How would we know You need to post an to scale plan of the area with all measurements clearly marked and a picture without the screen too. You also need to know all about clearances for pools and fences in your area and IMO you need a designer that specializes in exterior design. Where I live the pool needs to enclsed with a fence and a locking gate , do you need that? What do you consider an average pool. Really you need to provide a lot of info .

I think you need to consider how you want to use the space over all. For me the basketball court would be too much as it would mean basically no green between all the others.

There is space for a pool and for a kid play area. But like Patricia says it all depends what the rules in your area are.

We have three kids and a dog and focused on grass. On grass you can easily add fun games for kids to play like badminton and what not. Eventually we are getting a swim spa or container pool but need to save up!

You need a landscape designer and a pool specialist. Your yard is not huge, so I would think hard about how you'll use the space and work with the designer to prioritize your wish list.

Why are you having the patio done before you dig a pool? You need to have someone come out before you continue.

Patio should be part of a pool design in a small yard. Neighbors will hate a basketball court...thump thump thump thump!

Often with projects of any consequence a body really does need to be talking to contractors and designers on the actual work site, wherever it is located.

The length of the yard is about 132’ wide. we are doing the patio now because that is what is most affordable vs. a pool. We would work with the same landscaper to the pool as he designed our patio and told us what corner the pool could go which was the far left.

I get it. You can’t always do everything at one time. I would say do patio, pool, play area and grass. Nothing else

Even if you cannot afford the pool now you need to plan for it. Draw it all out on paper to scale.

"...we are doing the patio now because..." Agreeing with Emmarene. You should DESIGN ALL before you build any. Not doing so is potentially shooting yourself in the foot. A pool and patio would almost certainly connect, but design opportunities would be automatically limited if patio is finished before having any idea what the pool looks like.

We had done a design with the pool included when we decided to do the patio only first so we know that the pool would be placed to the far left of the yard where currently there is nothing and there would a pathway connecting the two. My concern is more so on where the playground should be placed in relation

The easiest way to visualize for me is to get a piece of graph paper and sketch the whole back yard TO SCALE. Draw in the pool TO SCALE first and then see what space you have left. Be sure to draw in your house along with its specific windows and door placement so you can take those into consideration as you plan how you will access your patio. Just eyeballing it doesn’t work.

And here’s something else to consider: if you are digging a pool after the patio is already in place, can heavy machinery get in there to do its work without driving over - and potentially ruining - the patio?

I read the words "can't afford. Please don't skimp on your patio or pool guy. I learned a hard lesson at one home. I went for the cheapest bid on the pool, and I got what I paid for. In spades! He cut into the irrigation for the yard and we had leaks under the concrete patio that we discovered months later. It was an infinity pool on a golf course and it kept flooding the course. He neglected to build a high box so that the pump would be higher than the pool. I ended up hiring someone to fix it all and it cost as much as the highest bid I got. Several of his customers sued him, but he promptly declared bankruptcy....

Also my design drove my fiance at the time, nuts! He is a swimmer, but the pool was too short to do proper laps. Very pretty, but not practical. The Jacuzzi cut into the pool length. Yep agree with @littlebug zone 5 Missouri that you need to be sure heavy machinery can get in there.

I would not go ahead with the patio if you are planning on installing a pool. I can’t see how they could install the pool with damaging or having to rip out the patio.

I think it all depends when you plan on doing things. We have a full finished yard including patio and grass and gardens. In the future we will get an above ground pool or hot tub. But it’s worth it to enjoy the space now as that’s likely a 3-5 year away plan. If yours is similar enjoy the patio, grass, and play space! If not then speak to your installer about timing and how to do this etc.

@WestCoast Hopeful, I would do the same thing you did if I was going to put in an above ground pool. The OP said inground. Obviously she can do whatever she wants, but I wouldn’t spend all that money on a patio and take a chance on it being damaged.

Fiber glass pools are a good option! We installed one at one of our homes and they dug the hole, did all the plumbing and one day a big crane came and lifted the pool over our two story house. It was amazing and we loved that pool! It's something to investigate, and much less money than a concrete pool with pebble tec and all the other stuff involved.

I still think if project is beyond a year out, due to cost, you want to enjoy the yard now!

So we have 2 sides where machinery can get into the yard there is a left side gate and right side gate. Currently the patio machines are coming through the right side so I’m only assuming since the left is essentially all untouched grass they can come from there by removing the fence posts. We only did the patio now because again doing both is not financially feasible and our kids are just learning how to swim so we would like to wait a year for that.