Getting your pool covered

01st Jun 2007

Having a property with a swimming pool isn’t as attractive as it once was. New building regulations are softened by a number of rebate schemes to encourage the fitting of pool covers. Do your research, warns Peter Cerexhe, before jumping in.

"A flood of cashback claims for water-saving devices has left the State Government struggling to keep up with demand," said Brisbane’s Courier-Mail newspaper in October.

"Half of a $29 million budget for rebate schemes has been consumed in only three months as Queenslanders rush to take advantage of the offer. The government has been forced to increase staff numbers to process refunds within the promised 60 days."

Clearly the problem of water loss is being taken seriously in Queensland, where the government expects its rebate scheme to lead to savings of around nine million litres of water daily. According to the Queensland Government, the average swimming pool loses 4000 litres a month through evaporation. Around the nation there are new schemes designed to get households and businesses to conserve or reuse water. While you may be familiar with some domestic initiatives, like installing dual-flush toilets, the question of pool covers stands out as controversial. Pool covers aren’t cheap and they change the architecture of the pool area.

For those investors who own an executive property with a swimming pool, or perhaps a common pool in a block of units, pool covers are no longer a subject which can be avoided. You might be the one paying excess water charges, or you might need permission to re-fill the pool after a leak or repair work. And if you want to build a swimming pool you might just find that there’s a test your pool and property must pass first.

Different states are beginning to approach the issue in different ways. In New South Wales, for example, this test is done online at www.basix.nsw.gov.au. You answer a set of questions about the property and its water-saving initiatives, for which points are awarded.

The BASIX test doesn’t mean you can’t install a swimming pool. But a pool will lower your property’s scores for water and energy and you’ll have to make up for this deficiency by adding improvements throughout the property, including the pool itself.

For the pool the questions include: “What is the volume of the pool? Will the pool be covered? Will the pool be shaded?” You answer yes or no to each question and points are allocated to your total, to take you across the threshold. The tests are harder than you might think. In NSW ‘shading the pool’ isn’t haphazard.

"At least 80 per cent of the pool must be covered by a shading device" such as shade cloth or a roof structure. "The shading material must satisfy one of the following: be opaque, have a shade ratio of not less than 80 per cent or have a shading co-efficient of less than 0.35." These steps will improve your BASIX score. Another way to grab points is to install a tank so that rainwater can be used to top-up the pool.In a sense the BASIX approach represents the stick, not the carrot. (See last month’s API for a full report about BASIX).

It’s going to get harder, as time moves on, to install and manage a pool. In these early years of water panic we’re fortunate there are carrots appearing as well as the stick. The biggest of these carrots is the rebate schemes.Queensland and Western Australia have the most comprehensive rebate schemes for the domestic situation.

Rebates can add up to a few hundred dollars if you follow the rules. Of particular concern is the need to get your strategy right – if, for example, you install the wrong type of pool cover you may miss out on the rebate entirely.

So what’s on offer? The Queensland scheme offers rebates for swimming pool covers, grey water re-use systems, three-star rated showerheads, four-star rated washing machines, domestic rainwater tanks with a capacity of 600 litres and above, domestic garden bores, tap timers, three-star flow regulators or better, subsurface garden irrigation systems and more. Some Queensland councils run their own rebate schemes. In NSW and Victoria water tank rebates are worth up to $500, and in WA up to $150, the Australian Capital Territory up to $400 and a smaller amount in Tasmania – but there are no pool cover rebates yet.

Let’s look more closely at the conditions on the Queensland scheme for a pool cover rebate:

1. The rebate is worth up to $200 per household for installation of a cover or a roller to hold your cover, or for both.
2. The cover must have a minimum surface area of 25 sqm.
3. The thickness of the cover must be at least 0.4 mm.
4. The brand and model of cover must be endorsed under the government’s Watermark scheme.
5. The cover must come with a minimum five-year warranty.

Take care. Another scheme calls for a pool cover thickness of only 0.3 mm. In WA a rebate of $100 is available where the pool cover is endorsed under the Smart Approved Watermark scheme and has a warranty of at least eight years – three years longer than the general Queensland scheme. And some schemes require that you spend a specified minimum amount on the cover and installation – for example, on the Gold Coast the minimum spend is $350.

Buying the right one

When searching for a pool cover on the internet or in a pool shop, get details on features which may affect a rebate such as:

1. Is the cover approved under the state scheme?
2. What’s the warranty?
3. How thick is the cover material?
4. Will you need a roller?

Check with the government that the scheme is still running and get the list of precise criteria. Usually the application form can be downloaded. A suitable quality pool cover will start at around $400. A typical cover is made from a kind of bubble wrap, with reflective linings on the best of them. You roll out the material over the top of the pool and trim it to size with scissors. Some pool cover warranties also require the use of a roller to feed the cover onto and off the water. This will cost a further $400 plus. The value of a roller is that:

1. It’s more likely you’ll use the cover regularly as it reduces effort.
2. A single person can place or remove the cover.
3. Any water sitting on top of the cover should flow back into the pool as the cover is removed.
4. The roller helps minimise wear and tear on the cover through folding and dragging, and by applying an even tension.

If you get both a cover and a roller you could expect little change out of $1000 and should brace yourself for up to $1500 if you have a large pool. As indicated, avoid the cheapest products – you might have cause to regret missing out on council development conditions or a government rebate where available.

Peter Cerexhe is author of Smarter Property Improvement and Smarter Property Investment (Allen & Unwin). His most recent book looks at reasons why so many people failed to invest during the extensive boom period: It’s Never Too Late … To Achieve Financial Security, (Allen & Unwin, June 2006).

 

© Australian Property Investor magazine - www.apimagazine.com.au. Reproduced with permission. To subscribe to API, go to www.apimagazine.com.au or pick up a copy from your local newsagent.

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