Why I Built the Best Outdoor Living Team on the Carolina Coast

There is a problem hiding inside most outdoor living projects on the Carolina coast — and most homeowners don't see it until it's too late.

It isn't the materials. It isn't the budget. It isn't even the design.

It's the gap between the people doing the work.

A pool contractor who doesn't talk to the landscape crew. A hardscape company that doesn't know where the drainage is going. A designer who hands over a rendering and disappears. When those gaps exist, someone fills them with guesswork — and guesswork on a coastal property is expensive. I've seen it cost homeowners tens of thousands of dollars. I've seen it cost them years of frustration. I've seen it cost them the outdoor space they dreamed about.

I've been designing outdoor living environments on the Carolina coast for almost 30 years — from Jacksonville, NC through Wilmington and down to North Myrtle Beach, SC. I've watched this problem repeat itself on beautiful properties from Topsail Island to Brunswick County to Ocean Isle Beach to Sunset Beach. And I built my entire studio model to solve it.

A unified outdoor living environment on the Carolina coast

Who I Am

My name is Tim McAuliffe. I'm The Outdoor Living Designer, based in Wilmington, NC.

I run a coastal design studio with one focus — designing complete outdoor living environments as a single master plan. Every pool, every patio, every planting bed, every lighting zone, every outdoor kitchen, every fire feature, every shade structure — designed together, as one cohesive environment, before a single stake goes in the ground.

I don't build pools in-house. I don't pour concrete. I don't plant trees. My role is to design the entire environment and lead the team that builds it. That distinction matters enormously, because it means my loyalty is entirely to the design and to you — not to any single trade or product line.

After almost 30 years in this industry I know what works and what doesn't. I know which materials survive salt air and which ones don't. I know how sandy soil behaves after a heavy rain. I know how wind exposure changes everything about shade structure placement. I know how to design a pool that looks beautiful in a rendering and performs flawlessly for 25 years on a barrier island property. That knowledge is what you're hiring when you hire me.

The Pool Partner: Smart Pools

Every custom pool in my designs is built by Smart Pools — Brian Elliott and his team.

Brian is a licensed General Contractor and PHTA Certified Pool Builder with more than 25 years in concrete and pool construction. He is one of the most credentialed pool builders on the Carolina coast, and he has earned every credential through real work on real projects in real coastal conditions.

Smart Pools designs and builds only custom concrete pools. No vinyl liners. No fiberglass shells. No prefabricated shortcuts. Every pool is designed and engineered specifically for the site, the soil, the exposure, and the client.

In 2025, Smart Pools won a PHTA International Awards of Excellence Bronze for specialty concrete pools — a national recognition from the pool industry's leading professional association, earned on the quality of their concrete work alone.

When I design a pool, Smart Pools handles the custom concrete shell and structure, the hydraulics and equipment sizing, the smart automation systems and app-based controls, and the 3D visualization so clients can see exactly what they're getting before we break ground.

They are my exclusive pool building and automation partner. Every pool. Every time. From Jacksonville, NC to North Myrtle Beach, SC.

The Outdoor Living Partner: JC's Hardscaping & Landscaping

Everything that surrounds that pool — and ties the entire outdoor environment together — is installed by JC's Hardscaping & Landscaping.

JC and his team handle hardscape: patios, walkways, retaining walls, steps, and the surfaces that connect every zone of the outdoor space. They handle site work: grading, drainage, and soil preparation — the work that nobody sees but that determines whether everything else performs correctly. They handle landscape: planting design implementation, irrigation, and the living elements that make a coastal property feel truly finished.

Building on the Carolina coast requires knowledge that only comes from years of working in these specific conditions. Salt air degrades the wrong materials. Sandy soil creates drainage challenges that don't exist twenty miles inland. Summer heat and humidity demand plants and surfaces that can handle real coastal conditions — not just look good in a showroom catalog.

JC's has that knowledge. They've earned it on this coast, on projects exactly like ours, year after year.

They are my exclusive hardscape, land, drainage, planting, and irrigation partner — on every project, from Jacksonville to North Myrtle Beach.

The Full Ecosystem

Beyond Smart Pools and JC's, I've spent decades curating a network of specialized partners for every element of a complete outdoor living environment.

Custom pergolas and shade structures — designed by me, built by a trusted custom structure professional who understands coastal wind loads and material performance.

Fire features — sourced from Montana Fire Pits, Breeo, and Fire Magic, the three brands I trust for coastal durability and design quality.

Outdoor audio — I'm a direct wholesaler for Coastal Source, the only professional-grade outdoor audio brand engineered specifically for coastal environments. Salt air destroys standard speakers. Coastal Source doesn't.

Outdoor kitchens — I work with eight different outdoor kitchen product lines, which allows me to match the right product to the right project based on performance, style, and budget. No homeowner gets a kitchen that was chosen because it's the only one I carry.

Low-voltage lighting — I work with eight different lighting companies curated for different project types, exposures, and budgets. Coastal lighting is its own specialty. I treat it that way.

Health and wellness — saunas and cold plunges integrated into the outdoor living environment, for clients who want to bring that dimension into their outdoor space.

Every partner. Every vendor. Every product line. Chosen for one reason — because it's the right choice for a client building on the Carolina coast.

14 National Awards in 2025

In 2025, our work was recognized with 14 NALP Awards of Excellence — nationally.

The National Association of Landscape Professionals is the leading trade organization for outdoor living and landscape professionals in America. Their Awards of Excellence represent the highest level of peer recognition in our industry. Judges evaluate the finished project — not the rendering, not the proposal, not the marketing. The finished, built, real-world project.

14 awards in a single year is extraordinary. It reflects design quality, execution quality, material quality, and the performance of every trade partner involved. That means Smart Pools' concrete work. JC's hardscape and landscape installation. The integration of every system and surface into a finished environment that performs on the Carolina coast year after year.

Those awards belong to the whole team. I'm proud of every one of them.

Tim McAuliffe "The Outdoor Living Designer" with Britt Wood CEO NALP at Elevate 2025

Why This Model Works for You

When you work with our team, you get one point of contact for the entire project — me. You get one master plan that every trade partner builds to. You get a pool builder and hardscape crew who know each other, have built dozens of projects together, and communicate throughout every phase of your build.

You don't get three separate bids from three contractors who have never met. You don't get a designer who disappears after handing over drawings. You don't get gaps between the pool coping and the patio edge, between the irrigation head and the drainage outlet, between what was designed and what gets built.

You get a complete outdoor living environment — designed for the coast, built by the best team on the coast, backed by 14 national awards and almost 30 years of coastal-specific expertise.

That's what Design - Create - Elevate means on the Carolina coast.

Ready to Start the Conversation?

If you're a homeowner anywhere from Jacksonville, NC through Wilmington to North Myrtle Beach, SC — and you're thinking about a custom concrete pool, a complete outdoor living environment, or both — let's talk.

The conversation starts with a design consultation. We'll look at your property, your lifestyle, your goals, and your timeline — and we'll tell you honestly whether we're the right fit for your project.

📩 Contact Tim McAuliffe — The Outdoor Living Designer 🌐 www.theoutdoorlivingdesigner.com/contact-tim 📍 Serving the Carolina coast — Jacksonville, NC to North Myrtle Beach, SC

Built for the coast. Designed for how you live.