Keystone paving would look cool and "Floridian" as a new pool coping, and if you have your heart set on new concrete, a rock-salt finish with some integral color pigment to tone down the glare can come close to replicating the look of Keystone. Large 2 or 4 foot square travertine tile pavers could also look quite elegant around the pool. The points made about glare off a lighter surface are valid, and something you should consider carefully as there is no shade over the pool deck. I wonder if the straight and rigid rows of single file Podocarpus are really the look you want, or whether you might prefer to loosen it up with a less architectural layout of shrubs or more trees over a wider border to soften the look. They probably are way over-planted, I usually would plant these as minimum 3 to 4 foot on center spacing for a hedge. Personally I wouldn't worry too much about the expressed concerns of Podocarpus being a messy choice; they actually hold on to their foliage better than most evergreen shrubs, but will require regular trimming if you intend them as a hedge. I'd be tempted to add some landscape interest by way of some low walls mixed with plantings to back the pool, and give a bit of privacy from golfers, and the street view in the direction of the air conditioner looks like it could use more layers of planting to make the pool less on view from the street. Maybe the open and uncluttered sight lines with the palms and the new border plantings of hedges is exactly what you prefer, but it looks rigid and sterile to me. I might suggest you look into some of the books published on the work of Florida landscape architect Raymond Jungles to see what high end south Florida landscaping around pools can achieve, there are two books on his body of work in my own personal library, and I really enjoy his sense of style and design principles in a Florida setting. Given all that hot sun in Florida, I'd probably also look into incorporating some sort of open shade pergola/arbor at one side or other of the pool, with some flowering vines to soften it. My landscape vision for your setting would continue the palms theme with more tropical foliage and flowers such as Heliconias, some flowering trees such as Tabebuias argentea, Xanthostemon chrysanthus or Delonix regia or similar, and masses of flowering shrubs with lots of flower or foliage color, bromeliads such as Aechmea blanchetiana, Neoregelias, Hohenbergias or Portea petropoliteana planted in mass with contrasting ground covers such as Setcreasea pallida or Euphorbia milli. On the other hand, water use is also a concern in Florida, and you may want to concentrate on converting your existing landscape to one that uses more drought tolerant plantings and Florida native plants, rather than more water loving tropicals.

Ohhh trux......I'm so excited for you!!!!..I Know reading how worried you were!..It has turned out So Beautiful!!!..Please keep posting pictures!!! I "CANNOT" wait to see the Finale!!! In regards to, IF they would allow the Pool to be done 'before' the Addition, Regal Pools, will NOT even "think" about putting the Pebble Sheen in the pool YET....AND I totally agree with them with all the scraps of wood and shingles and the overall "construction" "Regal" Personally will not allow anything happening to the integrity of the gunite...IM IMPATIENT...and Want it NOW....but I totally Understand!!! They Warrant and Stand by their build enough to "deny" me the Pebble Sheen that I "desire"...and I totally "Respect" their reasoning behind this!!!.. Even at this stage in the ENTIRE project (which is a Huge Build).....Regal Pools has been so "Patient" with me (Again..NOT an easy task!)...and I totally Trust them!...hard to say that about some builds!..But .. seriously...Josh has been a God Send! Keep posting Trux!! I cannot wait to see the finished Design!!!

Yaardvark - that is an interesting shape for the yard instead of a rectangle and I rather like the retaining wall like it as well as the pool shape. Would be nice if we could do the attached roof, but it would have to be a later addition due to the cost and headache of completely re-framing that part of the house. Although it could use a re-work as I don't like the complexity of that part with the current connections as it seems like a potential for leaks. It is a tough one though as the chimney height may or may not be to code depending on what we do either. The ? mark one would need to lead around the house to the driveway as people usually park in front of our garage when visiting and then come to the back instead of walking through the house. I like the arbor idea, would it be too much to do one on the driveway side? thinking it would provide some screening from the neighbors on that side. Emmarene - the majority mentioned to put the pad below the retaining wall in the back. Only one drew it in. What do you mean with this statement? "The pool in general and especially with the tanning shelf appear to be an attractive nuisance. " Are you saying you don't think we should build a pool (we'd use it daily in the summer), or are you saying to not add a tanning shelf? That is the area I tend to hang out in my neighbors pool while watching the kids play. Ok here are sketches of the various layouts I've received. I'm mainly caring about placement of things and shapes right now ie hard scaping. In all the fence would be on top of the retaining wall. We are not required to have a fence around the whole pool, but placement would be nice if that is possible although we won't install one. We only need a fence to keep others out. I'm traveling now so this is from memory and sketched in. Covered patio size is close to correct size. Pathways and pool were freehand sketched and I'm not that great at it and didn't have measurements handy. Actually what we've received didn't really have measurements on them. I care a lot about what I will see when I look out the windows. I'd like minimal view blocking, or at least stuff you can look through or over. I'd like to at least be able to glimpse the outer yard as well. What I like about this one. A bit of privacy from the road with hard stuff. Although landscaping could do the same in other options. Not blocking all of the view, but some Took equipment into account Don't like so much that the pool is the focus and right in the middle of things and a long walk from the kitchen inside the house to bring stuff out to the eating area. Also not drawn as a diving pool, but I guess it could be made into it. Other thing is having the sitting area right outside the bedroom on the kids side seems less than ideal to me. I like that it has diving and a shallower area and a tanning shelf, but may be too costly. Not sold on the angle of the covered area. It will likely do good covering the sun though, except in the late afternoon and evening which we would be using it then too. Couldn't do the open gables that my DH likes on the Southwest side. This one I like the gazebo - I think it would keep the shaded areas better, but probably wastes some space. DH likes the open gable stuff though. I don't like the amount of hard surface and the pool doesn't seem right. I like the shape style, but can't really put my finger on what I don't like about it. This one has a freestanding pavilion right next to the house with the gable next to the house closed. I like the location of it as it is nice and convenient and will guarantee we always have good shade under it. Not sold on where to put the sink though. The grill could go where we currently keep it right behind the chimney as it is out of sight from inside that way. Also not sure about the freestanding part right next to the house. Did not like the pool. I think I've drawn it a bit wrong here, but it had this odd pinch point on the outside and I tried to do it here, but it is not exact. After seeing Yaardvarks sketch I'm thinking I may need to see if somebody will drive out from the cities and do a design for us as I wasn't that impressed with what I got within a 60 mile radius. Here is another pic that shows what range of the yard you see from each room. The green is from the master, The blue from dining, the purple from the other bedroom, and the red from great room French doors when sitting inside.

Get everything priced individually as Damien suggests. This way you can compare cost of different parts of the project. If you decide you don't want to do a particular part of the project you know how much you don't need to pay. Or you may want to get multiple bids for only certain parts of the project. If the company doesn't want to itemize everything, they are trying to hide costs. The only way to know if you'd save substantial money is to compare to keep the contractor honest (&let them know it). I would caution against doing everything at once since what you envision may not come to life. For example you may think everyone will congregate in one part of the yard but they actually end up using another. Good luck!