Water that belongs to the site.
Pool surrounds, naturalistic ponds, streams, fountains, and plunge pools — designed and built so the water reads as if it had always been there. Bluestone, schist, native plant edges, no rubber-liner aesthetic.
— Why most water features feel wrong
A pond is not a swimming pool with rocks around it.
The difference between water that feels installed and water that feels native is mostly about the edge. Most installers get the basin right and the edge wrong.
Visible rubber liner.
EPDM lapping over the edge, exposed to UV, framed by river rock. Reads as ‘pond kit from a big-box garden center.’ Lasts about seven years before the liner needs replacement.
Rocks the size of softballs, all the same.
Real water edges are graded — large boulders deep, mid-sized at waterline, gravel and sand at the shallow margin. Same-sized rocks read as ‘installed’ from twenty paces.
Plants chosen for the catalog, not the zone.
Tropical water lilies in zone 4b. Pickerelweed where iris was wanted. Cattails everywhere because they were on the truck.
Pool surround built for summer only.
Joints that heave in winter. Drainage that ices over. Bluestone that spalls because it was the wrong gauge for our climate. Year five looks rough.
— Water, by the numbers
— What we build
Six water disciplines.
Water work usually pairs with hardscape and planting — a pool surround with cedar pergola; a pond with naturalistic plant beds; a fountain with stone walls. We integrate.
Bluestone pool surrounds
Full-color or thermal-finish Vermont-quarried bluestone, set on properly drained base. Coping, decking, integrated steps. Designed to look intentional in winter, not just summer.
Natural-stone pool surrounds
Schist, granite, fieldstone — irregular edge that softens the pool’s geometry. Often integrated with retaining walls and plantings.
Naturalistic ponds
8 ft to 25 ft diameter, depth-graded edge, concealed liner with stone-grade transition. Native plant margin. Skimmer + bog filter, no chlorine.
Streams & cascades
Re-circulating streams that look like they came down from somewhere upslope. Boulder placement, hidden plumbing, sound-tuned drops.
Fountains
Single-element water features for courtyard or entry — basalt columns, millstone wells, formal bowls. Designed to run year-round in our climate (or drain cleanly for winter).
Plunge pools
Cold-plunge or year-round. Concrete or stainless basin. Stone or cedar surround. Cold therapy integration available.
— How a water project moves
Four steps. Six to fourteen months.
Water features (especially pool surrounds) are scheduled around the pool-build calendar. We typically design in winter, install hardscape and stone in late spring, and complete planting in early fall.
Site visit
Two-hour walk of the property with the architect. We listen, you talk. We measure light, slope, drainage, and existing material. No PowerPoint.
Design
Hand-drawn schematic on tracing paper, then full construction drawings — material specs, sections, footing detail. Two reviews built in.
Quote
Fixed-price proposal, line-itemed by trade. Stone, timber, plants, labor, equipment, drainage. You see the math. Change orders signed before any change happens.
Build
Our in-house crew, on site every working day. Weekly progress photos. The architect walks the site at every major milestone. We don’t leave until the punch list is empty.
— Recent water work
Three recent water projects.
Lakefront master plan, 2½ acres.
Three terraced rooms stepping down to Lake Champlain. 240 ft of dry-laid stone wall, cedar pavilion, native pollinator beds.
Read project →
Seven-terrace hilltop garden.
Re-grading a north-facing slope into seven dry-stone-walled terraces of perennials, fruit trees, and a 60-foot meditation walk.
Read project →
1,400 sq ft contemporary courtyard.
Bluestone paving, cedar slat screening, a small reflecting pool, and three Japanese maples for autumn color.
Read project →Stand-alone water feature
$18K–$80Ktypical install
Most stand-alone ponds run $18K–$45K depending on size and edge complexity. Fountains and basalt columns start at $12K. Streams add $200/linear foot.
Hardscape + planting around an existing or new pool
$60K–$250K+surround only
Pool surround scope varies enormously — from a 600 sq ft bluestone deck to a full lakefront installation with retaining, plantings, and cedar pavilion. We don’t build pools (we partner with two pool contractors); we do everything around them.
— Water questions
What we hear about ponds and pools.
Do you build pools?
No — we build everything around pools. We have two pool-contractor partners in Vermont we trust for the basin work (vinyl, gunite, fiberglass) and we coordinate the surround design and build with them. The result is a single point of accountability for the visible work.
What size pond is realistic for a residential site?
Most of our ponds run 8 ft to 25 ft in diameter — large enough to feel natural, small enough to maintain. Anything over 1,000 sq ft starts to need professional water-quality management. Below 50 sq ft tends to read as ‘water feature’ rather than pond.
Do you use chlorine or saltwater?
Naturalistic ponds are biologically filtered — bog beds, native plants, skimmers — no chemicals. Pool surrounds we’ll build around any pool type the client wants (chlorine, salt, mineral). For plunge pools we typically spec UV + ozone.
Will the pond freeze?
Yes. In zone 4b every pond ices over by mid-December. We design ponds with a deep zone (36″+) so fish over-winter at the bottom. We also include a small floating de-icer to keep a single hole open for gas exchange. The pond is part of the winter garden, not just the summer one.
Can a water feature run in winter?
Cascades and streams over a heated trough can run year-round if designed for it — and they’re stunning in January with steam and ice. Standalone fountains usually drain by November. Pool surrounds get winterized by the pool contractor.
What about mosquitoes?
Moving water doesn’t breed mosquitoes. Ponds with proper circulation (a bog filter and a small skimmer pump) have zero mosquito issues. Standing water in a low spot of a pond bed is a problem — we design for circulation.