Taking On the Hard Jobs Others Won’t Touch – Melo’s Pools & Outdoors

In a market defined by architectural pedigree and uncompromising aesthetics, reputation is everything. And in the Palm Springs and Palm Desert corridor — where mid-century icons meet modern glass-and-steel estates — Melo’s Pools & Outdoors has quietly carved out a lane that few builders are willing to occupy.

“We’ve kind of built a name for taking on projects that maybe most of our competitors do not want to get involved with just due to how complex they are,” says co-owner Albert Melo. “A lot of the times we get involved early on in the early phases of the project. We’re willing to take our time and answer maybe a hundred questions before we’re even able to provide a price.”

That willingness to engage early — and absorb the risk that comes with it — has become the firm’s calling card.

From Engineering to Entrepreneurship

Melo’s path back to the family business wasn’t linear. He studied civil engineering in Orange County and was on track for a conventional engineering career before a pivotal mentor redirected him.

“I don’t think you’re an engineer,” a builder he interned for once told him. “You’re going to be a great businessman one day.”

At the time, it felt destabilizing. But looking back, Melo sees the value.

“I don’t think it was a waste of time. It’s actually helped me tremendously to be able to work on these projects and use that knowledge with architects and structural engineers and city inspectors.”

When he returned to the Coachella Valley to help his father with what was then a small pool service and remodeling operation, he never left. Twelve years later, that modest operation has evolved into an award-winning luxury pool firm capable of executing six- and seven-figure watershapes.

The transformation didn’t happen overnight.

“I became obsessed with the business side of things,” Melo explains. “How to be more efficient. How to create a better experience for the client. How to create a better sales process, a better construction process. Even if that meant every day just improving one percent.”

Over time, that obsession began attracting a different clientele.

“You kind of put your head up one day and you go, wow — you’re naturally just starting to attract that clientele that really wants quality.”

A Design-Savvy Market Demands Discipline

Palm Springs is not a forgiving design environment. It’s a place where architecture is cultural identity. Mid-century modern homes sit beside ultra-contemporary estates. Landscape, linework, and proportion matter.

“It’s heavily controlled by the looks of things and the design of the home,” Melo says. “Half of the pools we build, they don’t get used. It’s more for looks. It’s more to enjoy the outdoors with your cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine at night.”

That means the pool is rarely the star of the show. It’s part of a larger composition.

“Palm Springs is all about mid-century architecture,” he says. “It’s what governs the whole design of a pool.”

In some neighborhoods, that means restraint — preserving original palms and retrofitting older shells without disturbing architectural integrity. In others, particularly in Palm Desert and La Quinta, it means infinity edges, zero-edge pools, and expansive entry water features tied into modern estate construction.

The throughline is respect for place.

Owning the “Hard Projects” Lane

At some point, Melo’s firm stopped chasing typical work and started leaning into the uncomfortable.

“It naturally just happened,” he says. “We set expectations early. We tell them the truth. No, this is not going to take two months. Just the permitting process is going to take two months. The construction process can take another six.”

That level of transparency costs them jobs.

“There are clients that don’t want to hear that. They walk away. They go with the other company that maybe told them what they wanted to hear.”

But the clients who stay are different.

“In order to build a Ferrari, it takes time. It’s not how fast can you do it — it’s let’s do this right.”

For Melo, the client relationship has to be aligned before they commit to a complex project.

“That client has to see the value in what our company offers. If they see the value that we’re able to help them early on, that we know what we’re doing, and that we’re going to bring the right vendors and engineers into the project, then they’re willing to pay for it and they’re willing to wait for the realistic timeline.”

That alignment is what makes the difference between a successful high-end build and a slow-moving disaster.

The Acrylic Wall Project: Engineering Under Pressure

The project that crystallizes Melo’s reputation sits in the heart of Palm Desert — a modern estate anchored by an acrylic wall pool and a floating acrylic bar that appears to hover over illuminated water.

It began, as many of Melo’s projects do, with a simple directive from the homeowner.

“They were like, Albert, we want something different. We want something unique.”

One idea led to another. A transparent wall. Then a bar. Then a question no one had yet answered.

“What if we make the table out of acrylic?”

At the time, Melo didn’t know of anyone who had executed a fully integrated floating acrylic bar in that fashion. But the idea stuck.

“There’s so much planning involved,” he says. “There’s so many what ifs. There’s so many unknowns.”

The coordination required was immense. Acrylic vendor. Structural engineers. In-house CAD design. Hydraulics. Load calculations. Deflection analysis. The final email count approached two thousand messages between all parties involved.

“You’re almost working backwards,” Melo explains. “You need to provide a budget, but you also need to understand how that’s going to be constructed.”

Details mattered at a microscopic level — pool depth, waterline alignment, structural support, acrylic thickness, anchoring systems, tolerances.

And then came the fill.

“That was my first acrylic pool that we had ever done,” Melo recalls. “I just could not relax. I’m like, what if it leaks? What if it fails? All that pressure of the water — is it going to deflect that acrylic?”

He drove to the site late at night while the pool was filling.

“I remember it was halfway through the acrylic and there were no leaks. It was almost there.”

That night still stands out.

“Anyone that’s been in this industry remembers their first infinity edge pool, their first zero-edge pool,” he says. “With time and experience comes confidence.”

Today, the illuminated acrylic wall glows beneath the desert sky. The floating bar, supported by transparent columns, creates the illusion of weightlessness. It is architectural sculpture as much as it is watershape — and a defining example of what happens when a builder refuses to default to ordinary.

Designing With Restraint

Not every signature project is about pushing materials. Some are about knowing when not to.

On another featured property, Melo’s team preserved decades-old palm trees rather than remove them to simplify construction.

“We said, we have to keep these palms,” he explains. “It’s a signature look of Palm Springs.”

Structurally, that decision complicated the dig and required careful engineering to ensure root systems remained stable. But the payoff was visual continuity — a modernized pool anchored by historic palms that tied the property to its mid-century heritage.

“Sometimes restraint is the most important part,” Melo says. “The challenge is, when you’re working with big architects and successful clients, they don’t want to hear the word no. They have an idea and it’s our job to figure out how it gets done.”

That often means mediating between architectural intent and structural reality.

Landscape architects might draw a water feature flush against a home’s exterior wall, but structural footings may project 12 to 18 inches outward.

“We have to bring those concerns early on,” he says. “Sometimes the structural engineer has to redo their calculations so we can design our wall flush with the house.”

The discipline isn’t about limiting ambition. It’s about integrating it.

Process in a Custom World

In production building, process is standardized. In custom luxury construction, process must be flexible without becoming chaotic.

“It starts with, are we the right fit?” Melo says. “Usually that starts with a phone call or a Zoom meeting.”

From there, they request conceptual drawings — sometimes nothing more than bubble sketches — and begin mapping out what information is needed from civil engineers, structural engineers, and architects.

Because many of their builds stretch across months or even years, continuity is critical.

“I probably have five or ten projects right now where it’s been a year, some of them two years, and we’re just waiting to come back,” Melo says.

Pools may be shot to structural shell and then paused until vertical construction on the home reaches a certain stage.

To maintain momentum, Melo and his project managers maintain contact — site visits, emails, coordination meetings — even during dormant phases.

“We try to keep that communication alive.”

Looking Ahead

Despite industry recognition — including 40 Under 40 honors — Melo remains wary of complacency.

“The day you think you have it all figured out is when you don’t,” he says.

He credits mentorship from friends and associates who run nine-figure businesses for sharpening his understanding of financial systems and operational discipline.

“Yes, we’re building pools, but we’re also running a business,” he says. “We have to make sure we take care of that side.”

What excites him most isn’t reckless expansion. It’s controlled growth.

“Growth can be a double-edged sword,” Melo says. “We want to maintain our quality and find our sweet spot. We’re busy, but not so busy that it affects our quality.”

And perhaps most importantly:

“I’m excited to be able to say no to the ones that maybe don’t fit our values.”

In a market where aesthetics reign and reputations travel fast, that discipline may be the true differentiator.

For anyone who doubts it, just stand beside one of Melo’s exquisitely designed aquatic showpieces and bask in the splendor and technical prowess of true craftsmanship on display.

Some builders avoid the hard jobs.

Melo’s Pools & Outdoors built a name on taking them on.

Ready to take a deeper dive?

Listen to our entire conversation with Albert Melo of Melo’s Pools & Outdoors on the Pool Magazine Podcast.

Builder Credits: Melo’s Pools & Outdoors
Photo Credits: Jimi Smith Photography