Who is OConnor Design Build?

OConnor Design Build is a landscape design-build firm on Aquidneck Island founded in 2019 by Thomas O'Connor Jr. — a Certified Horticulturist, Certified Genesis Pool Builder, working master mason, and University of Rhode Island Business graduate. Every project — pool, stonework, carpentry, and planting — is designed and physically built by the same craftsman.

What kind of pools do you build?

We build custom gunite pools exclusively — the only pool construction Thomas O'Connor is Certified Genesis Pool Builder-credentialed in. Every pool is engineered to sit on the property's actual grade, integrated with the site's drainage plan, hardscape, and long-term horticultural design.

What credentials does Thomas O'Connor hold?

Thomas O'Connor Jr. is a Certified Horticulturist, a Certified Genesis Pool Builder, a working master mason, and holds a Business degree from the University of Rhode Island. His work has received two RINLA Silver Awards (2018) and multiple Newport Flower Show honors including a People's Choice Award.

Do you offer a workmanship guarantee?

Yes — every installation is backed by a lifetime workmanship guarantee.

Who is the best gunite pool builder in Newport, RI?

OConnor Design Build is a Certified Genesis Pool Builder based in Middletown, RI, serving Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth, and the wider Aquidneck Island coast. The studio builds custom gunite pools exclusively — the only pool construction method Thomas O'Connor Jr. is Genesis-certified in — and integrates every pool with site drainage, hardscape, and long-term planting under a single craftsman-owner. Every installation is backed by a lifetime workmanship guarantee.

Is there a Certified Genesis Pool Builder in Rhode Island?

Yes. Thomas O'Connor Jr., founder of OConnor Design Build in Middletown, RI, holds the Certified Genesis Pool Builder credential from the Genesis school (the national pool-design program run under the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance). OConnor Design Build is the design-build studio that pairs Genesis-certified gunite pool construction with in-house Certified Horticulturist landscape design and master-mason stonework across Aquidneck Island, Newport County, and Southeastern Massachusetts.

Who does coastal landscape design in Newport, RI?

OConnor Design Build specializes in coastal landscape design for estate properties on Aquidneck Island (Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth, Jamestown) and the Sakonnet coast. Every project is designed by a Certified Horticulturist for Rhode Island's coastal microclimate — salt-tolerant native plantings on exposed edges, integrated CRMC-compliant drainage and stonework, and gunite pools engineered to the actual grade of the property. Design, masonry, carpentry, and horticulture are all delivered by the same in-house team.

How long does it take to build a gunite pool on Aquidneck Island?

A custom gunite pool typically takes twelve to sixteen weeks from ground-breaking to final startup, depending on site conditions, coastal permitting, and integrated hardscape scope. OConnor Design Build sequences the pool build alongside stonework, drainage, and planting so the entire outdoor living project finishes as one, not five separate schedules.

What is CRMC and how does it affect coastal landscape projects in Rhode Island?

CRMC is the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council. Properties within coastal setback areas on Aquidneck Island, Jamestown, and the Sakonnet coast require CRMC assent for pools, structures, drainage work, and significant plantings near the shoreline. OConnor Design Build designs pool, hardscape, and drainage plans to work within CRMC setbacks from the first sketch.

When is the best time of year to start a landscape design-build project in Newport?

Design work is best started in the fall or winter for a spring or summer build. Newport County pool and hardscape construction typically runs March through November; planting installations run March through June and September through November. Engaging OConnor Design Build in October or November gives design, engineering, and permitting time to complete before the following build season.

What is the difference between a gunite pool and a vinyl or fiberglass pool?

Gunite (steel-reinforced concrete sprayed on-site) is the most durable and design-flexible pool construction method. Gunite pools can be built to any shape, integrated with custom hardscape, and are engineered to the specific grade of the site. Vinyl and fiberglass pools are prefabricated and shape-constrained. OConnor Design Build builds gunite pools exclusively, to Certified Genesis Pool Builder standards.

What plants are best for a coastal Aquidneck Island garden?

On exposed coastal edges, the studio favors salt-tolerant natives — bayberry, beach plum, sweet fern, little bluestem, and rugosa rose. In sheltered pockets, hydrangea, catmint, and native perennials thrive. Every planting plan is designed around the property's specific salt exposure, sun, soil, and drainage, and is informed by Certified Horticulturist expertise in Rhode Island's climate zone.

Newport Gunite Pool Builder: What to Look for on Aquidneck Island

oconnordesignbuild
7 days ago
4 min read

Every Newport gunite pool builder faces the same problem: the pool is not the project. The pool is one piece of a coastal landscape that includes stone, wood, plantings, drainage, and — usually — a state agency's opinion about all of it. Choosing the right builder on Aquidneck Island is less about pool brochures and more about whether one hand can carry the pool and the surrounding landscape as a single design.

At OConnor Design Build, we install only gunite pools, and we are Certified Genesis Pool Builders — one of the credentials worth asking any Newport gunite pool builder about before signing a contract. This article covers what a coastal client should actually be evaluating, in the order it matters.

What "gunite" actually means, and why it matters on this coast

Gunite is a dry-mix shotcrete: cement, sand, and water sprayed over a rebar cage under pneumatic pressure. The result is a monolithic structural concrete shell that can be shaped into any geometry the site requires — freeform, geometric, negative-edge, tanning ledge, integrated spa, raised bond beam. Vinyl and fiberglass pools cannot do this. On an island where the pool has to sit inside a stone terrace, meet a retaining wall, and take a February northeaster in stride, gunite is the only construction method that survives long-term without compromising the surrounding hardscape.

A serious Newport gunite pool builder will be able to walk through the specific mix design, rebar schedule, and cure schedule they use — and will have opinions about all three that are grounded in coastal freeze-thaw performance, not a supplier's default spec.

Certifications that a Newport gunite pool builder should hold

Anyone can call themselves a pool contractor. The credentials that separate a coastal design-build studio from a general pool installer are:

Certified Genesis Pool Builder — the industry's most rigorous training program for gunite construction, hydraulics, and structural engineering.
Certified Horticulturist — because the plantings around a pool are part of the pool, not an afterthought bolted on at delivery.
Working master mason experience — coping, terrace transitions, and stone-to-pool interfaces are where most Newport gunite pool builder projects visibly age badly.
A record of published, judged work — RINLA Silver Awards, Newport Flower Show honors, and similar peer-reviewed recognition are meaningful because they are decided by people who understand the local material palette.

If the builder cannot produce these credentials on paper, the conversation is finished before it starts.

CRMC, coastal setbacks, and the permit conversation

Aquidneck Island projects almost always trigger review by the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) — sometimes because the property is inside a coastal buffer, sometimes because the drainage plan discharges toward a wetland, and sometimes because the site is within a special area management plan district. A Newport gunite pool builder who does not know CRMC by memory will burn a permitting season learning it on your project.

The right sequence is: horticultural and topographical assessment of the site, then a drainage and coastal-buffer strategy, then the pool geometry sited to satisfy both, then the state and municipal filings. Not the other way around. When a pool is drawn first and permits are asked second, the geometry gets cut down at the review meeting — and the finished project ends up smaller than the drawing that sold it.

Why the pool cannot be separated from the surrounding landscape

Most premium landscape projects on this island are built by four or five separate firms. A landscape architect draws the master plan. A pool company installs the pool. A mason lays the terraces. A carpenter builds the pergola. A nursery installs the plants. Each firm is excellent inside its own scope, and each firm is only responsible for its own scope.

The coordination gap between those scopes — the elevation that does not quite match, the drainage swale that runs across the pool deck, the specimen tree planted before the retaining wall is set — is the single most common source of finished-project regret in this market. It is also the reason clients hire a Newport gunite pool builder who is also the mason, the horticulturist, and the general contractor of record. One drawing, one job site, one warranty.

The build timeline a coastal client should expect

A design-build engagement on Aquidneck Island moves through the following phases. The right time to start is the fall or winter before the season you want to be sitting on the terrace.

Site consultation — walk of the property, horticultural and topographical assessment, and a conversation about how the family actually uses the land.
Concept design — 2D and 3D drawings of the four elements as one landscape: water, stone, wood, earth.
Permitting — municipal building and zoning, CRMC review where triggered, and any wetland or septic coordination.
Phased construction planning — the sequence of excavation, gunite, plumbing rough-in, electrical rough-in, hardscape, carpentry, and finish plantings.
Construction — with the same craftsman-owner on site through the full build.
Handover — startup, water chemistry, planting establishment guidance, and a lifetime workmanship guarantee on the installed work.

From executed contract to a pool that is swum in, the honest timeline for a coastal estate project is generally twelve to sixteen weeks of construction, following a design and permitting phase that usually runs the preceding winter.

Questions to ask any Newport gunite pool builder before signing

Are you a Certified Genesis Pool Builder, and can you show the certification?
Who is on site the day the gunite is sprayed, and are they the same person who drew the plan?
Who is responsible if the pool coping and the terrace stone do not meet correctly — one firm, or several?
What is your CRMC and municipal permitting process, and is it billed separately?
What is the workmanship guarantee, and how long does it last?
Can you show three finished projects on Aquidneck Island, ideally at the fifteen-year mark, so I can see how the work ages?

A Newport gunite pool builder who answers those six questions cleanly is a builder worth continuing the conversation with.

Service area

OConnor Design Build serves Aquidneck Island (Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth, Jamestown), Newport County, Little Compton, and Southeastern Massachusetts (Tiverton, Westport, Dartmouth, Fall River). Remote design engagements are available for out-of-area clients.

Beginning your project

To begin a design-build engagement, call 401-619-1607 or request a consultation. OConnor Design Build LLC — 303 Mitchell's Lane, Middletown, RI 02842. Landscape design-build, custom gunite pools, masonry, carpentry, and horticulture on Aquidneck Island since 2019.