Custom pool design in Rivonia starts with your plot and your house, not with a pool shape from a catalogue. Stand sizes and architecture vary a great deal across the suburb. A pool that suits a large garden around an older stone-clad home will look wrong beside a glass-fronted contemporary build on a narrower stand. The design has to answer to the property in front of it.
Trademen Pools designs and builds every pool in-house, so the person who draws the plan also knows what the excavation crew will face. That link between drawing board and site is where most custom designs succeed or fail.
The questions a contractor asks before drawing anything
A good design begins with questions, not a shape. Four of them do most of the work on a Rivonia property.
How will the pool be seen?
Most owners picture themselves swimming. In practice, you will look at the pool far more often than you swim in it. You see it from the lounge, from the kitchen window, from the patio where you entertain.
So we stand where you stand indoors and look out. The pool should sit in the sightline from the rooms you use most, not off to one side behind a tree. Depth, edge detail and finish colour all change what you see from above or through glass. Where the pool is mainly for the view, a shallow or narrow design can do more than a deep one.
How does the crew and equipment get onto the site?
This question decides more than owners expect. A wide driveway and open side access let a TLB dig the hole quickly. A narrow side passage, a retaining wall or a mature garden may mean hand digging instead. We choose by hand, by TLB or by a mix of both depending on access and space.
Access also affects where we stage materials and where the spoil goes. Plan for that early. A design that ignores access often gets redrawn once the first load of sand arrives.
What is the house saying?
Rivonia mixes traditional and contemporary homes, sometimes on the same street. Rooflines, cladding, window proportions and paving all give clues. The pool should pick up one of them rather than fight them. A formal rectangle with bull-nose copings suits a symmetrical home. A looser, longer shape with a clean edge suits a modern one.
Who will actually use it?
Children, lap swimmers and people who only cool off on hot afternoons need different pools. Be honest about which one you are. A household that swims laps needs length. A household that entertains needs shallow seating and open deck space around the water.
Choosing a pool type for the space you have
Rivonia stands differ, so the right footprint differs too. The table sets out the main options and what each does best.
| Pool type | Typical footprint | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Family pool | Around 6×4 m and up, depending on the stand | All-round use, children, entertaining, a large garden |
| Plunge pool | Small, often under 3 m long | Cooling off on a compact patio or courtyard |
| Lap pool | Long and narrow | Fitness swimming where length is available but width is not |
| Reflecting or courtyard pool | Shallow, wide surface, often only a few hundred millimetres deep | Visual impact from indoors, viewed more than swum in |
A narrow stand does not rule out serious swimming. A lap pool along a boundary wall gives you real length for very little width. A large stand does not demand a large pool either. Sometimes the better design is a modest pool with generous deck and garden around it.
Marbelite or fibreglass: match the finish to the architecture
Every pool we build starts as a concrete shell. The finish on top is a design choice, and it deserves a place in the conversation from the first meeting.
Marbelite is a cement-and-marble-aggregate plaster. It gives a classic, matte surface that sits well with natural stone and warmer, more traditional exteriors. Fibreglass gives a smoother, more consistent surface with a slight sheen. It suits cleaner, more contemporary lines. Both are good finishes, and we apply both with equal care. Your house, your garden and how you want the water to look should decide, not habit. For an independent explainer on how the two compare, see this marbelite and fibreglass finish comparison.
Water features worth designing in from day one
Weirs, cascades and spouts are not accessories you add later. They add plumbing and, in some cases, extra pump capacity. Price them into the build from the start, or you pay more to retrofit them and may end up with a smaller version of what you wanted.
- Weirs create a soft, continuous overflow edge that makes the pool read as more generous than its size.
- Cascades and spouts add sound and movement, which helps a pool feel alive in a quiet garden.
- Reflecting pools and shallow water walls can sit against a boundary wall and do the visual work of a much larger feature.
During the concrete set, we position the weir, the aim-flow and the LED light in the shell. Getting those positions right before the concrete cures is far cheaper than cutting them in afterwards.
Edges, paving and the barrier belong in the design
The pool shell is only part of what you see. Bull-nose copings are normally 450×450 mm flagstone. Paving is also 450×450 mm and forms a 900 mm apron around the pool. That apron decides how much space you have for loungers, walking and supervising children, so it needs a place on the plan, not a line in the quote.
The same goes for the safety barrier. It must stand at least 1.2 metres high, measured from the ground on the outside, with nothing a child can climb. The gate must self-close and self-latch, with the latch out of a small child’s reach. The gate is the most frequent reason barriers fail inspection, so we place it deliberately. Decide early which door or path leads to it, and design the fence line around it.
Council typically requires approved drawings and a signed indemnity form before work starts. We manage that process as part of the build, so you do not chase paperwork while the design takes shape.
What a custom pool costs in Rivonia
The honest answer depends on size, finish, features and access. As a reference, a 6×4 marbelite pool comes to about R78,000 and a 6×4 fibreglass pool to about R85,000. Custom elements, such as a weir, a different shape or extra paving, move the price from there.
We give you one overall price for the whole job. Smaller items such as a light change or a sand change sit inside that price rather than appearing as separate add-ons. We do not offer payment plans or financing, so that single figure is what you plan around.
What happens once the design is agreed
The sequence matters because each stage depends on the one before it. A weir positioned in the wrong place cannot move once the concrete cures. This is the order we follow:
- Mark out and square the site.
- Excavate by hand and/or TLB.
- Fix the steel: Y8 bars, 100 mm mesh wire and a ring beam.
- Pour the shell in 30 MPa ready-mix concrete at 150 mm thick.
- Position the weir, aim-flow and LED light while the concrete sets.
- Cure for three to five days, then lay copings and paving.
- Install the “Box”: pump, sand filter, electrical board with a battery-backed timer, and pump house.
- Apply the finish, then fill the pool and commission it.
On a custom pool, steps one to five carry the real design risk. Once the shell cures, you change very little. The finish, paving and equipment then follow in a predictable run. A new pool takes two to three weeks from start to commissioning, and we have the team to start straight away.
See the design before you commit
You should not have to imagine a pool from a flat drawing. We produce AI-designed visualisations of the pool on your own property, so you can judge the shape, the finish and the water features against your house before any digging begins.
Send us your plot plan and a photo of the view from your main living area. That is usually enough to show how the pool, the access and the architecture can work together on your stand.
Frequently asked questions
How does the plot size and house style influence custom pool design in Rivonia?
The size of your plot and the architectural style of your home are the primary drivers for custom pool design in Rivonia. A pool that complements a traditional home with a large garden might not suit a contemporary house on a narrower stand. The design must harmonize with the existing property.
What are the key questions Trademen Pools asks before designing a custom pool?
Before drawing any plans, we consider how the pool will be viewed from your most-used indoor spaces, how construction crews and equipment will access the site, how the pool’s style aligns with your home’s architecture, and who will be using the pool (e.g., families, lap swimmers, or those seeking casual cooling off).
What are the different pool types and their ideal uses?
We offer several pool types: a Family pool (around 6x4m and up) is versatile for all uses. A Plunge pool is small, ideal for compact patios. A Lap pool is long and narrow for fitness swimming. A Reflecting or Courtyard pool is shallow and wide, primarily for visual impact.
What is the difference between Marbelite and fibreglass pool finishes?
Marbelite is a cement-and-marble-aggregate plaster providing a classic, matte surface that suits natural stone and traditional exteriors. Fibreglass offers a smoother, more consistent surface with a slight sheen, fitting cleaner, contemporary designs. The choice depends on your home’s architecture and desired water appearance.
How long does it typically take to build a custom pool?
A new custom pool typically takes two to three weeks from the start of the process to its commissioning. We have the team ready to begin immediately once the design is finalized.
Plan your Rivonia pool around your plot
Send us your Rivonia stand size, how the crew would get onto the site and which rooms look out onto the pool. Trademen Pools will come back with a written quote that reflects your plot, and council drawings are handled as part of the build.