David "Dave" Bell — Owner of AE Outdoor Living
Dave founded AE Outdoor Living in Peoria, Arizona in 2005 and still sets the standard on every job — from first sketch to final walkthrough.
Role and experience
- • Owner of AE Outdoor Living, Peoria, Arizona.
- • Designing and building outdoor environments across Greater Phoenix since 2005.
- • Current president of the Southwest Hardscape Association — 13 years on the board, 15 years involved — advocating for proper training, installation standards, and accountability in the Arizona outdoor-living trade.
- • Vice President and Founding Member of the Purposeful Giving Alliance — leading collaborative community and family-rescue work across the West Valley.
Areas of focus
- • Custom pool and spa design-build
- • Paver installation and hardscape standards
- • Desert landscape design-build
- • Whole-yard master planning
- • Drainage, elevations, and shade strategy
- • Integrated outdoor kitchens, fire, lighting, and fencing
Disclosure
Dave owns AE Outdoor Living. Articles he writes or reviews on this site are educational, but AE competes in the Greater Phoenix pool-and-landscape market. Recommendations should be weighed accordingly.
Family
Family is the reason AE exists — and the reason "giving back" is a foundation of the company, not an add-on.
A Personal Why
More than a pretty backyard.
In 2021, during COVID, David went through a season that changed the way he looked at home, family, and time together.
Like a lot of people, that season made him realize how important it is to have a place where people can slow down, breathe, gather, talk, laugh, eat, and reconnect. Home became more than a place to sleep. For many families, it became the office, the classroom, the playground, the restaurant, and the safe place all at once.
That changed the way David saw outdoor living.
A backyard is not just extra space behind a house. It can become the place where kids grow up, where friends come over, where grandparents sit in the shade, where families celebrate birthdays, share meals, have hard conversations, enjoy quiet mornings, and make memories that last.
That is why AE Outdoor Living does not build backyards just to make them look good in photos.
Beauty matters. Craftsmanship matters. Design matters. But the real goal is to create a space that feels useful, personal, comfortable, and alive — a space the family actually wants to use.
For David, the best outdoor space is not just the one that looks impressive on day one. It is the one people keep coming back to. The one that becomes part of the family's everyday life.
That belief shapes the way AE plans, designs, builds, and cares for every project.
Built for connection
Outdoor spaces should make it easier for families and friends to gather, talk, eat, play, rest, and spend time together.
Designed around real life
A backyard should fit the way the family actually lives — not just what looks good in a rendering.
Made to be remembered
The best spaces become part of birthdays, dinners, quiet mornings, late nights, conversations, celebrations, and everyday family life.