Editorial policy

What we publish, and what we left out

Nothing is stated as fact on this site unless it is traceable to a source we read in full on a recorded date. Where a source was blocked to us, or two councils contradicted each other, we dropped the claim and listed it here. Pool fencing is a child-safety subject: an incomplete page is safe, a wrong one is not.

Everything on this site was last checked on 16 September 2026.

The rules we work to

Every price carries its range, what it includes, and a dated source. There is no NZ Swimming Pools estimate anywhere on this site: no margin, no multiplier, no typical job of our own.
Every rule cites the section or clause and links to it. Law is quoted from legislation.govt.nz, not paraphrased from a blog.
The checker says “likely to pass”, never “compliant”. Only a council or an independently qualified pool inspector can decide that.
Who gets paid is named in the same paragraph as any builder or product link.
No invented businesses, reviews, ratings, rankings or memberships. This site has none of those, because we have no way of making them real.
Where two sources disagree, we show both and say what each is measuring, rather than averaging them into a number nobody published.
We re-check every six months, and council fees change on 1 July, so a fee here older than that should be confirmed with the council.

Where the law on this site comes from

MBIE's building.govt.nz returns a block to automated requests, so we could not read the acceptable solutions F9/AS1 and F9/AS2 directly. What we could read, and did, is the primary text: the Building Act 2004 and clause F9 of the Building Code, both on legislation.govt.nz. Everything on this site that is stated as law comes from those. The dimensions that come from F9/AS1 — the 1.2 m height, the 100 mm gap, the 900 mm rail spacing, the 1.5 m latch — are published here only where both Auckland Council and Tauranga City Council state them in the same terms, and both are cited.

What we did not publish

Maximum aperture (hole size) for mesh, netting or trellis used as a barrier

Auckland Council states 10 mm or less for barriers between 1.2 m and 1.8 m, and 35 mm or less above 1.8 m. Tauranga City Council states 13 mm up to 1200 mm, 35 mm up to 1800 mm and 50 mm over 1800 mm. Those are different rules, and building.govt.nz returns 403 to anything but a browser, so F9/AS1 itself could not be read to settle it. If your barrier is mesh, netting or trellis, ask your council for the aperture that applies before you buy it.

The exact wording of the non-climbable zone in F9/AS1

The 1.2 m arc measured from the top of the barrier is published by both Auckland and Tauranga, so the checker uses it. The precise F9/AS1 wording, and how it treats a boundary fence that is climbable only from a neighbour's side, is not quoted here because we could not read the clause.

A maximum opening width for doors from a house into the pool area

Tauranga City Council states that for pools installed after 1 January 2017 such a door must be restricted to no more than a 1000 mm opening. No other source we could read states it, and it reads as though it may be a typographical error, so it is not in the checker. The alarm-or-self-closing requirement is in the Building Code itself (F9.3.4(a)) and is used.

Pool inspection fees for Christchurch City Council and Wellington City Council

Christchurch City Council's pool pages return 403 to us and Wellington City Council's have moved. Rather than publish a fee we could not read, the Canterbury and Wellington region pages are not published at all.

Installed prices for plunge pools, lap pools and above-ground pools in New Zealand

We could not find a New Zealand source that publishes them and shows its working. The pages that do look auto-generated and contradict themselves. Those pool types have no page here and are not options in the calculator.

Dose tables for pool chemicals

A dose depends on the product's own label and on the pool's actual volume and readings. We have no supplier and therefore no labels, so the pool-care pages explain what the readings mean and send you to the product label and your local pool shop.

What this site does not have, on purpose

A builder directory. An earlier version of this site listed twelve pool builders that did not exist, with invented credentials and prices. Those pages now return 410 Gone rather than redirecting, so the names stop circulating.
Reviews, ratings or rankings. None would be real.
Products. The pool-care catalogue is empty until a supplier is contracted, and chlorine and acid are excluded permanently as dangerous goods for courier transport.
Affiliate links. None of the programmes we checked pay commission on New Zealand sales.
A byline. Articles here are authored by the organisation, not by a person.

Corrections

If a figure here is wrong or a rule is misquoted, tell us. We will check it against the source, fix it, and update the checked date.