Renovating · Geelong · Surf Coast · Bellarine
An old pool comes with decisions, not a schedule.
A new pool has a builder and a date. A twenty year old pool has a fence that will not pass, plant at the end of its life, and four quotes that do not answer the same question. Nobody is paid to tell you what order any of it goes in.
Every renovation sorts into four squares.
Write them down once and the arguments stop, because every decision belongs to a square and every square has an order inside it.
The pool barrier
The fence, the gates, the latches, and any window or door that opens near the water. This is the square with a law attached.
The pump station
Pump, filter, chlorinator, heater, the pad they stand on and the power that feeds them. Settle the equipment before the housing, because the housing has to fit it.
The pool
Shell, coping, waterline tiles, lights and the water itself. Whether the water goes out is a decision on its own, and it changes everything above it.
Poolside
Paving, planting, shade and the path back to the house. Last, because everything else crosses it.
What you get for the hours.
- We measure it. The pool, the fence line, the plant, the paving, photographed and written down in one place.
- Your decisions go into the four squares, each with what it costs, what it depends on, and what has to be settled before the next one can start.
- We read the quotes you get, side by side, and tell you what is in one and missing from another.
- We keep your budget current against the number you set at the start, as real prices come back.
- We tell you what the council and a building surveyor will want to see, and when.
- Every week you get a written report: what moved, what is waiting, what it has cost, and how many of your hours are left.
- You engage and pay every trade yourself, which is what keeps every contract, and every dollar, in your hands.
We sell nothing but our time.
No pools, no equipment, no trade work, and nothing from anyone who sells those. No commission, no referral fee, no markup. Your fee is the only money we take, which is exactly why we can tell you when a quote is wrong.
What it costs.
The first visit. Free.
An hour at your kitchen table. We walk the pool and whatever quotes you already have, and you keep the notes either way.
The Measure-Up. Five hours, $1,100 inc GST.
The site visit and the full measure-up, your four squares written out with what each one depends on, and the first quotes read.
Hours after that. $220 an hour inc GST.
In blocks you agree before they start. Every weekly report shows what you have used and what is left.
For scale.
A renovation we quoted in August ran to twenty seven hours, $5,940 inc GST. A twenty year old in-ground pool: barrier replaced, plant replaced, coping and waterline tiles.
Why hours and not a fixed fee. Nobody knows what an old pool needs until it has been measured and the quotes come back. A fixed fee has to price that unknown, and you would pay for it whether or not it turned up.
Got a pool and a pile of quotes?
Tell us where you are up to and we will call you back. The first hour is free and you owe nothing at the end of it.