With established pool builders’ order books full for the majority of 2022, demand continues to outstrip the ability to meet the desire for home swimming pools across the UK.
Frustrated by that lack of availability and invariably, also by price, the more ambitious would-be swimming pool owners are taking on the installation themselves.
Switched on pool suppliers will not lose that sales enquiry but will cash in on that revenue stream by offering self-build package options.
“If you can build a house, you can build a liner pool – it is really quite straight forward,” urges Jane Veysey of All Swim Ltd that has been supporting self-build demand for over 50 years.
All Swim supported 50 DIY builds in 2021 offering common sense advice and an encyclopaedia of information via their website.
“Most of the enquiries we receive are from people who have fallen over at the price of using a professional pool contractor; price for them is the main stumbling block,” Jane reveals.
“They may be super practical and taking on the project themselves or they know a builder who is going to work with them to realise their home swimming dream,” she adds.
All Swim offer a range of standard self-build kits all specifed to SPATA standards but are able to offer bespoke elements with additions of add-ons from slides and diving boards to counter-currents and dosing systems.
TYPICAL KITS
Whether they are for indoor or outdoor projects, the majority of the UK’s main distributors offer DIY swim kits options. You can take their advice or build your own bespoke packages to supply customers.
Typical kits will include the correctly specified pumps and filters, pipework, fixtures and fittings as well as a chemical kit and manual cleaning package. Where appropriate a liner will also be included with a huge amount of advice on their correct fitting.
Block and liner installation is by far the most popular construction method for self-build but All Swim also offer advice on concrete pools and panel pools. Increasingly, the Heatform panel system is becoming the customer’s most popular construction method as it comes with huge eco credentials, having been manufactured from recycled plastic bottles.
Jane again: “We always urge customers to contact us as early as possible in the process so we can help customers make an informed decision on the most appropriate method of construction for their location.”
“We are now finding more and more customers love the ease and the speed of the construction of the Heatform panel system and are impressed by its green credentials,” adds Jane. “Heatform is a great selling story and if customers are daunted by some building methods; the Heatform is the game changer.”
“Concrete pools are a completely different kettle of fish with much more risk of things going wrong.” All Swim is generous in sharing the learning experiences of nearly five decades of supporting self-build.
There is a huge scope of information and advice, learned over those years.
Handy Complete Construction Guides for both Liner and Concrete DIY Pools provide step by step instructions as a guide through every stage of pool construction to help ensure customers achieve the end results they had dreamed of.
FAINT-HEARTED
Supporting self-build projects is not for the faint-hearted. “If we have to take support calls 100 times during the pool build, then we will answer the question,” Jane emphasises. “They can ask for as much help as and when they need to by phone.
“If necessary we work with a range of highly experienced pool engineers around the UK who can step in to assist,” she says. “But most of all we want customers to have the peace of mind they can manage everything themselves.”
Jane says typical banana skins are not laying appropriate sand and cement floor screed for liner pools.
“We make a note of common questions and incorporate those into the construction guide,” Jane says. “Generally our aim is to have customers, fully informed and starting work within a couple of weeks.”
“We are not pool installers and therefore are not limited in how many pools we supply every year—one a day if we need to,” she continues. “We offer all the technical help, advice and support a customer could need, over the phone and with free, no obligation site visits to help them create and build their pool.
“We will take every opportunity to supply and support because we never know when the home swimming pool bubble is going to burst.”
All Swim Ltd
Tel. 02920 705059
www.allswimltd.com
