, escriba o mande fotos en el idioma que prefiera y le contestamos en el mismo.
Let’s draw it on your yard
Send a photo of the space and tell us what you picture — the ledge, the spa, the color of the water. The design visit is free, the price comes in writing, and there is no pressure afterwards. Financing available.