How the rules and prices on this site are sourced

Where do the rules come from?

• New South Wales: the NSW Government's pool owner pages and the Swimming Pools Regulation 2018.
• Victoria: the Building Regulations 2018, which hold the registration, certificate and fee rules, and Consumer Affairs Victoria for renting. The state building regulator's own website blocks the automated checks we run, so we cite the regulations directly.
• Queensland: the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) and the Queensland Government.
• Western Australia: Building and Energy, part of the WA Government, and the Building Regulations 2012.
• South Australia, the ACT and the Northern Territory: the legislation where we could reach it, and the Legal Services Commission of South Australia. We have not yet sourced Tasmania and say so where it matters.

Right now the site carries 117 sourced figures and rules: 98 from official government pages or legislation, and 19 from named industry sources.

Why the barrier figures are Queensland's

The QBCC publishes pool fence, gate and non-climbable zone measurements in more detail than any other regulator we found online, so the diagrams use its figures and say so. They are not a national rule. NSW, Victoria and WA can assess an older pool against the standard that applied when it was built, and every guide says to confirm the standard for your own pool with your council, certifier or inspector.

Where do the prices come from?

Governments do not publish what a pool, a fence or a private inspection costs, so those figures come from pool cost guides and inspection businesses that publish their prices. We name the source next to each one. One of the main price guides also sells quote referrals to pool builders, which is why we say so on the page and re-check its figures every three months. Treat any price here as a starting point, not a quote.

What did we leave out?

Figures we could not trace to a source we were willing to cite, including typical council approval and certification fees for a new pool, a single total cost for fencing a pool, a Queensland inspection price and pool running costs. They stay off the site until they can be sourced.

How are figures kept current?

Every figure carries an expiry date. Before each update we run a check that lists anything past that date, and a second check that opens every source link and reports any that have moved or stopped working. Anything flagged is re-verified at the source before it stays on the site.

Who writes and reviews the guides?

The guides are written from the sources listed on each page. No licensed pool safety inspector or certifier has reviewed them yet, and we will name the people involved here when that changes.

What is this site not?

We are not a government agency, a council or a pool safety inspector, and we do not certify pools. Nothing here is legal advice. Whether a barrier complies is decided by a registered inspector, a certifier or your council.

How is the site paid for?

This site may show advertising. Ads never change our figures. We also plan to pass quote requests to licensed inspectors, fencing contractors and pool builders, who may pay us a fee for an introduction; that does not change what the person asking pays. No requests are being passed on yet. Neither ads nor referral fees decide which rules or prices we publish.

Found a mistake?

Tell us. Pool safety is too important to leave an error standing, and we correct confirmed mistakes as soon as we can and update the page's last-checked date. See contact and corrections.

The business behind this site will be named here, with its ABN and a contact address, before the site opens.