Bradley's technique for creating rock structures begins with building casting molds at his shop. "We cast thin pieces of concrete pulled from molds off of real rock," he explains. These provide the foundation for creating natural-looking boulders. On this project, a retaining system had been installed, and Bradley started by setting the rebar structure and hanging the castings. "We have rebar reinforcement on 1' centers," he says, "then we hang the castings and line them up so they match the next one."

Bradley then shotcretes the castings, seaming them and connecting them. "We leave spots to fill the structure solid," he explains. "We do one structure coat, which is the solid filling, and then one texture coat." Once the texture coat is applied, Bradley handcarves where the castings connect. "This creates a grain, where we replicate what's on one casting and bring it to the other." Bradley uses a variety of tools to handcarve including trowels, knives, picks, and a hatchet. The tricky part, he says, is that "there's only a certain amount of time with concrete to achieve the look of a rock bluff. Concrete waits for no one."

One of the most impressive parts of the project are its three levels. The upper level has a hot tub that spills over and recirculates to create the waterfall. Bradley handcarved a set of stairs down to the second level which includes a seating area and diving board into the pool. And the third level (which also incorporates concrete steps) forms the lower level seating and pool deck. Concrete steps were built into the structure on both sides of the rock wall.

Bradley also installed the pool decking. The upper deck was 30' x 60', the second level deck was 40' x 20', and the lower level pool deck included a 12' walk around. Bradley shotcrete and stamped the pool deck with a semi-uneven surface for realism.

To make the rock look as realistic as possible, Bradley begins by interviewing the client and finding out what style of rock they are interested in, and how much detail and plants they want, etc. "We can create the look of granite, basalt, limestone, or sandstone," says Bradley. Currently, his most requested style is sandstone, but for this project the clients wanted cream limestone. "There's a lot of limestone in Texas," he says, "so that's what this project was meant to look like."

Bradley categorizes his rock structures into three types. Rock 1 is an outcropping that just shows the rock. Rock 2 shows more grain and movement that looks like the rock has been pushed up from the Earth. Rock 3 is the most realistic, says Bradley. "We get it to move, crack, shift and break," he says, "which is more believable."

Bradley also designs in prime numbers so that his structures look like natural environments. "I work in 3s, 5s, and 7s, like in landscaping," he explains. "To make the placement of boulders look more believable, we create three silhouettes at various sizes. Also, the placement of the plants and water bring it to life."

"Color can make the difference between something looking millions or billions of years old," says Bradley. Through the use of acid stains, paints, and washes, Bradley applies and layers various products and colors. "We use acid stain for the base coat. Then we use different paints to create layering. The cream limestone is actually made up of the colors orange, brown, white, yellow, and beige. The black streaks are a wash and they show the signs of aging," he explains.