An Auto Floor is a hydraulically engineered platform that sits inside the pool shell, controlled from a single panel and capable of moving the floor to any depth between flush with the deck and the full depth of the pool. Raise it to the surface and the pool becomes part of the patio, open and flat and ready to hold a dinner party, a wedding, or an afternoon with the kids running around without water being a concern. Settle it a few inches below and there's wading depth for a child still learning to swim. Lower it all the way and a full swimming pool returns, deep enough for laps before work. The motion is slow, even, and quiet enough that conversation on the patio continues uninterrupted, and the system has been engineered to be invisible at every depth it stops at. Most guests never realize the deck they're standing on was, an hour earlier, the bottom of a pool.
A Backyard for Any Occasion
A Patio On Cue
Raised flush with the deck, the pool becomes an extension of your outdoor space.
Wading Depth in Minutes
A few inches of water, safe enough for a child still learning to walk.
The Pool, Returned
Lowered all the way, deep enough for laps and afternoons spent in the water.
Engineered to Move, Built to Last
An Auto Floor is one of the most mechanically sophisticated systems a residential pool can hold, and getting it right requires a depth of structural and hydraulic engineering that very few builders work in. The platform itself, the hydraulic system that drives it, and the pool shell that contains it all have to be designed and constructed as a single integrated machine. Four decades of building Auto Floors across the Bay Area have shaped the way Drummond approaches every one of them, from the steel reinforcement schedule to the wiring of the control panel.
The Platform
A precision-fabricated structural deck designed to carry the weight of a full party of guests when raised and the pressure of the water column when submerged. Surfaces can be finished to match the pool deck above, so the seam disappears the moment the floor reaches the top.
The Hydraulics
A redundant, low-pressure hydraulic system raises and lowers the platform at a controlled rate, holding it precisely at any depth between flush and full pool. The drive system is engineered for decades of daily cycling and serviced from a single access point above the waterline.
The Shell
The shell that surrounds an Auto Floor is built to tolerances tighter than a standard pool, with reinforced walls and a perfectly true bottom track that allows the platform to move without contact. The engineering is invisible once the project is finished, which is exactly the point.
Designed Around Life
An Auto Floor isn't a single feature added to a pool. It's a quieter rethinking of what a backyard is, and what it can be asked to hold over the course of a week or a season. The same square footage becomes a swim before work, a place for a child to splash in the afternoon, a flat surface for dinner under string lights, and a sealed deck the morning after. The floor moves because the rhythm of a home moves, and the pool, instead of sitting in one fixed state, follows along.
A Specialty Held by Few
An Auto Floor is one of the small handful of pool features that requires a builder with genuine specialty experience, and there are only a few firms in California currently building them at the level the technology demands. Drummond has been working with movable floor systems for decades, and that experience shows up in the parts of the project a client never sees, from the way the pool shell is engineered to hold the platform to the way the hydraulics are sequenced and serviced. Most Auto Floor projects begin the same way, with a conversation about what the backyard is being asked to do and whether a movable floor is the right answer for the property. Sometimes it is. Sometimes a more traditional pool serves the home better. Either way, the answer comes from forty years of building in this part of the world and a clear-eyed read of what the site, the home, and the family actually need.
Safer by Design
With the floor raised level with the deck, an Auto Floor pool is sealed. There is no exposed water, no separate cover to roll out, and nothing for a child or a pet to wander into unattended. The deck behaves like deck, fully walkable, fully load-bearing, fully closed. Families with young children often cite this as the reason they began looking into Auto Floor technology in the first place, and it remains one of the quiet advantages that becomes more meaningful the longer you live with the pool.
Unique for
Every Project
No two Auto Floor builds are quite the same, because no two homes ask the same thing of their backyards. The right depth range, the right deck finish, the right control placement, and the right integration with the rest of the outdoor environment all come out of an unhurried conversation about the site and the way the family intends to use it. Most projects begin with a site visit, a walk through the property, and an honest read on whether a movable floor is the right answer. From there, the design takes its shape.
Common Questions
A movable pool floor is unfamiliar territory for most homeowners, and the questions that come up tend to be the same ones across nearly every project. A few of the most common are worth answering up front.
How It Operates
An Auto Floor moves on a quiet, low-pressure hydraulic system controlled from a single panel. It can be set to any depth, paused mid-motion, and adjusted as often as the day asks for it.
How Long It Lasts
The drive system is engineered for decades of daily cycling, with serviceable components reachable from a single access point above the waterline. Routine maintenance is no more involved than the equipment on a standard high-end pool.
Project Feasibility
Auto Floors can be integrated into nearly any custom pool design, from straightforward rectangles to vanishing edges and hillside builds. The structural and hydraulic requirements are factored into the project from the earliest stages of design.
What It Adds
An Auto Floor is a meaningful investment on top of the cost of the pool itself, and the right answer for some properties and not others. A site visit is the fastest way to know whether the technology makes sense for your home.
Beginning the Conversation
Every Auto Floor project starts the same way, with a visit to the property and an open conversation about the home, the family, and what the backyard is being asked to do. From there, the design takes its shape, the engineering follows, and the rest of the work unfolds at a pace that respects the scale of what's being built. If a movable floor has been on your mind, or if you're simply curious whether one would suit your home, the next step is a conversation. The Drummond family handles every one of them personally.
