Why I Won't Design a Fiberglass Pool — And What I'll Tell You on the First Cal

I get asked this at least once a week.

"Why won't you design a fiberglass pool?"

It's a fair question. Fiberglass pools are heavily marketed. They're presented as faster, easier, lower maintenance, and more affordable. The sales pitch is polished and the brochures are beautiful. I understand why homeowners come into a first conversation thinking fiberglass might be the right answer.

Here's what I tell them — honestly, on the first call.

**The Core Problem with Fiberglass on the Carolina Coast**

A fiberglass pool shell is manufactured in a factory. The shape, the dimensions, the depth profile, the step locations, the curves — all of it is determined by a mold that was designed without any knowledge of your property, your lot lines, your setbacks, your views, your sun exposure, or your wind direction...Not to mention the hydrostatic pressure we find here with the silt, sand & clay in the Carolina Coast

You don't design a fiberglass pool. You select one. You pick from what the manufacturer decided to make, and you fit it into your yard as best you can.

That's not design. That's shopping.

On a standard suburban lot with a flat grade and no site-specific constraints, that limitation is manageable. On the Carolina coast — where lot shapes are irregular, setbacks vary, water tables shift, soil conditions change dramatically from one county to the next, and salt exposure affects every material decision — fitting a prefabricated shell into the ground is a compromise from the first conversation.

The factory that made your fiberglass shell has never seen your property. It doesn't know that your lot runs narrow behind the house and opens up at the back corner — which is exactly where a custom pool could take advantage of the view. It doesn't know that your prevailing wind comes from the southwest in the afternoon and affects where you want to orient the pool for comfort. It doesn't know that your soil has a high sand content that affects how the shell settles over time, or that your neighborhood has a water table that requires specific engineering decisions during installation.

A custom concrete pool is designed for all of that. Every dimension, every curve, every depth transition, every step location — designed for your site, your family, and this coast.

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**What Custom Concrete Actually Means**

Every 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. Smart Pools builds only custom concrete pools. That's not a limitation of their business — it's a standard they've set for the quality of work they're willing to put their name on.

When Smart Pools builds a shell, it starts with engineering. The hydraulic system is sized for the specific pool volume, the specific equipment, and the specific automation requirements of the project. The shell reinforcement is designed for the soil conditions of the specific site. The equipment pad location, the plumbing runs, the automation rough-in — all of it is planned before the excavation begins and executed exactly as designed.

The finish is selected for the coastal environment — not just for how it looks on opening day, but for how it performs in 20 years of salt air exposure, UV radiation, and seasonal temperature swings. The coping, the tile, the interior surface — every material decision is made with long-term coastal durability in mind.

In 2025, Smart Pools earned a PHTA International Awards of Excellence Bronze for specialty concrete pools. That award is judged on the quality of finished concrete work — not sales volume, not marketing, not the number of pools installed. The work itself. That's the standard Brian's team brings to every project.

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**The Hydraulics and Automation Difference**

One of the most significant advantages of custom concrete that rarely gets discussed in a sales conversation is what happens below the waterline and behind the equipment panel.

A fiberglass pool comes with a fixed shell. The hydraulic system is designed around that shell — its volume, its plumbing access points, its limitations. You can upgrade the equipment, but you're working within the constraints of what the manufacturer built.

A custom concrete pool is engineered from the ground up. The hydraulic system is designed for the specific pool — the right pump sizing, the right filtration capacity, the right plumbing layout for the features the client wants. Variable speed pumps, automated chemical dosing, LED lighting systems, water features with independent controls — all of it integrated into the automation system from the beginning, not added on as afterthoughts.

Smart Pools designs and installs smart automation systems that allow full app-based control of every pool system. Temperature, lighting, water features, filtration schedules — all managed from a phone. For vacation homeowners on the Carolina coast, that capability isn't a luxury. It's the difference between a pool that's ready when you arrive and one that takes two days to get to temperature.

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**Coastal Soil and Structural Considerations**

The Carolina coast presents structural challenges for any in-ground pool installation that don't exist twenty miles inland.

Sandy soil doesn't behave the same way as clay-heavy inland soil. It moves differently under load, drains differently, and responds differently to the hydrostatic pressure that builds up around a pool shell after heavy rainfall. In some areas — particularly on barrier islands and in low-lying coastal communities from Jacksonville, NC through Brunswick County to the Grand Strand — water tables are high enough that pool installation requires specific engineering decisions about shell weight, drainage, and backfill.

A fiberglass shell is a fixed object. Its structural properties are what they are. You can't engineer a fiberglass shell for a specific site's soil conditions or water table — you install it and manage the consequences.

A custom concrete shell is designed and built for the specific site. The wall thickness, the reinforcement schedule, the footing design, the drainage provisions — all of it engineered for the conditions of the specific property. That's why custom concrete pools on the Carolina coast have a performance history that fiberglass installations in coastal environments simply don't match.

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**Why I'll Tell You This on the First Call**

I don't design fiberglass pools. I haven't for almost 30 years and I'm not going to start.

If a homeowner calls me and fiberglass is what they want, I'll tell them clearly and honestly that I'm not the right designer for their project — and I'll tell them that in the first conversation, not after they've invested time and energy in a process that was never going to produce what they needed.

That honesty is part of the model. I'm not here to sell a project to every homeowner who calls. I'm here to design the right project for the homeowners whose goals align with what this studio produces.

Custom concrete pools, designed for the site and built by Smart Pools. Complete outdoor living environments that perform on the Carolina coast for the next 25 years. That's the standard. It's not for everyone — but for the homeowners it's right for, there's nothing else like it.

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**Is a Custom Concrete Pool Right for Your Property?**

If you're a homeowner from Jacksonville, NC through Wilmington to North Myrtle Beach, SC — and you want to have an honest conversation about what a custom concrete pool would look like on your specific property — reach out today.

The first conversation is free. We'll tell you what we think, what it involves, and 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.*