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An in-ground pool job, trade by trade: who does what
A pool job has several trades on it, and the pool itself is only one of them. On a new in-ground pool, the pool comes from a pool company, the barrier from a specialist, and we build the ground and everything around the pool. Here's exactly who did what on two of them.
Two jobs at a glance
Herne Bay: a fibreglass plunge pool set fully into the ground, where a concrete fireplace used to stand.
Meadowbank: an existing in-ground concrete pool, kept and brought back, with everything around it rebuilt.
Herne Bay: from fireplace to pool
The pool. A Little Pools Co Plunge 3, made in Australia and sold in New Zealand by The Pool Distributor, who organised the delivery and the plumbing. They also referred the job to us. The only way into the back yard was a gap of less than 850 mm with a 2.2 m ceiling, so the pool came over the top of the house, lifted by a large Hiab truck with a winch.
Us: the ground. A fireplace and chimney in solid reinforced concrete, on its own footings, stood in the middle of the yard. We broke it out with a 1.2 tonne digger and Hilti demolition jackhammers, then dug the hole for the pool. Pronto Hire recommended the machine, a Takeuchi built for restricted height and width. Every load of soil went out by barrow: 14 bins at 4.5 m³ each.
Us: around the pool. A new timber retaining wall about 25 m long and 1.4 m high, running along the back of the house and replacing an old failing one, with more room between the wall and the house than before. It's 200 × 50 H4 boards, front-fixed with 125 mm stainless batten screws onto 125 mm concreted piles, with scoria drainage all along. Then Jagas precast pool pavers and copings with an arris profile around the pool, a lounge area where a strip of dead garden had been, and Urban Turf's Bayside 25 mm synthetic turf, which we laid.
Pool barrier. At Herne Bay the aluminium balustrade is the pool fencing: Delta panels, installed by Profit NZ and consented separately. Which applies to your site is settled before we quote.
10 weeks on site
Meadowbank: keeping the pool
At Meadowbank the pool was already there: a concrete pool with terracotta copings, sound underneath and tired everywhere else. Artisan Stone and Tiles, led by Mario, brought us in, and the two businesses delivered it side by side.
Artisan Stone and Tiles: the pool. Everything touching the pool: stripping the old plaster, a new interior plaster finish, porcelain coping tiles, a new waterline mosaic, the two large steps in the semicircle tiled to match, and new lights, pump and filtration. They also laid the Italian Travertine porcelain patio.
Us: everything around it. All the foundations, on 125 × 125 H5 piles, including the slab under the patio: 25 MPa, 665 mesh, D12 borders, broom finished. All the timber: a curved Vitex deck with J Vice stainless fixings from Glass Vice, two flights of Vitex stairs, and Macrocarpa sleeper beds between the house and the patio. The skimmer sits under a Vitex lid, flush with the deck and the copings, lifted by a recessed 316 stainless ring.
Pool barrier. At Meadowbank the fencing and balustrade are new Aurora panels from Profit NZ, installed under the barrier consent the property already had. Which applies to your site is settled before we quote.
About 10 weeks on site
Why keeping a concrete pool can make sense is in keep the pool, rebuild the surround.
Who does what, in short
The pool company. Supplies the pool and organises the delivery and plumbing. On all three of our plunge pool jobs so far, that's been The Pool Distributor.
The landscaper. The ground and everything on it: demolition, excavation, spoil, retaining, foundations, decks, paving, turf and planting. We're on site on delivery day, because the pool has to fit what we've built. How that day runs is in pool delivery day, hour by hour.
The drawings. An in-ground pool goes into a hole dug and dimensioned to an engineering drawing, and the pool work follows the pool manufacturer's own engineering drawings.
The barrier. A timber barrier we build ourselves. Glass and aluminium barriers go to specialist contractors, Profit NZ on these jobs, who install and certify their own work.
The pool finish. On an existing concrete pool, the plaster, tiling and equipment go to a specialist, as Artisan did at Meadowbank.
The consents. We manage the consent programme end to end: appointing and briefing the specialists a job needs and keeping it all on track. They certify their own work.
Where we fit
We don't supply or install the pool. We build the ground it sits in and everything around it, and we work with the pool company from the start. In Kevin's words, "we kinda work as one team."