Building a Pool With a New Home or Knockdown Rebuild
Completed concrete pool build by Cronulla Pools, Sydney pool builders.
If you're building a new home, doing a knockdown rebuild or a big renovation, the pool can feel like the last thing on a very long list. I get it. You're choosing tapware and arguing about benchtops.
But the pool is one of the decisions worth making early, because the timing changes how easy, and how expensive, it is to build. The short answer is that the best time to build a pool is usually alongside the house, while the yard is open and machines can get in. The second best time is straight after. The worst time is a few years later, once the landscaping is done and the side paths are narrow.
Why building the pool with the house is often best
When the site is vacant or the back of the house hasn't gone up yet, access is amazing. Big machines can get straight in, excavation is quicker, and spoil can go straight onto trucks. That can save a lot compared to hand digging a pool into a finished backyard later.
Here's how it usually works when we build alongside a builder:
We come in first, while access is at its best.
We excavate, tie the steel and spray the concrete shell.
We step back and let the house build progress.
We stay in contact with the builder the whole way through.
When the house is nearing completion, we come back to finish the interiors, tile the pool and spa, and get it ready to hand over with the house.
The client walks into a finished home and a brand new pool at the same time, and that handover moment is something else.
What if your builder has a preferred pool builder?
This comes up a lot with project home builders. Some will only let a pool be built during the house build if you use their preferred pool builder. Otherwise, the pool has to wait until the house is finished and handed over.
That's worth knowing before you sign your building contract. If you want to choose your own pool builder, ask the question early and push back if you need to. If the pool has to come after, plan the access now: keep a clear path to the backyard, and think twice before building anything that blocks it.
Approvals: one application or two?
Under the NSW rules, a pool can be approved as complying development on a lot with an existing house or in conjunction with a new house, according to the NSW Government's guide to complying development. So you can often include the pool with your house approval.
There are a couple of things to watch:
If your house is going through a DA, putting the pool in the same DA can slow the pool down. Sometimes it's smarter to do a separate CDC for the pool and keep the house on its own track.
Landscaped area is calculated across the whole lot, so your house, driveway, paving and pool all have to fit the ratios together. Get the pool on the plans early so you don't run out of room.
Things your builder and pool builder need to agree on
This is where a bit of coordination saves a lot of pain. Before construction, we work with your builder on:
Where pool pipework runs, and any penetrations through walls or slabs
Power to the pool equipment (usually your electrician brings it to the pool area)
Where the pool backwash discharges (often a gully the plumber installs)
The equipment location, including the heat pump and acoustic box
Gas, if you want a gas heater for a spa
Footings and engineering near the pool, especially if it's close to the house
Any extra slab or paving around the pool
Pool fencing that fits the final layout
Renovations and building close to the house
Pools tucked right up close to the house look amazing, wrapped in garden. But a close-to-house build is not the easy version of a pool. Existing foundations, easements, drainage that's already doing a job for the house, and services nobody knew were there all need planning around. None of it rules the pool out. It just means the planning has to work harder before anything gets dug.
Wrap up
We work with builders, architects and owner builders on new homes and renovations all over Sydney, so if you've got plans in progress, send them through and give us a call on 1300 373 706, because the earlier we're in the conversation, the easier it is to make the house and the pool work beautifully together.
