Custom pool builder in Lake Travis, Texas.
Five permit offices and one lake authority cover the Lake Travis shore; which one you deal with depends on which cove you live in.
Lots, soil and terrain in Lake Travis.
There is no single Lake Travis permit. Hudson Bend, Comanche Trail and Steiner Ranch are unincorporated, so the pool permit comes from Travis County TNR Development Services. River Place was annexed by Austin in 2017 and permits through Austin Development Services. Volente, Jonestown and Point Venture permit their own: Volente requires a tree protection plan for trunks of six inches and up and runs a 60-day technical review; Jonestown caps impervious cover at 40 percent. Over all of it sits the LCRA: no permit for a single-family pool if it is notified 48 hours before work and erosion controls are in, and it issues the septic permit within 2,000 feet of the lake.
The shore is carbonate rock with thin or absent soil. Brackett soils on the ridges hit Glen Rose limestone at 5 to 20 inches on slopes that reach 60 percent; the draws fill with Volente clay four to six feet deep. On these slopes the shell often goes on a structural platform poured first, with the steel doweled into it. Hudson Bend lakefront can drop 150 feet from house to shoreline. Steiner Ranch is a ridge in a bend of the Colorado between Lake Travis and Lake Austin; The Hollows in Jonestown is gated canyon acreage; Comanche Trail is peninsula lakefront near Mansfield Dam.
The lake sets the brief. Full pool is 681 feet; it was last full in July 2019 and sat near 55 percent in July 2025, so a cove-front pool has to look right over a bare shoreline as well as a full one. Homeowners here ask for a vanishing edge aimed at the water and real shade against the western sun on a Hudson Bend bluff. Retaining walls are the rule on the slope, and the dock is planned with the pool.
- PermitsTravis County TNR (Hudson Bend, Comanche Trail, Steiner Ranch); Austin DSD (River Place); Volente, Jonestown and Point Venture each permit their own
- LCRA48-hour notice and erosion controls for a single-family pool; septic authority within 2,000 ft of the lake
- GroundBrackett soils over Glen Rose limestone at 5–20″; Volente clay in the draws
- Lake levelFull pool 681 ft; last full July 2019; ~55% in July 2025
- WaterTravis County WCID 17 (Steiner Ranch, Comanche Trail, Apache Shores); Jonestown WSC
- Shoreline workBulkhead and lakebed work only below 676 ft with LCRA Tier I notice
Neighborhoods we work in
- Steiner Ranch — The Bluffs / UT Golf Club · ridge and golf-course lots
- Hudson Bend · steep bluff lakefront, 1–2 acres
- Comanche Trail · peninsula lakefront near Mansfield Dam
- The Hollows (Jonestown) · gated canyon acreage with marina
- Point Venture · lakefront and golf peninsula
- Volente · north-shore cove lakefront
- River Place · canyon and golf lots inside Austin
- Apache Shores · Lake Austin frontage beside Steiner Ranch
Custom pools we have built in Lake Travis.
Our Steiner Ranch project: a wooded ridge lot where the protected oaks, not the view, set the shape of the pool.
Questions about Lake Travis.
It depends on the address. Hudson Bend, Comanche Trail and Steiner Ranch go through Travis County TNR Development Services; River Place through the City of Austin; Volente, Jonestown and Point Venture each run their own permit desk, with Volente’s technical review running up to 60 days. The LCRA needs 48 hours’ notice and erosion controls in place for a single-family pool, and it issues the septic permit within 2,000 feet of the lake.
Soil is thin or absent: rock at 5 to 20 inches on the ridges, clay four to six feet deep in the draws, and slopes that can run 150 feet from house to water in Hudson Bend. Shells are often set on a structural platform with retaining walls built first, access is by the driveway you have, and any shoreline or bulkhead work has to wait for the lake to fall below 676 feet.
Our projects start around $250,000 and most land between $300,000 and $600,000. On the lake the structure is the variable: a platform and retaining walls on a bluff, rock excavation on a Steiner Ranch ridge, septic setbacks on the older waterfront lots, a tram or long equipment runs down the slope, and HOA review in Steiner Ranch or The Hollows. A flat lot behind the shoreline avoids most of it.
Six to nine months from design to water is the base. On the lake, add the retaining and platform work that has to cure before the shell, the LCRA notice and any shoreline work timed to lake level, and a village review that can run 60 days in Volente or two review cycles in Jonestown. Steiner Ranch’s master association review comes before the county permit.
