A Resort-Style Backyard Remodel in Scottsdale
This North Scottsdale property had the one thing money can’t add later — space — and a backyard that wasn’t using it. The homeowners wanted a yard built for all of it at once: laps in the pool, dinner off the grill, a putting contest before sunset, and open lawn for kids and dogs, without the water bill and maintenance that a yard this size would normally demand. Scape Tech Landscaping and Design planned and built the entire property as one cohesive design.
The home sits near 64th Street and Cactus Road in the 85254 zip code, in the pocket of North Scottsdale between Shea and Cactus where large lots and mature palms give a backyard real room to work with. We matched the home’s white-stucco, tile-roof architecture with a warm, resort-style palette: French-pattern travertine pavers, deep-green artificial turf, and desert-adapted planting in decomposed granite beds.
What Was Built
Travertine Paver Pool Deck & Water Feature
The whole yard runs on a French-pattern travertine deck — from the covered patio off the house, around the full pool surround, and out to both pavilions. Travertine earns its place on Arizona pool decks: it stays cooler underfoot than poured concrete in July, doesn’t fade, and its natural variation hides the dust and water spots that show on plain decking. Every run was set on a compacted base and graded to drain away from the pool coping and the home. The freeform pool is anchored by a raised water feature wall in patterned star tile, with twin scuppers spilling into the water and the same tile carried through the waterline so the feature reads as one design, not an add-on.
Floating Travertine Panels & Turf Ribbon Design
The signature detail is the transition between deck and lawn: oversized travertine panels floating in the artificial turf with tight, clean grass-line joints between them. It’s a precision detail — the turf is cut and seamed around each panel by hand — and it visually stitches the hardscape to the lawn instead of letting the two just meet at an edge. The turf itself went in over a compacted base and weed barrier, stretched, seamed, and ballasted with silica-sand infill, so it putts flat, drains fast, and stays green through 110-degree summers with nothing to mow or water.
Twin Pavilions & Outdoor Kitchen
Rather than one crowded structure, we built two matching gable-roof pavilions — tile roofs, exposed timber trusses, and dark steel accents that echo the main house. The far pavilion holds an outdoor fireplace and lounge seating for cool desert evenings; the near pavilion covers a conversation area steps from the pool. Between them, a built-in BBQ island with a drop-in grill and stainless storage keeps cooking central to both the pool and the dining areas.
A Walled Backyard Putting Green
Along the side yard, a strip of the lot most designs would waste became the most-used feature on the property: a dedicated putting green framed by travertine-capped stucco walls that match the home. Two cups, tournament flags, and a professional-grade putting surface that rolls true year-round — maintained with nothing more than an occasional brushing.
Outdoor Living, Front to Back
Around the perimeter, raised planters and decomposed granite beds hold young olive trees and privacy hedging along the block walls — planting that will mature into a lush frame without driving up the water bill. Low-maintenance by design, the entire yard asks almost nothing of the homeowners and gives back everything: pool, pavilions, kitchen, green, and lawn, all connected by one continuous travertine-and-turf plan.
Built for the Sonoran Desert
Every surface here was engineered for Scottsdale conditions — proper base depth and compaction so nothing settles, drainage planned for monsoon storms, and materials chosen to stay cool, stay sharp, and stay green through the hottest months with minimal upkeep. The result is a backyard that works like a resort and lives like home.
Planning a backyard remodel in Scottsdale or anywhere across the Valley? Scape Tech Landscaping and Design handles the full property — landscape design, paver installation, artificial turf, putting greens, and outdoor living — start to finish. Request a quote and let’s talk about your yard.