Video transcription: A great question we’re often asked is, if I’m going to build a house, how do I go about planning the pool? If it is such that you’ve got a block that when the house is built, you’re going to lose your access, it’s really important to consider putting the pool in first. At Compass, we call that a sleeper pool. So you can certainly come to us and talk to use about installing a sleeper pool.

The other consideration is, if you’re going to have access, we can certainly put the pool in after the house is built. But the consideration might be, if it’s going to be anywhere near the house for example, you want to make sure you consult with your builder and ensure that the footings for that house are constructed in such a way that it lets you come up and excavate near the house. So there are those sorts of considerations that must be taken into account.

If you’re at that point and you think, yes, I really need to talk to someone about whether I build the pool first or do it after, certainly bring your plans into Compass and we’ll talk to you about it. Give one of the team a call today on 1300 667 445.

Swimming Pool Construction: How does it work and what’s involved?

Video transcription: I guess first off most clients have a bit of an understanding of what they want. From there I lead into what they’re going to use the pool for, how much room they think they might need, how many kids, do they entertain a lot. It’s basically finding out what they need. From there we can work out the best way to go about that.

I guess the most common questions that we’re always asked is should I lay pavers on sand or should I lay them on concrete? Traditionally, we used to lay all our pavers on sand around a pool. Most of the time they were a small format, so we could get away with laying them. These days, most people want large format pavers, large format concrete or natural stone. So nowadays you can’t lay pavers on sand around the pool purely because of the movements around the sand that washes out. You get a far better job on concrete.

A lot of the time we go to do houses they’ve either left their al fresco so we can tie in with the pool or they’ve already got tiles. Typically I say this is your pool area. You want it to be slightly different than the rest of your house if you’ve already got matching tiles. So you want the pool area to stand out and make that the showpiece for the house.

Every pool that sells obviously has to have a bond beam. A standard beam is suitable for one paver to go all the way round and that maintains the structural integrity of the pool. We can go anywhere from a standard paver up to whatever distance you want to go out from the pool depending on the size of your yard and the living area that you want.

To determine how far we go out, sometimes we try to match the area of what they’re laying with the size of the paver. That is so you can have a seamless line between the whole area reducing the cutting down. This is not for labour but more for the visual aspect of the job. So we try to help them out to whatever size paver to make that look good going round the whole job and working out with our fence lines and things like that.

A bond beam is a concrete beam, a structural beam that goes round the ring of the pool. That maintains the structural integrity of the pool. Typically it is 370mm wide. That suits a 600 x 400 paver or a 400 x 400 paver. You’re not limited to just the beam, you can extend that beam to whatever distance you want. It is better to extend the beam out so we have one seamless pour. Otherwise you’re going to have an expansion joint between the bond beam and the coping paver and the rest of the paver, whether you have concrete or whatnot. You want to try to eliminate that. If you can do it all in one pour, it is going to a lot stronger and you’re going to get a far better job.

Personally for me as a contractor for the type of work that we do, as much as I can, I like to try to speak to the owners of the pool before the pool goes in. That way you can eliminate any problems. You can get the right heights, you can work out where a cut and a fill may be, any retaining walls, any plumbing, where you’re going to run electricity so you don’t have a problem in the future. Probably the most important thing is the height of the pool, getting the height of the pool in relation to your al fresco area, your entertaining area, whatever it may be. That’s very critical because once the pool is in, you can’t move it.

I always like to speak to the clients about exactly what they want so we can map out the whole yard and get the result that they’re after. We always notify the client when we’re going to be there. We ring up a couple of days before, notify them what time we’re going to arrive on site, if they’re going to be home. Normally I like them to be there for the first day so we can go over the whole job and make sure they understand exactly what is going on. We make sure they understand what they are getting and how it is all going to look.

From there we set out the process of what happens, the order of operations of the job. We explain whether it is retaining walls first, whether it is concreting, we form up. Typically on a standard job, once Compass has finished installing the pool, we will come in and form up and pour the concrete. That cures for approximately two to three weeks and then we can come back and lay all the tiles or paving or whatever you choose. That can take anywhere from a day to two weeks depending on the size of the job.

Definitely get a contractor who can understand pool surrounds, typically a professional landscaper. Try to stick to one trade if they can, without having multiple trades. That way it cuts down on how many people are on the site. It cuts down any errors of communication between one trade and another trade. That’s why we’re experts in what we do because we can handle the whole lot.

I had a client yesterday. I said if they want to see the finished product, I can give them names and numbers or even organize for myself to go out there and take them out there. We can have a look at the products so they can feel it, so they can see what it is going to look like before they actually get the product installed.

People ask my opinion all the time. There are so many options you can have. Some people choose a longer coping paver and then they have a 400 x 400, a square paver for the surrounding area. People do the opposite. They have a smaller paver and then they have a longer paver for the outskirts or they have one product. There are so many different options.

I think when you try to overcomplicate a pool area that’s when it starts to get a bit messy. We try to keep one product and then split it up with a feature tile all they way through, something small that is not going to stand out too much. I think the subtle touches that you do are far better than trying to do different colours or mix and match that way.

Once we’ve finished laying the tiles or pavers, you have to wait a minimum of seven days before we can seal the pavers, just to let the grout cure and let the moisture come out before we seal them. Then after that, within twenty-four to forty-eight hours, they can start enjoying their pool. Give one of the team a call today on 1300 667 445.

If you are looking for a swimming pool constructor, please go to our Pool Builders page to select your closest authorised Compass Pool Dealer. Or give one of the team a call today on 1300 667 445.

Why you should build a pool that’s future proof?

Video transcription: We’re often told by people looking at planning their pool and installing it, I’ve got young children. I’m worried about them, they’re not great swimmers, there’s a little baby. So what I want to do is I want to create a beach area, something shallow in the pool.

One really important aspect of a swimming pool is when you install it, if you’re planning to stay in your house for quite some time, you’re really going to live with whatever you’ve got for as along as you’re in that house. The important thing is to think, they’re children for a little while, but they grow up. It’s not long before they’re incredibly competent swimmers. They’ve got all their friends home from school and they want to use as much of that pool as practically possible.

So when you’re thinking about your pool, you really want to think as long term as possible. They might be small now, but they’re small for a very short time. Give one of the team a call today on 1300 667 445.

Swimming pool building time: from planning to installation, how long it will take

Video transcription: A lot of people who come into my display centre to have an early-stage think about getting a pool always want to know what is involved in getting a pool. Among a hundred different things that are important when you’re planning a pool, how long it takes comes up pretty often.

You need to, I think, nut it down into four areas. They are planning the pool, getting the approval to build the pool and having the pool built, so that is effectively the installation of the pool. That is before all the nice cosmetic, easier things like the fencing and the paving all come to fruition.

To plan your pool, you can take as long as your want. At the end of the day, you’ve got to make the decision. Planning your pool involves going and having a look at what pool suits you, working thorough the options and the recommendations, and then saying, yes, this is right for me. I like this pool, this size, this colour, with this operating system. I can see myself using it like this, this and this, ticking all the boxes. I’m happy to be doing business with you. You’re a builder, I like the people who are going to be putting it in, I’m happy to go ahead.

When that happens, a contract is drawn up. A contract is the agreement, as the pool builder I’m going to do x, y and z; as the customer, you’re going to do x, y and z and we’re going to go ahead with it.

Your approval, depending on whether you’re going through a council body or a private certifier, it doesn’t matter too much which, that roughly, depending on councils, is a four to six week process. During that time, I always tell my customers, we’ve got this time when no one can really do anything. This is good opportunity to go and have a bit of a look around at pavers and different finishers and things like that.

Once you get your approvals back, they come to us as the builder and we say, yes, absolutely, they can have a pool, we’re all good to go. Then your pool gets custom-made for you. We like to allow, depending on the time of the year really, three to five weeks in the manufacturing process of the pool. It’s made, it’s ready for you and then you move into a construction schedule.

A construction schedule is one of those things that can move around a fair bit. So you’ll always give a tentative install date but we’re not weather gods. We never know what is going to happen with the weather. You may be jumped forward a week or you might be pushed out for two weeks. But that whole process in its entirety from you making the decision and we’re good to go, is often between a five to ten week process, realistically.

There are things that come up. You could all of a sudden, it has happened to me, people have said, school holidays. We’re going away. You had me booked for this stage, can we be two weeks later? Most pool builders can easily work with that. The time really is on you and when you can make a decision, the weather, what it’s doing and of course your councils. You definitely don’t want to be planning a pool in November thinking Christmas day is going to be at your place. That is not going to happen. Give one of the team a call today on 1300 667 445.

What is the process, turnaround & pool construction timeframes?

Video transcription: Once a customer brings their council approved paperwork into the office, usually the timeframe from receiving approvals and the pool going in the ground is between six to eight weeks. That’s a rough timeframe. Weather is something that is beyond anyone’s control but it is usually between six to eight weeks.

Filtration equipment is obviously a really important part of your pool. What we need is usually around two metres, two and a half metres but that depends on the amount of space you’ve got available in your yard. So we can customise the installation of your equipment to best suit your yard.

The day that we excavate your pool is day one of your pool. What we do is, machinery arrives about seven, seven thirty in the morning. We mark out your pool on the ground, decide if you’re happy with where the lights are going in your pool and make some minor changes to the layout of your filtration system. Any little changes you want, that’s the time we do it.

Machinery starts digging and it usually takes the day to get that out, unless we hit rock and things like that which is something that we don’t know we’re going to encounter and usually the customer doesn’t know either. We usually have the hole excavated in that day.

The following day we lift the pool into the ground. The pool is back filled, filled with water and the filtration equipment is installed. So it is roughly two days, two and half days for the self-cleaning pool to be installed.

Once the pool is installed, then we have the filtration started up and we put all of the chemicals into the pool and clean the pool up so it is in swimmable condition. That usually takes twenty-four hours for your dirty pool to become a swimmable pool. Everyone loves to swim in their pool as soon as it’s full of water. Even though the pool is dirty when we’ve filled it up, it’s still in its construction stages, but the day that the pool is full of water, the kids are dying to get in the pool and have a dip. So day two, you can be swimming in your pool.

Once your pool is started up and chemically treated, then your pool needs to settle for a period of two to three weeks. That is to allow for ground movement for the pool to find its natural levels. Then we place a concrete beam around the pool and that is part of the structural integrity of the pool shell.

After we’ve poured that concrete, then we organize the handover of your pool. A handover of the pool is teaching you to drive your new pool. We show you how your system works, getting your fully automated system up and running so it is literally maintenance free. We give you the keys, that’s what a handover is. Give one of the team a call today on 1300 667 445.

What to think about with regards to pool installation access

Video transcription: I talk to a lot of people have anxiety about access to their house. The first thing to let you know is just about everything is possible. Ideally, we’d turn up at a block, it would be flat, we would have no house in that spot and we could drive straight in with all the equipment. Realistically when a pool is built, we literally want to turn up with the biggest digging machine and excavator and as many tipper trucks, usually three, as we can, to keep running that fill out of that property.

Most properties that we consider have great access are properties that you can pretty much drive a car to where you want to put the pool. That is pretty much as good as it gets in most cities today. Outside of the city, on rural properties and so forth, that is an added bonus because it is often very easy to get to the site you want to put the swimming pool.

If you do have constrained access, don’t be overly concerned about it. Just know that the more equipment and the more time it takes for us to get in and get the fill out of that site and then actually bring sand in, which is also used as part of the installation process, the costs associated with that are generally greater, but completely justifiable.

As you could imagine, when we’re taking a one piece shell, a swimming pool, and lifting it to the site, most often we’re using cranes. The general crane lift is not overly complicated. That’s probably not fair to the crane guys. They’re really good at what they do and it is a real discipline for them to lift the pool. But generally in most cases lifting a pool into the site is non problematic.

Sometimes, on very rare occasions, we might use exceptionally large cranes because we just can’t get anywhere near the block. In that case, the cranes can get fairly expensive. But there is a way to install just about every pool. On the odd occasion we’ve even used helicopters to lift pools into place. That is quite a sight, seeing helicopters buzzing over your roof with a swimming pool hanging off it. It’s pretty exciting actually.

It’s really difficult for us also, and obviously it’s difficult for you, to tell what’s under the ground. A lot of people know through experience if they’ve built on their site or they’re lived in the area for a while, they’ll know whether or not we’ll have to contend with rock. If we can get a decent sized machine into the site and access is reasonable, rock is not a great issue. The smaller the machinery, the longer it takes to excavate, the greater the cost associated with excavation. These are just pretty standard things.

In other cases, certainly around the area where we work a lot, we have high water tables. That may mean we actually employ an ancillary company to come in and insert spear points around the pool area. That is a like a big pump and vacuum system which sucks the area dry for a day or two before we excavate the pool.

We dig every day, it’s our job. As much as we want to put the swimming pool in, part of that process is coming out and excavating. I don’t think there is much we haven’t seen under the ground and there is always a way for us to deal with it. Give one of the team a call today on 1300 667 445.

How long is the pool construction process?

Video transcription: We’re often asked how long is it going to take to build my swimming pool?

There are a couple of different elements that come together for that. Obviously we’ve worked through the time for contracting the swimming pool, designing it, doing all the bits necessary for now to be well on our way to having a pool in the backyard.

The next step for us is we need to manufacture it. Every Compass pool is built to order. We don’t build your swimming pool until we get an order for it. So it’s always your very own swimming pool, issued with its very own birth certificate. This is an important element of Compass Pools.

The other part of the process is that we need to have this pool approved. So it will be submitted to council, go through the approval process and depending on where you are, what council area, what state, there are going to be different times in relation to the approval process. The next part is then the installation process. We’re literally coming up with a day when we’re going to determine, after the council approval, to install your pool.

The process from there is generally fairly fast. It’s also dependent upon weather. If we have a bad run of weather, we’re going to need to move that installation date to a different time. When we come in and install your pool, generally it takes a couple of days for us to excavate and install the pool and fill it full of water. We then allow that pool to sit for a couple of weeks before installing an engineered concrete beam around it and finish the surrounds. Give one of the team a call today on 1300 667 445.