Royal Pools by Adams designs and builds custom inground swimming pools throughout Menlo Park, from the Willows to Sharon Heights. We are a Diamond Certified pool construction company headquartered in San Jose, about 40 minutes down the Peninsula, and we have been building Bay Area pools since 1969. Our five-step program takes your project from first sketch to first swim.
Or call (408) 371-8000
Menlo Park looks flat from El Camino Real, but the city’s own permit rules tell the real story. Pools may not sit in the front setback and must stay at least five feet from rear and side lot lines (ten feet from the street side on corner lots), every pool in the foothills area needs a soil investigation and report, and all Sharon Heights projects require grading and drainage plans. Add the Heritage Tree Ordinance, which requires a city-approved tree protection plan before any permit issues for work near a protected trunk, and you want a builder who engineers the paperwork as carefully as the shell. One more local wrinkle we always check: some West Menlo Park addresses are unincorporated San Mateo County and permit through the county rather than the city. Applications run through the Accela Citizen Access portal, and we handle the whole package, from the scaled site plan to the final inspection.
Every photo below is from a real Royal Pools by Adams project. See more in our project gallery.
Royal Pools by Adams is part of the Adams Pool Group, a family-run organization that has been building and finishing pools since 1953. Every 28 Palms project is backed by the same leadership team that oversees every Royal pool in the Bay Area.
Owner & CEO, Adams Pool Group
General Manager, Royal Pools by Adams
We design and build pools across Menlo Park’s distinctive neighborhoods:
Foothill lots where the city requires soil reports and grading plans. Engineering-first builds with view potential.
Spanish Colonial character near the 1929 Allied Arts Guild. Courtyard pools with patterned tile feel right at home.
Established flats near San Francisquito Creek, where we evaluate soil and groundwater per lot before the dig.
Classic lots off the Santa Cruz Avenue corridor, suited to full-size family pools.
Just across San Francisquito Creek, with a dedicated page of its own.
Yes. Pool projects go through the City of Menlo Park’s Building Division (701 Laurel St., 650-330-6600), with plans submitted digitally through the city’s Accela Citizen Access portal and reviewed under the California Building Code and the state Swimming Pool Safety Act. One caveat we always check first: some West Menlo Park addresses are unincorporated San Mateo County and permit through the county instead. We confirm jurisdiction, then handle the full submittal.
The city’s published rule: pools cannot sit in the required front setback and must stay at least 5 feet from any rear or side lot line. On corner lots, the pool also stays at least 10 feet from the street-side lot line. We design to these limits from the first sketch.
It can, and it is worth planning for. Any work within ten times the trunk diameter of a heritage tree (non-oak trees 15 inches in diameter and up, native California oaks 10 inches and up) requires a city-approved tree protection plan before a grading or construction permit issues. We design the dig around protected canopies and prepare the protection plan as part of the permit package.
Yes. The city itself requires a soil investigation and report for all pools in the foothills area, plus grading and drainage plans for every Sharon Heights project, so our engineering-first approach matches the neighborhood’s own rulebook. Sloped lots also open up view-oriented designs the flats cannot match.
It depends on your street. Menlo Park Municipal Water serves Sharon Heights and the areas east of El Camino Real with San Francisco regional supply, Cal Water’s Bear Gulch district serves Downtown and West Menlo, and a small piece of the Willows is served by the O’Connor Tract co-op. The city publishes a provider lookup map, and the one-time fill is routine with any of them.
We match the architecture. Clean-lined geometric pools suit the city’s postwar ranches, while Spanish Colonial styling with patterned tile feels at home near Allied Arts. On creekside and bayside lots we evaluate soil and groundwater conditions per lot before finalizing the design.
Prefer to plan your project in person? Our San Jose showroom at 2258 Camden Ave is about 40 minutes from Menlo Park: take US-101 South to Highway 85 South, exit at Camden Avenue, and follow Camden to the showroom. Get directions from Menlo Park →
Cities Near Menlo Park, CA
Start with a free design consultation at your home or in our San Jose showroom.
Royal Pools by Adams | 2258 Camden Ave, San Jose, CA 95124 | (408) 371-8000 | Mon-Fri 8am-4pm | CSLB #278052
