Fibreglass Pool Ideas Kerikeri
Fibreglass pools, sizes and what a build involves for Kerikeri sections.
Every Bayside shell is moulded in Whakatāne and set in the ground by the licensed local installer — for Kerikeri that is Sue and Pete at Splashdown Pools. Here is what to weigh up for a Kerikeri section, the ten models and their real dimensions, and the answers buyers up here ask for.
At a glance
Sizes are quoted as internal, water-line measurements — an 8 x 4 is 8 x 4 of water. Depth is the shell height, and capacity is measured to the top of the shell.
The photo up top
What to look at in a pool photo
That is a finished Bayside pool, and it is the best way we can show you what one looks like in a yard — it is not a photo of a section in Kerikeri. Look at how much room the pool takes out of the space around it, where the water line sits when you look out from the house, and what the yard looks like once the paving and planting are done. For an in-ground fibreglass pool in Kerikeri, those three decide it.
- The real size of the thing A pool looks smaller on paper than it does in a section. Use the picture to judge the length you want against the space you have — the difference between a 6.5 m and a 9 m swimming pool is obvious in a photograph and invisible in a spec sheet.
- One piece of water Every Bayside shell is moulded as a single piece before it leaves Whakatāne, so the pool arrives complete and the water line is continuous. Nothing is built up on site out of panels or a liner.
- The finishing decisions The pool is the start of the job, not the end of it. Fencing, paving or decking, and the planting around it, are what you notice in a picture of a finished yard — and they are worth deciding while the section is still open ground.
Want to see one in the ground rather than a photo of one? Splashdown Pools installs right across Kerikeri & the Far North — give them a call and ask. Every shell they set was moulded in our own factory first.
Up here
Fibreglass pools in Kerikeri, and what is different up here
Kerikeri is where Splashdown Pools is based, and it is the middle of this patch rather than the edge of it. The shop is here, the truck is here, and the town sits about 20 km from Kawakawa, the same again from Paihia and Russell, and roughly an hour south of the far northern towns. When we say the installer is local, this is the address we mean.
Sue and Pete
Sue and Pete run Splashdown Pools together, and they are the couple behind every pool they install here. They have been installing up here for four years and they are the sort of people this region does business with — one household, a known name, and a reputation that has to hold up because they live here. They also do the landscaping packages that finish a pool off, so it does not arrive as a shell in a hole and stop there.
The job up here
Northland is the warm end of the country and Kerikeri is right in it. Summers are long, the coast is minutes away in more than one direction, and a pool gets used from early in the season rather than for a fortnight in the middle of it. The working conditions come with that: ground that holds water in winter, sites that slope, and salt in the air on the coastal ones. Pete has been installing up here for four years and this is the ground he has been doing it in.
Getting everything in
Northland is not the city. The quarries and the suppliers are further out, the towns are smaller and the sections are often somewhere between the two, so a pool build up here is a logistics job before it is a building job. Pete arranges what has to travel and when it travels, which is the difference between a job that runs to plan and one that waits on a truck. Kerikeri is where a lot of people who came north for a summer ended up staying, so the pool here gets used like the town does — every weekend of the warm months, the whole of January, and the sort of summer that makes people want to relax in their own backyard.
What is around the pool is what people actually notice. Glass fencing is the modern default on a coastal section because it keeps the view, and a paved or concrete surround suits it because the whole thing looks deliberate — clean lines, nothing fussy. Decking does the opposite job: it warms the pool up and ties it to a timber house. None of that is part of the shell, and all of it is a decision worth making before the digger arrives, not after.
Starting point
What suits a Kerikeri section
The pool follows the section. Get these four settled and the model picks itself.
Space on the section
The footprint plus the surround plus somewhere to walk is the number that matters. Sort that out and the range narrows itself.
How you will use it
How the pool gets used is the question that decides length and depth. Everything else is finish.
Getting it in
Getting the shell in is the part that surprises people. On a tight section it is worth talking about before anything is ordered.
Around the pool
The surrounds are what you live with. Splashdown does the landscaping packages as well, so the yard gets finished rather than left as a hole with a pool in it.
One thing, three names
Swimming pool, in-ground pool, fibreglass pool — what is the difference?
Worth two minutes, because the three words carry slightly different promises.
In-ground pool
A pool set into the ground rather than standing above it. Every Bayside shell is designed to go in the ground, so an in-ground pool is the normal case rather than an upgrade. Where digging is not wanted there is a Freestanding option in the range — still a Bayside shell, sitting above ground.
Fibreglass pool
The pool body is a one-piece moulded shell, made in our Whakatāne factory and delivered complete. On site the work is preparing the base, placing and setting the shell, then everything around it — rather than building the pool body itself on site.
Swimming pool
The widest of the three, and the one people type most. It covers a small plunge pool through to a 12 m family and lap pool — the difference being length, depth and how much of the section they take up.
A detail that catches people out: our sizes are internal, water-line dimensions. An 8 x 4 is 8 x 4. Depth is the shell height and capacity is measured to the top of the shell. Whether you type inground pool or in-ground pool, it is the same pool.
What fits
What pool size works in Kerikeri
Ten models, from the 3.6 x 2.2 m Tranquil plunge pool up to the 12 x 4.4 m Big Bertha, with the 4 x 2.4 m Pause, the 5.45 x 3.4 m Element, the 6.5 x 3 m Retreat, the 7 x 3.5 m Cove, the 8 x 4 m Satin, the 9 x 4.4 m Shoreline and the 10 x 4.4 m Coastline in between. All made in Whakatāne. Internal water-line dimensions throughout: an 8 x 4 is 8 x 4 of water, depth is the shell height and capacity is measured to the top of the shell.
Start to finish
What actually happens, from quote to first swim
What people want from a pool company is a straight answer about what happens when. Here it is.
- Site visit — the section, the access and the position. This is the step that prevents surprises later.
- Written quote — the model that suits the section, with everything itemised, in writing.
- Manufacture in Whakatāne — one-piece fibreglass shell, built here rather than imported complete.
- Excavate and prepare the base — the part that is invisible afterwards and the part that matters most.
- Set the shell and backfill — placed, levelled and set in.
- Fill, commission, hand over — the pool running, and the handbook with it.
Expect the shell to go in quickly and the finish to take longer. Fencing in particular has to be done before the pool is used, not after.
Year one
What ownership looks like the year after
On handover day we walk you through the whole pool — the equipment, the water and what the first week looks like — so it is familiar before we leave. After that the main job is the water: keep the chemistry in range and the surface and the equipment both stay happy.
Read the pool warranty Pool maintenance tips Landscaping around a pool
Nearby
Pool ideas for the rest of Northland
Splashdown Pools covers the whole of this patch, from the southern end up to the Far North. These are the other areas with their own pages.
- Pool ideas for Whangarei
- Pool ideas for Paihia
- Pool ideas for Russell
- Pool ideas for Mangonui
- Pool ideas for Kaitaia
- Pool ideas for Kaikohe
- Pool ideas for Kawakawa
- Pool ideas for Dargaville
- Pool ideas for Mangawhai
- Pool ideas for Waipu
- Pool ideas for Ruakaka
- Pool ideas for Hikurangi
- Bayside Pools Kerikeri — Sue, Pete & Splashdown Pools
Questions
Kerikeri pool questions, answered
Do you install pools in Kerikeri itself?
Yes — Kerikeri is where Splashdown Pools is based and where the pool shop is, so it is the one town on this list where the installer, the chemicals and the water testing are all in the same place. Sue and Pete have been installing pools up here for four years, and a Kerikeri job is a job on their own doorstep.
Can I get my pool chemicals and water testing in Kerikeri?
Yes. Splashdown Pools runs the pool shop in Kerikeri alongside the installs — pool and spa chemicals, water testing and equipment, kept locally. The people who test your water are the people who set the shell, which is worth more up here than it sounds.
Is a pool worth it in Kerikeri’s climate?
This is the warm end of the country and the coast is minutes away in more than one direction, so a pool gets a long season rather than a short one. In practice that means it is used from early summer well into autumn, which is the reason most people here put one in.
Is a building consent required for a pool in Kerikeri?
Pool fencing is the part that is not optional. It has to comply with the building code and it is checked, whether or not the pool itself needed a consent. The consenting side up here works the same way it does anywhere else in the country — there is nothing peculiar to Northland about it — and it is worked through as part of the job rather than left to you. The fencing sits outside the pool price, so ask for it to be shown on the quote.
How long does a pool installation take?
Excavation and setting the shell are the quick part — days rather than weeks once the team is on site. What takes the time is what comes after: filling, the surrounds, fencing and balancing the water. You get a realistic sequence up front. Up here the thing that moves dates is how far the materials have to travel, and that is planned rather than discovered.
Which Bayside model should I look at first?
It follows the section rather than the town. Tight sections end up at the plunge and compact models — the Tranquil, the Pause and the Element. Sections with room usually take a 7 to 8 metre family pool, which is the Retreat, the Cove or the Satin. The whole range with its dimensions is on the pool range page if you want to see the sizes side by side first.
Who installs a Bayside pool in Kerikeri?
We manufacture, and the licensed local installer puts the pool in. For this whole patch that is Sue and Pete at Splashdown Pools, based at Kerikeri, who have been installing up here for four years. Every shell is moulded in our Whakatāne factory and set by the installer who covers your area, and the person who quotes your job is the person on your site when it goes in.
Are fibreglass pools in-ground pools?
Yes. A Bayside shell is designed to be set into the ground, so an in-ground pool is the normal case rather than a special order. The range also includes a Freestanding option where digging is not wanted; it is the same shell family, sitting above ground.
What is different about a fibreglass pool?
The shell arrives as one finished piece rather than being built up on site, so the on-site work is preparing the base, placing and setting it, and then everything around the water. That is also why the surface matters: ours is ChlorShield, the gelcoat system on every Bayside shell, and the ChlorShield page sets out what it is built to do.
What colours do fibreglass pools come in?
There is a full palette on the pool colours page, shown on real pools rather than as swatches on a screen. You can also ask to see a colour in person before the shell is ordered — the light a pool sits in changes how a colour reads, and up here that light is strong for most of the year.
Thinking about a pool in Kerikeri?
Send us your section and we will come back with the fibreglass pool models, sizes and options that suit it — and the installer who covers Kerikeri.