We build pools in Simpson, North Carolina and across eastern Pitt County. Simpson is a small village of a few hundred people east of Greenville on NC 33, out past the airport toward Grimesland and the Tar River bottomland. It is not a place with subdivisions. It is a place with acreage, and that changes what a pool project looks like from top to bottom.
The advantages of building out here
Space and freedom. Almost no properties out this way sit under a homeowners association, so the covenants that shape pool projects in Winterville simply do not apply. Setbacks are generous because lots are large. Equipment access is rarely a problem, which means a one-piece fiberglass shell can be trailered right to the back yard on most properties without a crane lift.
Noise and screening stop being issues too. An equipment pad that would need careful siting on a quarter acre in town can go where it makes engineering sense out here. And there is room to build the deck people actually want rather than the deck the lot allows.
The constraints, and they are real
Groundwater near the Tar
Eastern Pitt County is where the county elevation runs down toward sea level. The bottomland along the Tar River between Greenville, Grimesland and on toward Washington is broad, flat and wet. The soil survey descriptions that matter here are the poorly drained ones — Rains, Bladen, Pantego, Osier — with a seasonal high water table at or near the surface and runoff described as slow or ponded.
That is uplift country. An empty pool in saturated ground floats. Every pool we build in this part of the county gets a hydrostatic relief valve in the floor, a dewatering standpipe alongside the shell, stone rather than sand around and under the structure, and frequently a raised bond beam so the pool sits less deep into the water table. On the wettest lots we run well points during excavation to pump the water table below floor elevation for the duration of the work.
Septic
Essentially everything out here is on a private septic system, and the drainfield plus its designated repair area cannot be built over or driven across. On acreage this is normally solvable, but it has to be located before design because it can move the pool a hundred feet. County health department records usually show the layout.
Well water
Most properties are on wells, and Coastal Plain well water frequently carries iron and manganese. Once chlorinated, those oxidise and stain plaster, vinyl and fiberglass, and foul salt cells. Treating the fill water is straightforward if planned. Removing established staining afterward is not. See equipment installation.
Flood mapping
Land near the Tar carries mapped flood risk, and the history is not abstract. Floyd put roughly 20 inches of rain on Greenville in September 1999 and pushed the Tar to a record crest, with communities along the river north and east of the city cut off entirely. Matthew brought the third highest crest on record in 2016. Where a property sits relative to the mapped floodplain determines what can be built and how high the equipment pad needs to be.
What people build out here
Larger pools than in town, generally, with more deck. Often a spa, because there is room and because a spa is the part of the project that gets used in January. Frequently a simpler, well-engineered vinyl liner or fiberglass pool with the money that would have gone into shape put into groundwater management, drainage and equipment instead — which out here is the right call. Gunite when the design warrants it.
Permitting for unincorporated eastern Pitt County goes through the county. The state requirements are the same everywhere: a barrier at least 48 inches high with self-closing, self-latching gates, drain covers meeting the federal Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act standard, and the equipotential bonding grid required by Article 680. No travel charge to Simpson, Grimesland or anywhere else in the county.
What we build
Nearby towns
Questions people ask before they build
Is my lot too wet for an inground pool?
Rarely too wet to build, often wet enough to change the design. Ground near the Tar River bottomland has a seasonal high water table at or near the surface, which means relief valves, dewatering provision, stone drainage and often a raised structure. What we want to see on the site walk is where water stands after a heavy rain and how long it takes to go.
Do I need a permit out in unincorporated Pitt County?
Yes. A residential inground pool requires a building permit from Pitt County, with a site plan showing location, dimensions and setbacks, and the septic system layout if you are not on public sewer. We handle the process as part of the build.
Can you get equipment to a back yard on acreage?
Almost always, and it is one of the real advantages of building out here. Wide access means a one-piece fiberglass shell can usually be trailered directly to the excavation, which removes a crane cost that in-town lots frequently incur.
Will pool water from a well stain my new plaster?
It can, and it is common in Coastal Plain groundwater because of dissolved iron and manganese. The solution is treating the fill water at the point of filling, using a sequestering agent, and holding chemistry in range from day one. It is much easier to prevent than to remove.