A concrete plunge pool in Caringbah

The conversations on Project Gannon’s started in very early 2021 when Helen approached us with dreams of a pool. She was after a concrete pool with landscaping and wasn’t sure what was possible due to limited access, zoning and available landscape ratios.

We love these early conversations with our clients, getting a really great feel what it is you’re after and why you want a pool so badly. It’s at this time where we use our experience to navigate the ins and outs, the dos and don’ts of your block to determine the next steps. Helen was zoned E4 which is an environmental zoning, it meant that her project was referred to our landscape architect and needed to go through council to gain approval. Which it did. And the rest is history.

Thanks heaps for chatting with us today. What did you really want in a pool?

I just wanted somewhere just really nice and safe where I could swim at home. We live near the water but to be honest I’m not a big fan of the ocean. We’re a bit constrained by the size of our backyard to do with green space, so the pool wasn’t as big as we wanted, but it was the most we could get out of the block. We went with a sort of greyish white waterline tile and Beadcrete, which is really nice.

Did you grow up with a pool?

No, but my husband did. I’ll probably use it a couple of days a week but he works from home so he’ll be in it every day in summer I’m sure.

We’re coming into the warmer months … did you pop a heater in?

Definitely, my husband doesn’t like swimming in cold water! We thought if we were going to do this, we’d do it properly.

Totally. Hey, how did you decide who would build your pool?

We’d been looking for a while on different websites, and on Instagram. Cronulla Pools just seemed so professional and everyone we spoke to had good things to say about them. My husband’s sister is in real estate and so there is that element of word of mouth.

What were your expectations going into the build? Were you stressed about it?

To be honest we were a little bit concerned with annoying our neighbors. But with all the trades, if anyone wanted to get in and out of the driveway, it was no issue. They smashed the build out in 6-7 weeks which was pretty amazing. We were really lucky. 

Any snags in the process?

There was an issue around some changes that were made to the plans we weren’t aware of, but we got straight on the phone to Cronulla Pools and they put our mind at ease. There were logistical issues around council and green space and ripping stuff up but once we spoke to Matt it was fine.

Being upfront like that is so important. We’re so glad you let CP know what was going on.

Yeah, we were a bit frustrated and we thought, they’re a local business and such a nice couple, and we thought it was better to go to them right away than to sit on it. Once they explained to us what was going on we understood what was happening.

So how did you find Cronulla Pools overall?

Cronulla Pools were fantastic – no complaints whatsoever. And I cannot speak more highly of Josh, our project manager.

He’s a bit of a legend isn’t he!

He was just so approachable, so easy to deal with. Anything we needed he’d be there – day or night. If he didn’t know the answer to something he’d always say, look, I don’t know but I’ll find out – and he’d go and get the answer and get right back to us.

That transparency is super important isn’t it?

It is.  I’d rather someone be honest rather than just bluff their way through. He was just so professional all the way through. Any questions we had, night or day – he was really nice. And the trades were great, too.

We’re pretty proud of our trades …

Even our neighbours commented. They were all really professional and respectful, and cleaned up at the end of the day – didn’t leave a mess. The build was pretty much seamless, really. There was such good communication and the app was great because we knew what was happening when.

We are so glad to hear that. You were such a delight to work with – so organised! Would you have any advice for anyone putting in a pool?

I guess, probably, just having sort of anything that you’ve got to have ordered ready to go. Like tiles and coping, those things that you need to be across – just having them all set when you need them. We had to be quite fast at making decisions at certain points so to be prepared for that, too. And the heating – definitely I would recommend putting in heating, or at least the provisions for heating so you can put it in down the track.

That’s great advice. Did anything really surprise you about the pool build process? Some clients are so shocked at the size of the hole in the yard!

All the pipes! I think the biggest thing I didn’t realise was how many pipes they had to run under the ground to make a pool happen – it’s only a short run of pipes but it’s something like 240 metres of pipes or something under the ground. The amount of effort and planning that goes into the planning of the pools really surprised me.

Thanks heaps for chatting with us. Before we let you go – would you recommend Cronulla Pools to a friend?

Oh definitely! 100%.