The numbers speak for themselves. Across Australia there are 1.2m pools installed in backyards; 25,000 new pools are built each year; the pool aftercare business is worth about $1.5bn in retail sales.  

Owning a home with a pool is part of the great Australian dream. Even after the GFC, says Poolwerx founder John O’Brien, the pool business bounced back.

“It’s so integrated into our lives now – people install pools for the family, for the aesthetics, and now as we’re ageing and more health conscious, they are installing lap pools.”

Whether it’s for lifestyle or practicality, there’s no sign that the great Australian love affair with home pools will be drying up.

And that’s good news for anyone looking to invest in a business with plenty of potential.  

O’Brien will go so far as to say the pool aftercare industry is immune to downturns.

“If you’ve got a pool, it’s a living beast, you can’t ignore it. It consumes chemicals, it requires equipment, you can’t defer servicing.”

He thought that in the GFC customers might return to maintaining their pools themselves. But it didn’t happen.

“When people already have a habit, a routine, they won’t give up their free time,” he says.

Even the trend for e-commerce hasn’t proved an obstacle for the business, which comprises retail and servicing. 

“It doesn’t work for the pool industry, you can’t send chemicals through the post. If you’re buying a piece of equipment online, how do you know what size it is? Who is going to install it?

“We’ll size it, deliver it, and provide an extended warranty. We have a lot of defences against online.”

It’s a similar situation in pool construction although the digital world has sharpened the focus for pool building business Narellan Pools, which takes the customer from initial design through to installation. 

Peter Baily, newly minted chief operating officer, says simply, “You have to be the best”.

That’s the aim of the family-owned firm which designs, manufactures and installs a vast range of pools. 

Pools are an asset

And that’s where the whole industry starts – inspiring, creating, fulfilling the dream of having a pool in the backyard.

Baily identifies that today’s customers are more conscious of appearance – not just in the grandeur of statement pools, which are increasingly popular, but the addition of second and third pools to showcase the home and cater for everyone’s preferences (lap pools, a shallow pool for kids, a spa).

Even with the multiple building sites erecting apartment blocks across capital cities there is every sign that the pool business will continue swimmingly.

“It’s very affordable to put a pool in,” Baily says. Does a pool add value to a property? The dynamics have changed now, it’s not a risk, it’s seen as an asset, he adds. 

You can read the full article in the Nov/Dec edition of Franchising magazine, available in newsagencies now.