What are some of the biggest pool planning considerations?

Video transcription: There are lots of exciting things about building a swimming pool. But one of the considerations you need to take into account is what am I dealing with on my block? In many cases we are out at properties which have things such as easements. They are areas which you just can’t build over. It’s on your property but it really belongs to the council.

Other considerations are things like main sewer lines and so forth. There is a house sewer line that generally connects the main sewer lines unless you’re on a system such as a septic tank and that is a different consideration altogether. But where you’ve got a house sewer line that connects to a main sewer line, and you think that is in the path of the pool, that is not such a problem. Those things can be diverted. The main sewer lines for example, or any other thing that is fairly substantial, needs to have really careful consideration as to how we build around it.

Other important factors are thinking of things like how close is the pool going to be to the house, or maybe retaining walls? They are the sorts of considerations that we need to really look at and ensure that when a pool is being built, really when an excavation is being created for the pool,  that we’re not going to undermine any of those structures.

These are just general things that we really want to take into account. If you can get a good understanding of what those things are in relation to where you want to place your pool, this can be a really important starting point.

There are other considerations such as how far you build off a boundary. Most councils will have minimum setbacks. Some are really relaxed and we can actually get quite close. The key thing is just start thinking about where that pool is going to go, what services and so forth you think might exist there and anything you might think might be a potential issue in terms of us coming out and starting to dig that pool in the position you want.

Nine times out of ten we’re going to be able to cope with most of the circumstances quite well and we’re pretty used to it. But if you just get a bit of an idea, we’re certainly off to a good start. 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.

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.