Do I need temporary fencing during a pool build?

Why the site fence comes before the excavator

The ordering is the whole point, and it is easy to read past.

The Victorian Building Authority's practice note lists, among the requirements a pool must comply with, that “a site fence must be in place before any excavation for the pool or spa commences”. Not during. Not by the end of the first day. Before.

The reason is in the same document's description of the hazard: a pool excavation and a shell under construction are a fall hazard, and they hold ground water and rain water. The most dangerous single day of a pool build is the day the hole exists and nothing else does — no coping, no barrier, no water to make it obviously a pool, and often no one on site after 3pm.

So the protection has to exist before the hazard does, which means the fence is a precondition of starting rather than a task in the program. If someone arrives to excavate and there is no site fence, the correct response is that work does not start that day.

This also explains something owners find odd: your surveyor may require a complying AS1926.1-2012 barrier to be installed and inspected immediately after the excavation is completed — particularly for fibreglass pools, where the shell will hold water almost straight away.

The second fence almost nobody expects

Here is the requirement that surprises people, and it is unambiguous in the practice note:

“A site fence or hoarding must be provided between an existing dwelling and the pool construction area.”

Not around the property. Between your house and the hole.

Think about who that protects, and it is obviously right. The public is not the main risk on a suburban pool build — the street is fenced and the gate is shut. The risk is the household. A three-year-old who lives at the address, who has watched the excavator all week, and for whom the back door is the most familiar thing in the world.

And where the pool is going in at the same time as the dwelling itself, an additional site fence is required between the pool construction area. Two builds, two sets of trades, two hazards.

Practically, this is the requirement most likely to be treated casually, because it looks like an inconvenience inside your own property rather than a safety measure. It is worth being the client who insists on it. The barrier between your back door and an open excavation is the one that is actually load-bearing.

Gates, and the rule for when there is no gate

The practice note is careful here, and the second half of it is the part to remember.

Where a gate is installed in the site fence or hoarding, it is recommended that it comply with AS1926.1-2012, so that restricted access by young children is maintained. Same standard as a permanent pool gate: self-closing, self-latching, the lot.

Where no gate is installed, the barrier must remain in place except when access to the pool area is required — and people must be present at all times while it is open.

That second rule is a genuinely different discipline from a gate, and worth saying out loud to whoever is on site: the panel does not come out for the morning. It comes out while someone is working, and it goes back when they leave, including for lunch and including at the end of the day.

It is also a reasonable thing for you to check, because you are the one at home. A site fence with a panel leaned against a wall since Tuesday is not a site fence. If you see it, say so — and if it persists, your relevant building surveyor is the person to tell. If a surveyor becomes aware a precaution has been moved or altered so it no longer complies with the building permit, they can issue a direction to fix, orally or in writing. If it is given orally and not rectified within 7 days, a written direction must follow. We cover that escalation in what a direction to fix means on a pool.

Check it is in the quote, because it is a real cost

Temporary fencing costs money. Hire, delivery, installation, the second run between the house and the works, weeks or months of hire, then removal.

We are not going to publish a hire rate, and we would rather explain why than guess: we could not verify a temporary fencing hire price at any source that was not selling temporary fencing. Every figure available is a vendor's own advertised rate, which is a price list rather than a market. Publishing one would be advertising with a citation on it, and the range between suppliers and regions is wide enough that a single number would mislead more than it helped.

What we can tell you is where it hides in a quote, which is more useful:

• An itemised quote that names site fencing has priced it. Good.
• A quote that says “site establishment” or “site costs” may include it. Ask which.
• A quote that mentions neither has either absorbed it or left it out, and those two have very different consequences for you later.
• A quote that excludes it explicitly is being honest, and you now have a cost to add before comparing.

This is the general problem with comparing pool quotes: the cheapest number is frequently the one with the most left out of it. Ask every builder the same question — “Is temporary site fencing included, and is the fence between the house and the works included?” — and the prices become comparable. Compare pool builder quotes on scope, and see what actually differs between pool quotes.

Common questions

Sources

• VBA Practice Note 05-2018 — Swimming Pool & Spa Safety (council published copy)
• Victorian Building Authority — Pool safety barriers

General information only, current at 2026-09-18. Pool rules differ by state and by council, and penalty amounts are updated regularly. Confirm your own obligations with your council or a registered inspector before acting.