Fibreglass Pool Ideas Whangarei
In-ground fibreglass pools for Whangarei, built in Whakatāne and installed by the local Northland team.
A Bayside pool is one piece of moulded fibreglass made in Whakatāne, installed by the Northland team that has been putting them in for four years. Here is what suits Whangarei, what fits, and what happens between the quote and the first swim.
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 Whangarei. 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 Whangarei, those three decide it.
- The footprint, not the model Look at how much room the pool takes out of the space around it. That is the number that decides which model fits a Whangarei section, and it is the one thing a plan drawing will never show you as clearly as a photograph does. Measure your clear space, then choose the model.
- The water line A fibreglass shell is moulded in one piece, so the water line runs unbroken from end to end — no joins, no panels, nothing to line up. On a swimming pool that is the line you look at every day of the summer.
- The surrounds, which finish it What sits around the pool is what makes the yard look deliberate rather than unfinished. Paving, decking and fencing are decisions to settle before the digger arrives, not after — and they are a separate purchase from the shell.
Want to see one in the ground rather than a photo of one? Splashdown Pools installs right across Whangarei & the coast — give them a call and ask. Every shell they set was moulded in our own factory first.
Up here
Fibreglass pools in Whangarei, and what is different up here
Whangarei is the largest centre in Pete’s patch, and it is where most of the orders that come through Northland start from. Hikurangi is 17 km up the road, Ruakaka and the Bream Bay beaches about 19 km south, and Waipu a little further again. From here the whole coast north to Mangonui is one run, which matters more than it sounds when a shell has to be moved.
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
The heat is the first thing people notice about the North, and Whangarei gets the full version of it — a long warm season and a coast on the doorstep. The second thing is distance. The city is not a big city, it is a town that people come to so they can be near the water, and the places that supply a pool build are further out than they would be in Auckland. That is not a problem, it is just something that gets planned for.
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. Whangarei is the biggest town in the patch and still nothing like the pace of Auckland. People move up here to slow down, and the pool is part of that — used after work and all weekend rather than saved for a party.
The photo up top is one of our pools, there as an idea of how one sits in a yard rather than a job in Whangarei. What changes how a pool reads more than the shell does is the two things around it. Frameless glass fencing is the finish people choose when they do not want to lose the view — it opens the area up instead of fencing it off. A concrete or large-format paved surround reads modern and is easy to live with; timber decking softens the same pool and suits a house with more wood about it.
Before you commit
What suits a Whangarei section
Most pools are chosen twice: once as an idea and once against the tape measure. These four are what settles it.
Space on the section
Get a tape on the site first. What fits is decided by the clear space, not by the plan you drew on the back of an envelope.
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
Fencing and surrounds are the finish. That work is part of what the local team does, not a separate trade you have to find.
One thing, three names
In-ground pool, inground pool, fibreglass pool — the same purchase
People search all three terms. For a Bayside pool they mostly describe the same thing.
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.
The dimensions we sell are internal, water-line measurements — an 8 x 4 is 8 x 4 of water. Depth is the shell height, and capacity is to the top of the shell. The shell itself needs a little more room than the pool does.
The range
What pool size works in Whangarei
Ten fibreglass swimming pool models cover it. At the small end: the 3.6 x 2.2 m Tranquil and the 4 x 2.4 m Pause. Mid-range: the 5.45 x 3.4 m Element, the 6.5 x 3 m Retreat and the 7 x 3.5 m Cove. Larger: the 8 x 4 m Satin, the 9 x 4.4 m Shoreline, the 10 x 4.4 m Coastline and the 12 x 4.4 m Big Bertha. Every one is moulded in Whakatāne. Sizes are quoted as internal water-line dimensions, so an 8 x 4 really is 8 x 4 of water, depth is the shell height, and capacity is measured to the top of the shell.
How it goes in
What actually happens, from quote to first swim
The sequence is the same on every job. What changes is how much of it your section makes difficult.
- A look at the site — where the pool sits, how the digger and the shell get in, and where the equipment goes.
- A written quote — the pool itself, in the ground and running, with the inclusions listed plainly.
- The shell is built — moulded in Whakatāne by the people who make every Bayside pool.
- Dig and prepare — excavation, base preparation and backfill of the hole.
- Place the shell — set on the prepared base by the installer who quoted the work.
- Fill, commission and hand over — water in, pump and filtration running, handbook handed across.
Excavation and shell placement are quick. The time goes on filling, surrounds, fencing and getting the water balanced — plan the garden around that, not around the dig.
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
The rest of Northland
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 Kerikeri
- 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
Whangarei pool questions, answered
Do you install pools in Whangarei?
Yes. Whangarei is the biggest centre in the patch and the town most of the region’s pool work comes through. The same team covers the coast north of it as far as Mangonui and Kaitaia, so Whangarei is the middle of the run rather than the end of it.
We are on a section north or south of Whangarei — do you still cover us?
Yes. Hikurangi is 17 km up the road, Ruakaka and the Bream Bay beaches about 19 km south, Waipu a bit further again, and the whole coast north is one run from here. If you are in the Whangarei district you are inside the area the local team covers.
How much does a fibreglass pool cost in Whangarei?
It depends on the model, the size, how easily the shell reaches your section, and what you put around the pool — those four move the number more than anything else. We do not quote a figure without seeing the site. The pool cost guide carries the bands our own written quotes run across; your installer writes the actual price.
Is a building consent required for a pool in Whangarei?
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 Whangarei?
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 Whangarei?
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 Whangarei.