Even the managing director of an award-winning pool company admits most people install swimming pools for their kids.
And with two young daughters and another baby on the way, Brad Hilbert said he and his wife were glad to have a big pool and spa for them to splash about in.
The fact that the pool won gold in the recent SPASA awards was the icing on the cake.
As if often the case with professional people, they don’t like to carry their work over to home. Landscape gardeners might own a neglected garden, plumbers might have leaky taps – and pool installers take ages to get round to putting one in their own back yard.
“It took about two years,” Mr Hilbert said. “My wife was not impressed. I did all the plumbing and installation myself.”
It was worth the wait. On a five hectare property in the southern suburbs, the pool is surrounded by gum trees that are far enough away not to drop leaves.
If they do, however, the pool has an in-floor cleaning system which deals with them. “It’s an expensive system and we sell very few of them,” Mr Hilbert said. “But it’s great and it means I don’t have to touch the pool.”
The 10.5 x 3.8 metre Billabong, coloured Midnight Shimmer, is set beside a 2.6 square metre Billabong spa. The pool is solar heated and the spa is heated by gas.
With travertine paving that has a 150ml rebate along the water edges so the fibreglass is almost invisible, the pool and spa are elegant and inviting.
A unique Barrier Reef sun bed water feature runs along one length of the pool. Fitted with 13 bubble jets set in black and grey mosaic tiles, the sunbed’s shallow water delights Mr Hilbert’s children.
Another water feature at the pool’s deep end is a 900 mm long water blade that jets from a wall. The timber lid on top of the wall – which is operated with a hydraulic motor – hides the pool equipment and toys.
“When you have children a very important feature of a pool is the safety ledge,” Mr Hilbert said. “And of course the pool fence, although you can never take your eyes off the kids. Our fence is fully frameless so we can enjoy the pool even from the house.
“Another consideration is sunburn. We have an umbrella that swings 360 degrees and a permanent awning over the spa which has an aluminium motorised louvred roof.”
An EnviroSwim chlorinating system eliminates the need to add most chemicals to the pool and spa as it releases safe and effective algaecide and bactericide. Water clarity is enhanced by a powerful oxidation unit which breaks down organic compounds, making filtration easier.
TV, surround-sound and an outdoor beer and wine fridge are extra luxuries for the adults in the family.
The pool was an entry in the 2014 SPASA awards in the Fibreglass over $40,000 category.
