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Custom Inground Pool Construction & Outdoor Living in Maryland
Designed With Purpose. Built With Confidence.
Since 1980, Lothorian has designed and built custom swimming pools and complete outdoor environments for homeowners throughout Central Maryland, with each project tailored to the home, the property, and the people who will enjoy it. Our team looks beyond the pool itself, considering how features such as spas, patios, outdoor kitchens, pavilions, fire features, pool houses, landscaping, and gathering spaces can work together as one cohesive environment. The result is more than a swimming pool. It is a thoughtfully designed outdoor space that feels like a natural extension of your home and a lasting part of the way you live.
What is worth preserving, what should change, and what does this pool need for its next chapter?
Our Passion is Pools: Your Vision, Our Expertise
Custom construction gives Lothorian the freedom to design each pool specifically for the property, rather than fitting the property around a predetermined shape or system. Every design begins with the home, the land, and the way the space will be used. We consider architecture, scale, grading, drainage, access, utilities, sightlines, surrounding landscape, and how your family wants to experience the backyard. From attached spas and sun shelves to integrated steps, benches, water features, automatic covers, custom lighting, and vanishing edges, each feature is selected with purpose. The goal is not to include everything possible. It is to create a pool where every element feels intentional and belongs within the overall design.
More Than a Pool, Your Complete Outdoor Solution.
For many Lothorian clients, the swimming pool is one piece of a larger backyard transformation. Beyond crafting pools, we specialize in the entire backyard experience. From outdoor kitchens to firepits, our team of architects and interior designers can handle every aspect of your backyard dream. Entrust Lothorian to manage every detail, providing a seamless and stress-free experience that transcends the ordinary. Lothorian can help bring those decisions together into one complete vision.
Pool Finishes, Materials & Features
The character of a custom pool comes from hundreds of individual selections working together. Lothorian offers Pebble Technology plaster finishes, with waterline tile and coping selected to complement the architecture and surrounding hardscape. Material selection is not simply aesthetic. Texture, durability, maintenance, water color, weather exposure, and how materials will age are all considered. The same principle applies to features. A raised spa can create a visual focal point and a separate year-round experience. A tanning ledge can create shallow space for lounging and young children. An automatic cover can provide convenience and additional protection. A vanishing edge can take advantage of the right property's elevation and views. Custom should mean purposeful choice, not a longer checklist.
Thoughtful Pool Equipment Design.
The equipment behind your pool plays a major role in how it performs, how efficiently it operates, and how easy it is to own. Rather than relying on a standard equipment package, Lothorian designs each system around the pool itself and the way you plan to use it. We consider pool volume, hydraulics, heating expectations, water features, automation, maintenance preferences, and long-term serviceability when selecting and configuring pumps, filtration, sanitation, heating, and controls. Depending on the project, that may include variable-speed pumps, automated sanitation, saltwater chlorination, gas heaters, heat pumps, and app-based automation for filtration, temperature, lighting, spas, and water features. The goal is a system that feels simple to operate, performs reliably, and is appropriately designed for the way you want to enjoy your pool.
Timeless Design Over Passing Trends
The strongest outdoor environments are rarely the ones with the most features. Lothorian believes in thoughtful proportions, quality materials, clean design, and details that complement the home rather than compete with it. Our approach is premium without excess.
From Backyard to Finished Pool
A custom gunite pool involves considerably more than excavation and concrete. Lothorian guides homeowners through the larger process so the different disciplines and decisions can be coordinated.
Consultation & Site Evaluation
We begin with the property and your goals. The team evaluates access, topography, grading, drainage, utilities, architecture, surrounding landscape, and other conditions that could influence the project.
Thoughtful Design Starts with the Land.
Every property brings its own set of conditions, and thoughtful site planning is a critical part of a successful pool project. Lothorian evaluates access, grading, drainage, excavation, elevations, utilities, and soil movement early in the design process so the pool fits naturally into the property and construction can proceed efficiently. Whenever possible, we position the pool in a way that works with the existing landscape and allows excavated soil to be balanced on site rather than unnecessarily removed. Depending on the property, site preparation may also include temporary access roads, construction staging, spoil removal, temporary facilities, and grading associated with the pool installation. More complex sites may require retaining walls, additional engineering, or more extensive earthwork, but those conditions can also create opportunities for terraces, raised spas, dramatic elevation changes, and vanishing-edge designs. The goal is not simply to make the pool fit. It is to create a pool that feels naturally connected to the home and landscape, with grading, elevations, and surrounding features working together as one cohesive environment.
Built with Service in Mind.
One of Lothorian’s greatest advantages is that we build pools with a deep understanding of what it takes to care for them over time. Our service team works with pools every day, maintaining equipment, troubleshooting systems, making repairs, and seeing firsthand how construction decisions perform years after a project is complete. That experience directly influences the way we design and build new pools. Equipment placement, plumbing layouts, hydraulics, drainage, automation, and material selections are all considered not only for how they perform on day one, but for how they will be accessed, maintained, repaired, and eventually replaced. That perspective helps us make smarter decisions during construction and create pools that are easier to own for years to come. We do not design only for the finished photograph. We design with the full ownership experience in mind.
Designed, Built, and Maintained
One team for the life of your pool. Lothorian's dedication doesnt end when the construction is complete. Our residential service team is here to help you enjoy it for years to come with recurring maintenance, water care, seasonal openings and closings, equipment troubleshooting, repairs, and replacement. That continuity means better communication, fewer handoffs, and a service team that already understands the pool
Custom Pool Construction Throughout Central Maryland
Lothorian is based in Phoenix, Maryland, and builds custom inground swimming pools throughout Baltimore County, Harford County, Carroll County, Howard County, Anne Arundel County, and the Annapolis region.
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Our construction territory includes communities such as Phoenix, Monkton, Hunt Valley, Lutherville-Timonium, Ruxton, Glyndon, Owings Mills, Reisterstown, Bel Air, Fallston, Westminster, Annapolis, Severna Park, Arnold, and surrounding communities.
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Project availability depends on location, site conditions, scope, scheduling, and fit with Lothorian's custom construction process.
Frequently Asked Questions About Custom Pool Construction
01
What type of pools does Lothorian build?
Lothorian specializes in custom inground shotcrete pools. While shotcrete and gunite are both forms of pneumatically applied concrete, the key difference is how the material is mixed. Shotcrete is mixed with water before being pumped through the hose, while gunite is a dry mixture with water added at the nozzle during application.
Lothorian uses shotcrete for its custom pool construction, providing the flexibility to create a wide range of pool shapes, depths, features, finishes, and designs that integrate naturally with the surrounding property.
02
How much does a custom inground pool cost in Maryland?
Every custom pool project is different, so Lothorian does not provide a standard starting price before understanding the property, scope, and design goals.
The process begins with an initial meeting to discuss the project. From there, Lothorian moves into a $5,000 design agreement, which allows the team to develop the pool design, evaluate the property, and define the project in greater detail.
Once the design and scope are established, Lothorian can provide pricing based on the specific project.
03
How long does it take to design and build a custom pool?
Most custom projects should be planned in terms of months rather than weeks. Design development, engineering, permitting, material selections, site conditions, weather, inspections, and project complexity all affect the schedule. Lothorian provides a project-specific anticipated timeline once the design and scope are established.
04
Does Lothorian handle permits?
Yes. Lothorian coordinates the permitting and inspection process associated with its pool construction projects. Requirements and approval timelines vary by jurisdiction.
05
Can Lothorian build on a sloped or difficult property?
Yes. Lothorian evaluates grading, drainage, excavation access, utilities, elevation changes, architecture, and surrounding conditions as part of project planning. Difficult sites may require additional engineering, drainage solutions, or retaining structures.
06
Can Lothorian build an attached spa?
Yes. Attached spas can be incorporated into the pool design, including raised and spillover configurations. The pool and spa can be designed together so heating, hydraulics, controls, and materials work cohesively.
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Does Lothorian build saltwater pools?
Yes. Saltwater chlorination can be incorporated into new or existing pools when appropriate for the equipment, materials, homeowner preferences, and maintenance approach.
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Can my pool include an automatic cover?
Yes. Automatic pool covers can be incorporated during design so the pool geometry, cover mechanism, coping, and surrounding materials work together.
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Does Lothorian install pool automation?
Yes. Pool automation can provide centralized control of filtration, heating, lighting, spas, water features, and other equipment, including remote control through compatible connected devices.
11
What pool heating options are available?
Lothorian can incorporate gas-fired heaters, electric heat pumps, and solar heating systems depending on pool size, desired swimming season, available utilities, usage patterns, and whether the project includes an attached spa.
12
What pool finishes are available?
Custom shotcrete pools can incorporate a range of interior finishes, including traditional plaster, quartz, and pebble aggregate finishes. Lothorian primarily uses PebbleTec as its preferred interior pool finish because of its quality, durability, long-term performance, resistance to staining and discoloration, and typically longer service life compared with traditional plaster.
A wide selection of waterline tile and coping materials is also available, and Lothorian helps homeowners consider appearance, texture, durability, maintenance, and how the materials complement the home.
13
Does Lothorian build infinity or vanishing-edge pools?
Yes, where the property and project are appropriate. Vanishing-edge designs require additional structural, hydraulic, elevation, and site planning and are evaluated as part of the custom design process.
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Does Lothorian design the rest of the backyard?
Yes. Depending on project scope, Lothorian can plan outdoor kitchens, patios and terraces, covered areas, pool houses and bathhouses, pavilions, fire features, landscape elements, and surrounding entertaining spaces in addition to the pool.
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Does Lothorian maintain the pool after construction?
Yes. Lothorian provides recurring residential maintenance, seasonal care, equipment service and repair, and renovation in addition to new construction. Service availability depends on the property's location within our recurring residential service territory.
Build It With the Company That Can Stay With It
A custom pool is a major construction project. Owning it is a much longer relationship.
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Lothorian brings custom gunite construction, complete outdoor design, thoughtful engineering, modern pool technology, and more than 45 years of pool experience together under one team.
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We design it. We build it. We can maintain it, repair it, improve it, and one day renovate it.