Episode 163: Farley Pool Designs - Creating Outdoor Transformations Encompassing Client Lifestyles with Mike Farley
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Google Podcasts, Youtube, or on your favorite podcast platform
Episode Summary
Mike Farley founded Farley Pool Designs in 2013 and exclusively serves the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex in partnership with construction team Claffey Pools. As a designer, Mike has produced over 300 YouTube videos where he offers information on the design and construction process of one-of-a-kind swimming pool and outdoor living projects.
He is the co-founder of the Million Dollar Pool Design Challenge with Reid Schindler. This yearly project stages the ultimate design challenge which is open to anyone and provides fellow pool designers the opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences and an up-close-and-personal look at different solutions to the same design challenge.
Mike has written over 100 articles with Watershapes to help provide educational resources for those in the pool industry and for over 20 years has been one of the most popular instructors at International and Regional Pool shows on design.
Listen in as Mike shares how he made the transition from landscape architecture to pool and outdoor living design, his unique approach to designing pools and where his best ideas come from, and why he developed the Million Dollar Pool Challenge.
Topics Discussed
01:33 - An introduction to Mike Farley
18:42 - Mike on his mentors growing up and early on in his career as a pool designer
25:28 - Taking inspiration from nature
31:35 - Why Mike doesn’t have a style and how he approaches his designs
41:10 - Mike’s process for designing a pool
47:12 - Types of projects that clients often underestimate costs for
53:14 - How Mike stays inspired
1:05:51 - The importance of working with others who excel at your weakness
1:12:38 - Developing the Million Dollar Pool Challenge
Key Quotes From Episode
Anybody can fake it for a week. Some people can fake it for two. But in three weeks, you’re going to have to deal with yourself.
It’s not the shape of the pool that creates the environment—it’s the setting.
One of the cool things about what I do is I don’t have a style. [...] My philosophy is: I take the architectural style of the home, I take the yard, I take what the clients want—I create from there.
The best experience is somebody else’s; not yours.
There are certain things that you’re good at. There are other things that you’re not good at. Find what you’re not good at, hire someone to do that work, and you can be more productive. Quite honestly, they might love what you hate. It makes a better all-around team.
