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Tight access: getting a plunge pool into a back yard with 850 mm to work with
On a small-site pool, the pool is rarely the hard part. The hard part is getting a machine, materials and a shell in, and the spoil out, without damaging the house on the way. Herne Bay is the clearest example we have.
At a glance
The way in: less than 850 mm between the garage and the front door, under a 2.2 m ceiling, changing direction around outdoor columns.
The machine: a 1.2-tonne Takeuchi, recommended by Pronto Hire for restricted width and height.
The spoil: 14 bins at 4.5 m³ each, every load barrowed out.
The shell: lifted over the house on a large Hiab truck with a winch.
On site: 10 weeks.
The way in
The back yard at Herne Bay was flat and a reasonable size. Getting into it was the problem. The only route was a gap of less than 850 mm between the garage and the front door, with a ceiling capping the height at 2.2 m, and it changed direction on the way through, around the outdoor columns.
That ruled out most machines before we'd started. Pronto Hire recommended a 1.2-tonne Takeuchi, a digger built for exactly this kind of restricted width and height. It went in through the same gap, and everything it dug came back out through it too.
The fireplace
Standing in the middle of the back yard was a large fireplace and chimney in solid reinforced concrete, on its own footings. The pool was going where it stood, so it had to come out before any digging could start. We broke it out with the 1.2-tonne digger and Hilti demolition jackhammers.
The dig and the spoil
With the fireplace gone, the dig began. Every bit of excavated soil was barrowed out to bins: 14 bins at 4.5 m³ each, about 63 m³ in total, through the same narrow gap.
This is where tight access turns into time on site, and where care matters most. Kevin's view of what the job needed: "You need an experienced team to properly run the excavation and build while protecting the house and other assets on site."
The shell
The pool is a fibreglass Little Pools Co Plunge 3, supplied by The Pool Distributor. A one-piece shell can't come through an 850 mm gap, so it went over the house instead, lifted by a large Hiab truck with a winch system. Delivery is The Pool Distributor's side of the job. Ours was having the hole, the levels and the site ready for it to land.
Then the build
With the pool in the ground, the rest of the yard came together through the same access. A new timber retaining wall, about 25 m long and 1.4 m high, runs along the back of the house and replaced a failing wall with more room to work. Jagas precast pool pavers and copings finish the edge, and we laid Urban Turf's Bayside 25 mm synthetic turf.
Pool barrier. Aluminium Delta panels, installed by Profit NZ and consented separately. Which applies to your site is settled before we quote.
10 weeks on site
Pronto Hire wrote the job up on their own blog: How Franc Landscapes turned a near-impossible backyard into a pool oasis.
Two other ways in
Not every tight site is tight in the same way.
At Mission Bay, the access was relatively open: a long driveway and a flat yard. The stainless shell arrived on a flatbed truck and the crew carried it in by hand, with no crane and no Hiab.
At One Tree Hill the problem was overhead. Powerlines over a busy street ruled out a large crane, so a small Hiab lifted a stainless shell weighing under 200 kg empty into the front yard.
What actually decides it
We measure access on the first site visit, before we talk about anything else.
The narrowest point. Not the average width of the path, the tightest pinch on the whole route, including gates, corners and downpipes.
Height as well as width. At Herne Bay the 2.2 m ceiling mattered as much as the 850 mm gap.
Where the spoil goes. Every cubic metre that comes out of the hole has to leave by the same route. On a tight site that's the longest part of the dig.
What's overhead. Powerlines, eaves and trees decide what can lift a shell in, and from where.
What has to be protected. The house, the paths and the neighbours' fences are all still there when the job is finished, and they need to look the same.
Where we fit
We plan and run the excavation, the demolition and the build around the pool. The Pool Distributor supplies the shell and organises delivery, and we're on site on delivery day because the pool has to fit what we've built. If your only way in is a side path or a gap by the garage, a site visit is where we find out what will fit through it.