“My pool builder has not fixed the defects” — what to do next

In the next 24 hours: write it down and date it

Before you contact anyone, do the free part. Write to the builder — email is fine and is better than a phone call because it is dated — and list each defect separately, in plain words, with a photograph of each. Say when you first noticed it. Ask for a written response with a date by which each item will be fixed.

This is not a formality. Every regulator's process assumes you gave the contractor the chance to fix it, and the date you first became aware starts a clock that matters more than most owners realise. If the pool is unsafe rather than merely defective — a barrier that no longer latches, an unfenced excavation — restrict access first. Regulators are explicit that health and safety on site is the owner's responsibility and they do not provide a make-safe service.

Is it as urgent as it feels? Usually the deadline is, and the defect is not

Honestly: most pool defects are not emergencies. Shell cracking, a leaking interior, a gate that will not self-close and tiling that is lifting are all fixable, and the pool being unusable for a few more weeks is annoying rather than dangerous.

What is urgent is the paperwork clock, and it is far shorter than people expect for anything classed as non-structural. In Queensland the QBCC will only consider issuing a direction to rectify a non-structural defect within 12 months of the work being completed. Twelve months disappears quickly while a builder promises to come back. If your defect is cosmetic or minor, the clock is the emergency.

Structural is the longer window. Queensland's Act allows a direction within 6 years and 6 months after completion, and leaking through the shell is treated as a structural problem rather than a finish problem.

The regulator's own documents disagree on the deadline — use the longer one, verify both

Here is something worth knowing before you rely on a number you read somewhere. The QBCC's Rectification of Building Work Regulatory Guide states that a direction may be issued within 6 years and 6 months after the building work was completed. The Rectification of Building Work Policy it works alongside still refers to 6 years and 3 months. The guide itself carries a footnote acknowledging the difference and explaining it: the legislation was amended after the policy was made.

So a search result quoting either figure can be honestly sourced and still be out of date. Two published Queensland figures, three months apart, for the same deadline. Do not plan to the last week of either — and if you are anywhere near the boundary, ask the QBCC directly and get the answer in writing.

The same caution applies to the numbers in a builder's own letter. Verify a deadline at the regulator before you accept that you have missed it.

In the next 7 days: complain to the right body

Which body depends on where you are, and pool work is covered building work in each of them.

• Queensland: lodge a complaint about defective building work with the QBCC. If it inspects and agrees, it may issue a direction to rectify to the contractor, with a rectification period usually of 35 days. An unlicensed contractor who is directed must have a licensed one do the work.
• New South Wales: NSW Fair Trading handles building complaints, and unresolved disputes go to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Home building compensation cover is compulsory on residential building work above $20,000, and pools are covered work.
• Victoria: Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria conciliates before the tribunal, and domestic building insurance is required above $16,000.

Check the builder still holds a licence while you are at it — a lapsed or suspended licence changes your options. How to check a pool builder's licence has the free registers. If the builder has actually gone under rather than gone quiet, that is a different process: see what to do when a pool builder goes bust.

Stopping it happening on the next pool

The defects that turn into disputes are usually the ones nobody wrote down. Two habits prevent most of it: get every variation in writing before the work happens, and inspect against the contract at each progress payment rather than at the end. In Queensland a variation must be presented in writing and agreed in writing before the work starts, so a verbal "we'll sort it out later" is already outside the rules.

If you are still choosing a builder, the twelve questions to ask before you sign covers what to settle in writing, and deposit limits and progress payments covers what you are allowed to be asked for. If you want fresh quotes to compare against your current builder's price to fix, you can get free pool quotes.

Common questions

Sources

• QBCC — Rectification of Building Work Regulatory Guide
• QBCC — Direction to rectify
• QBCC — Resolution process for defective work
• Consumer Affairs Victoria — Domestic building insurance and insolvency

General information only, current at 2026-09-10. 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.