'Insane' pools pay off for Bay Area man

SARASOTA (FOX 13) - You may have seen him on Animal Planet's ‘Insane Pools: Off the Deep End.’ He’s the creator of magnificent masterpieces of stone and steel.  But Lucas Congdon didn't start out creating some of the most insane pools in the world.

"When I was 14 years old, I went to work working for my mom. We did a lot of rock work, landscaping, and when I turned about 21, I decided I wanted to work somewhere where I could work all year around,” Congdon explained.

That journey led him from the hills of Vermont to the Tampa Bay area and, eventually, to the web.

"We started making YouTube videos, so after about 10 years of putting YouTube videos out there, that's how we kind of got discovered,” Lucas said. 

Now, his company -- Lucas Lagoons -- is on a roll.  "Lately, our projects, on average, are around half a million dollars. Before the TV show, our average job was about $15,000."

And they can take anywhere from three to six months to build.

"There's so much to it. It's not just the pool -- it's the waterfall, it's the landscaping, the decking, the outdoor kitchens. It's the complete package," Lucas continued.

Building these plus-sized playgrounds is a family affair. At 66, his mother -- or "Woman," as they call her on the show -- is still a part of the team, doing rock work and landscaping. 

There's Chris "Crash" Warren and John "Old Man" Messner, who's not really that old after all. He's only in his early 50s. 

"It's like building a puzzle every day," Messner said.

No matter how successful they become, Lucas says there's more to these pools than money. "I want to leave a legacy; I want these lagoon pools to last longer than me."

LINK: To see more insane pools, visit www.lucaslagoons.com