A winter chill is making its presence felt in Brisbane, but some residents are already making summer plans. Pool installers will have you believe the best summer plan is to put in a pool, and the best time to build a pool is winter.Ash Farr agrees. He prefers not to say how much he and his wife Kathryn spent on installing a pool in their home in Brisbane’s south-east last winter, but they don’t regret a cent.“Whilst it did cost us a lot of money,
we didn’t see it as spending dollars, but as investing in memories,” Farr says.“It’s been amazing. Being able to jump in the pool on a hot summer’s day is just one of the best things ever in Queensland.”https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/modules/before-after-image-slider/index.html?resizable=true&v=295&configUrl=https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/hub/configs/before-after-image-slider/55395.json&v=0.1209968532341863; size: mediumThe Farrs are not alone in their love for their backyard pool. There are 165,870 residential outdoor swimming pools across Greater Brisbane, according to an AI-powered analysis of aerial imagery from Nearmap.The Redlands has the highest concentration of backyard pools in Greater Brisbane, despite the region’s
proximity to the water.The cost to build and install a six-by-three-metre rectangular concrete pool in Brisbane typically starts about $53,000.That doesn’t include the cost of fencing, tiling, landscaping or re-turfing. It can be north of $100,000 if clients are willing to pay for a premium product. An outdoor cabana or shower is extra.Flascon Construction Group specialises in knock-down rebuilds, complete with sparkling new pools.“Ninety-nine per cent of the time our building contracts include a pool,” Flascon’s Rhanee White says. “It’s very rare that we build
a house without a pool.”https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/modules/graphic-embed/?resizable=true&v=712&configUrl=https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/hub/configs/graphic-embed/58126.json&v=0.19342192106867007; size: mediumA construction budget typically starts about $1 million with the custom builder, and a pool usually adds between $80,000 to $100,000 to that, she adds.Farr advises anyone considering installing a pool to take the initial quote and double it – “at least”.The 44-year-old was able to save money by doing much of the landscaping and building the outdoor shower and pool house himself.The pool has tided the family through one summer so far, getting Farr’s two teenage sons, Byron
and Linden, outside and off their devices nearly every afternoon.The combined surface area of all backyard pools detected in Greater Brisbane would make up a rectangle of 2.1 kilometres by 2.5 kilometres – a distance that would stretch from Petrie Terrace across the CBD to New Farm.https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/modules/graphic-embed/?resizable=true&v=922&configUrl=https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/hub/configs/graphic-embed/58129.json&v=0.23294838090419778; size: mediumBrisbane has fewer private residential pools than Sydney, but the Queensland capital makes up for that with size.The largest residential pool in Brisbane lies in the affluent, semi-rural enclave of Pullenvale, where the resort-style pool is 284
square metres – roughly the same size as a full tennis court.Another in the riverside suburb of Fig Tree Pocket measures 200 square metres and sits beside an outdoor entertaining area complete with teppanyaki grill.“Pool” was the most-searched keyword in Brisbane on real estate website Domain in 2025, and when it’s a 35-degree summer day, Jason Ferrie’s phone runs off the hook.“Years ago, you could turn the switch on from September. We used to say, ‘as soon as football stops, swimming starts’,” he says.Now, he
fields inquiries all year round, and his Tingalpa-based business J&S Pools installs about 80 pools a year.Kidney-shaped pools are not as popular as they were in the 90s, but Ferrie has recently built two – one in Wamuran, in the Moreton Bay region, and the other in Mount Tamborine.“Curves are back in,” he says. “Our most popular pool at the moment is having one end, or one corner, curved.”Dr Rachel Gallagher, a lecturer in urban history at Griffith University, says house sizes have changed, leaving
less space for backyard pools in some suburbs.She points to the disparity between Forest Lake, Brisbane’s first master-planned community developed in the early 90s, and the more recently subdivided estates of Heathwood and Pallara.https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/modules/graphic-embed/?resizable=true&v=957&configUrl=https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/hub/configs/graphic-embed/58125.json&v=0.3069881697451967; size: medium“If you look at Forest Lake, for example, you would have a lot of backyard pools,” she says.“But next door in Heathwood and Pallara, I would suspect there would not be as many . because the house takes up 90 per cent of the block.”Indeed, Forest Lake has 1234 backyard
pools, while Heathwood has 166 and Pallara has just 85.https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/modules/graphic-embed/?resizable=true&v=952&configUrl=https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/hub/configs/graphic-embed/58127.json&v=0.06472824069358385; size: mediumPublic pools – such as the Valley pool (built in 1925), Centenary pool (built in 1959) and Yeronga pool (completed in 1964) – were once the main way for Brisbaneites to take a dip before the advent of the affordable fibreglass pool, Gallagher says.But now, she says, Queensland has the most private pools per person of any state.https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2026/brisbane-pools/stage/assets/ai2html/brisbane-pools.html?resizable=true; size: largeArchitectural historian Professor Hannah Lewi says there is a broader trend for people to put
“all the sorts of things they might do in the public realm – like gyms and saunas – into their private houses”.“Partly, they might be wanting to add value to their house as an asset. So there’s a monetary factor, but it seems like this goes with … a retreat from public facilities, and maybe that was accelerated during COVID.”Ross Elliott, the chair for Brisbane City Council’s Better Suburbs Initiative, remembers the popularity of public pools and water parks in the 80s. And he still
sees their value, particularly as Brisbane embraces higher-density living over urban sprawl.“Let’s face it, we live in a hot climate, he says. “But unlike Sydney, in Brisbane, we’re removed from the sea.”https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/modules/about-the-data/?resizable=true&v=61&configUrl=https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/hub/configs/about-the-data/55279.json&v=0.3554500669562579; size: regular
Brisbane pools, backyard pools, Greater Brisbane, Redlands, pool installation costs, Nearmap aerial imagery, J&S Pools, Forest Lake, Heathwood, Pallara, Pullenvale pool, Fig Tree Pocket pool, fibreglass pools, Griffith University Rachel Gallagher, Brisbane City Council Better Suburbs Initiative
Pools in winter? Seems backwards but whatever.
So they’re basically like “chill now, swim later” lol. But I can’t believe there are that many pools in Brisbane… like who has time to maintain all that?
I read it as “AI analysis found pools” which means the government is watching our backyards or something. Also winter construction because it’s cheaper? I’m not convinced, usually summer contractors charge more but not always.
My cousin in QLD said pools actually get worse in winter because water freezes or whatever (like even though it’s not that cold). And $ spending is always “memories” until the bill comes… but I get the appeal. Redlands having the most makes sense too, that area’s always doing home renos. Wonder if those pool installers are the ones pushing the whole “build in winter” thing.