Dark pergola over a finished composite deck with stone columns

Service area · Forsyth County, GA

Forsyth County Pool Builder &Outdoor Living Experts

Pools, decks, outdoor kitchens, and retaining walls for Lanier coves, golf communities, and north county acreage, designed by licensed landscape architects.

Schedule Your Design Consultation

County-wide design and build

Every Forsyth County lot, drawn before we build

Sugar Hill Outdoors is an outdoor living contractor for Forsyth County, GA, working across the unincorporated county from the Fulton line to Coal Mountain. A licensed landscape architect maps your slope, septic, and buffers on site. Then you walk through the full design in 3D before construction starts.

Mixed shrubs and ornamental trees in a landscaped front garden

For Forsyth County homes

Pools, decks, and outdoor kitchens across Forsyth County

Your landscape architect draws all four on one plan before any crew arrives.

Swimming pool and raised spa beside a shaded outdoor living area

Custom pools with spa and waterfall

Your pool builder designs it in 3D first, from spa to waterfall. We draw the county site plan and fence layout for your permit.

Custom pools
Multi-level wood deck and stairs at the back of a brick home

Main-floor decks with a view

Step from the kitchen onto a Trex composite or wood deck, covered if you like. Your deck builder files the county deck and porch permit.

Decks & under-deck systems
Covered paver patio with a stone fireplace and built-in outdoor grill

Grill islands guests gather around

Cook at a stacked stone Belgard outdoor kitchen with a Big Green Egg or Blackstone station. Your GA-141 HOA board gets a 3D drawing.

Outdoor kitchens
Natural boulder retaining wall supporting a lawn beside a home

Walls that add usable yard

Block walls open up room for a patio or lawn. We engineer any wall over 4 feet and file the county permit past 6.

Retaining walls
Broad paver patio with lounge furniture, outdoor dining, and planted stone walls

Picture it finished

Your Forsyth County home, the Sunday gathering spot

Picture a backyard in a South Forsyth golf community like Windermere, with mature trees along the fairway side. The curved pool sits in a wide paver deck, and the grandkids are in the water before lunch.

The grown-ups fill the deck off the kitchen, while the stacked stone grill island turns out burgers a few steps from the pool. Friends who stopped by for an hour stay through dinner.

Why guests stay all day

  • Whoever is grilling still hears every story.
  • Kids swim where every chair on the deck can see them.
  • Shade from mature trees reaches the pool by late afternoon.
  • The family starts asking to hold Sunday dinner at your place.

Across Forsyth County

How each corner of Forsyth County builds differently

Unincorporated Forsyth County runs from the Fulton County line up to rural north Forsyth, and the permits and lot rules change along the way.

Explore Forsyth County on the map

South Forsyth along GA-141

Peachtree Parkway runs through master-planned neighborhoods between Johns Creek, Suwanee, and Cumming. Plan on HOA architectural review, and we prepare the full submission.

Golf communities

Laurel Springs is gated, and Windermere and Polo Golf & Country Club sit among fairways and mature trees. We schedule gate access and protect established root zones.

Along Big Creek

Creek-side lots carry a 50-foot undisturbed buffer and a 75-foot impervious setback. We place your patio and pool upslope of both lines.

North Forsyth

Around Matt, Coal Mountain, and Silver City, lots run larger and septic is common. We locate your tank and field first and secure Environmental Health approval.

Lake Lanier coves

The Corps of Engineers manages Lanier's shoreline as public land. Your deck builder plans decks and patios above the Corps line, with steps to the water permitted separately.

Unincorporated addresses

Outside Cumming's city limits, the county Department of Building and Licensing issues permits. Its site plan shows setbacks, easements, and buffers, and we draw it for you.

County permits

Which Forsyth County permit your project needs

Forsyth County sorts backyard work into a handful of residential permits. Decks, covered patios, and outdoor fireplaces share one, detached structures use another, and pools and walls each have their own.

Each county permit places responsibility for setbacks, easements, and buffers on the owner. Our licensed landscape architects confirm all three on your drawings before we submit.

Our credentials

Forsyth County projects led by credentialed designers

We've been designing and building North Georgia backyards since 1997.

Georgia-licensed design team

Georgia protects the title of licensed landscape architect, and two of ours lead your design. You keep the permit-ready construction documents.

A single accountable team

Your deck contractor, pool crew, electrician, and masons all work under our one residential and light commercial license and contract.

Belgard-certified craftsmanship

Belgard named us Atlanta's first Master Craftsman after reviewing a documented history of our finished hardscape projects.

Milestone-based payments

You pay phase by phase, after each stage of construction is finished and ready to inspect.

Woodland garden patio with a pergola, outdoor dining, and lounge seating

Homeowner review

A client who hired us twice

“We started with a large backyard project and were extremely pleased. We brought them back for second project to remake the front yard. Great work and communication throughout the projects.”
Chip JonesGoogle review

Forsyth County permit and site questions

Homeowners across unincorporated Forsyth County usually ask these before building.

Once a wall passes 6 feet, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top, it needs a permit and an engineered design. The county's Department of Engineering approves the plans before the building permit issues. We engineer every wall over 4 feet.

If your home is on septic, Forsyth County Environmental Health approves your plan before the building permit. Georgia rules keep pools and hardscape at least 10 feet from the tank. As your pool builder, we map your system at the site visit and design around it.

Yes, on the land you own above the Corps line. The Corps of Engineers manages the shoreline below it, and steps or utility lines to the water need a separate Corps permit. We confirm your boundary before design.

Start with who designs it: our licensed landscape architects work in 3D. One contract should cover every trade, with payments tied to finished milestones. Your Forsyth County pool contractor should also handle septic sign-off and the site plan, and we've built about 60 pools since 2010.

Yes. Detached structures such as pool houses and sheds use the Residential Accessory Structure Permit. The structure stays at or below your home's height, and anything over 550 square feet needs an exterior finish similar to the house.

The county protects a 50-foot undisturbed buffer along streams, plus a 75-foot setback for impervious surfaces like patios and pool decks. Building inside those lines takes a variance. We place your project clear of both from the first sketch.

Yes. The county's residential deck and porch permit covers decks, covered patios, and outdoor fireplaces, and on septic, Environmental Health approves the plan first. As your Forsyth County deck contractor, we prepare the site plan and file the whole package.

Our custom pools typically start at $200 per square foot, priced on the full scope of work. At that rate, a 20-by-40-foot pool of 800 square feet begins near $160,000, before any additions. At your consultation, your pool contractor turns that into a real number for your lot.

Helpful Forsyth County resources

Forsyth County Building PermittingForsyth County Environmental HealthForsyth County Stream Buffer Checklist

Your Forsyth County design, shown in 3D

Schedule a design consultation with your Forsyth County outdoor living contractor, and a licensed landscape architect will walk your property from the house to the lot line. You'll see the design in 3D and can keep adjusting it until it matches what you pictured.

Schedule Your Design Consultation
Call NowEmail