How a pool tradie gets onto our lists
How PoolTradie chooses and orders pool and backyard tradies, why paying cannot change a place, and the licence checks to make first.
Pool work mixes building, plumbing, electrical work and safety law, and the rules change at every state border. A company that does one of these jobs every week is a different prospect from one that lists it among twenty. Every list here rests on the same few questions, for any trade in any city.
Is this their main job?
We begin with the day-to-day work of each company. Pool shops, chemical and equipment retailers, public pools, swim schools and lead sites that sell your enquiry on are left out. Within a list, a company that spends its year on the trade sits above one that names it as a sideline. A fencing installer fits barriers, a cleaning company runs regular service rounds, a renovation company resurfaces, retiles and repairs existing pools, and an inspector looks at barriers and reports on them. Concrete and fibreglass builders have separate lists because the two jobs are built differently. A button inside a list keeps only companies whose own words show that kind of work, not a passing mention.
Track record with customers
After that, we go through what customers have said publicly about each company, which anyone can do for themselves. We set the overall impression against how long the company has been working, so a handful of warm comments after one season weigh less than a reputation built across many. With pools that matters, because the company you hire is the one you will ring about a crack, a leak or a fence that fails its inspection.
What the company says about its work
We read each company’s own website and social pages too. We look for the licence numbers it holds, the kinds of pool or yard it works on, photos of finished jobs, whether it uses its own crews or hires subcontractors, the area it covers, a written warranty and how it handles council and certifier paperwork. When a company spells all this out, you have something to compare.
Independence
Where a company sits in a list is an editorial decision, taken on the evidence above and reconsidered at regular intervals. Entry cannot be paid for, and no payment alters our verdict. After selection, a company may buy Pro, which adds phone and website buttons, a gallery of finished jobs and extra points about its work, or Top, which holds one of the first three positions in a list. Neither appears anywhere without a label saying it is paid.
Before you hire
Licences, insurance and certificates are not something we check company by company, so those checks fall to you. Ask each company for the licence number that covers your job and look it up with your state’s regulator. In Queensland that is the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC), which licenses pool builders and pool safety inspectors. In New South Wales, swimming pool building work needs a licence from NSW Fair Trading, which has an online licence check. In Victoria the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) registers builders, building surveyors and building inspectors. In South Australia, Consumer and Business Services licenses building work contractors. Pump, light and heater wiring needs a licensed electrician and pipework a licensed plumber, and each state keeps a register of both. Whether home warranty insurance applies to a pool or fence varies by state and by job, so ask what covers yours and ask to see the certificate.
Fences, certificates and registers
A new pool or fence normally needs a building permit or approval from your council or a private certifier before work starts. Barrier rules are set by each state and territory and refer to the Australian Standard AS 1926.1, though which edition applies varies with the state and the year the pool was built. In Queensland a pool goes on the QBCC pool safety register and a licensed pool safety inspector issues the pool safety certificate. In New South Wales it goes on the NSW Swimming Pool Register, and the council or an accredited certifier issues the certificate of compliance. In Victoria owners register the pool with the council and lodge a certificate of barrier compliance from a registered building surveyor or inspector. In Western Australia the local government inspects private pool barriers on a regular cycle. A CPR sign near the pool is a legal requirement in Queensland and New South Wales. Tasmania, South Australia, the ACT and the Northern Territory have rules of their own, so ask your council. Only an inspector or certifier can say a fence complies. If a detail here is out of date, tell us on the Contact page.