From Cheltenham Clay to Crystal Water: Inside Bayside Pools & Paving

A well-built swimming pool does more than fill a hole in the garden. In Melbourne’s Bayside suburbs it becomes the centre of family life — a place for early-morning laps, afternoon shade and long summer evenings. That is the standard father-and-son builders Ken and James Pickersgill have set from their Cheltenham workshop for more than three decades.

Bayside Pools & Paving specialises in fully tiled concrete pools and spas, finished with carefully chosen paving that ties the water to the house. The firm works across Bayside and neighbouring suburbs, designing each project around the block, the architecture and the way the household actually lives.

A family firm that still builds the pool

Ken Pickersgill came to pool building with a construction background that included drafting, concrete spraying, tunnel work, commercial pools and water features. After years in the industry he established his own company around a simple rule: quality first, and the client kept informed from excavation to handover.

He was later joined by his son James. Together they bring more than 45 years of combined experience. Both are registered builders and members of the Master Builders Association of Victoria. The company is also listed with the Master Pool Builders Association of Australia.

That pedigree matters on a concrete pool. The structure has to last, the tiling has to sit true, and the paving has to drain and wear well under wet feet. Ken and James supervise every stage and still carry out much of the work themselves, using subcontractors only when a specialist trade is required. As Ken has put it, the pools are built to last a lifetime because correct construction principles, proper supervision and quality products are applied at every step.

What they build

The company is best known for fully tiled concrete pools and spas — the finish that gives Bayside gardens that sharp, resort-clear colour. They also build pools in pebble and coloured render, and they frame the water with paved surrounds in bluestone, ceramic and architectural concrete.

Typical commissions include:

• Family pools with wide step entries for younger swimmers
• Lap pools for exercise on tighter or longer blocks
• Plunge pools where space is limited
• Integrated pool-and-spa combinations
• Wet-edge and ground-level wet-deck designs
• Raised spas used to resolve changes in level
• Pool paving, coping and outdoor hardstand

Equipment is specified to match the brief. Published projects have included AstralPool pumps, chlorinators and heaters, Viron automation, media filtration, multi-coloured LED lighting, Spa Electrics jets, solar heating and automatic water top-up. The aim is a pool that looks considered and runs cleanly through Melbourne’s long summers and cooler months.

Service areas include Cheltenham, Brighton, Beaumaris, Hampton, Caulfield, Camberwell, Toorak, greater Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula.

How a Bayside backyard is planned

Many Bayside and south-east blocks are tight. The skill is not only in the shell, but in where the pool sits. Push it too far into the garden and you lose entertaining space. Sit it too close to the house without resolving levels and the paving never quite works.

Bayside Pools & Paving typically starts with the house and the way people move outside. A side-yard pool can free the rear garden for lawn and dining. A boundary placement can open a courtyard. A raised spa can absorb a fall across the site. Frameless glass fencing is often used so the water remains part of the view from the kitchen and living rooms.

Construction is managed from excavation through to chlorination. That end-to-end control is one reason the firm’s published work looks consistent: the tiling, coping, paving and wet-area detailing belong to the same brief rather than to a string of disconnected trades.

Three projects that show the range

A modern side-yard pool and raised spa

Designed with COS Design and built by Bayside Pools & Paving, this 6 m × 3 m pool sits beside the house so the rear garden can stay dedicated to entertaining. Clean lines and neat angles give it a contemporary look. Architectural concrete slabs by Hungry Wolf pick up the home’s awning, while timber screening and dark brickwork complete the palette. Bluestone coping and paving wrap the pool and rise to an above-ground spa that helps negotiate the change in level from front to back.

Energy-efficient plant — including an Astral Viron variable-speed pump, a heat pump and a gas heater — keeps both pool and spa usable through the year.

 

 

A 12-metre family pool with inbuilt spa

Another published project places a generous 12 m × 3 m pool against the rear boundary so a broad lawn and garden can sit in front of the house. Light grey ceramic tiles line the pool; darker grey paving and a retaining wall keep the tones quiet and residential. An inbuilt spa of 2.5 m × 1.8 m has seating on all four sides and multiple jets.

The pool is set at ground level with a surrounding wet deck, so overflow water is hidden and evaporation is reduced. A pergola and seating at one end give shade on hot afternoons, while frameless glass keeps the lawn, pool and outdoor kitchen in one visual sweep.

 

An Indian Ocean-inspired family pool

A third project was designed to feel like a tropical beachside resort in a suburban garden. The 6.8 m × 3.6 m pool and 2.4 m² spa sit close to the boundary so there is still room for guests. Fully tiled in a bright blue, the water reads like clear coastal shallows. Wide steps create a safe entry for children. Bluestone surrounds, frameless glass and timber fencing complete the setting.

Plant included an AstralPool HiNRG 400 gas heater, Viron eQuilibrium chlorinator, CTX 280 pump, Viron Connect automation, a media filter, SLX LED lights, six Spa Electrics jets, 28 m² of solar heating and automatic water top-up.

 

 

Why paving is in the name

The “Paving” in Bayside Pools & Paving is not an afterthought. A concrete pool is only as good as the surface people walk on when they climb out. Poor falls collect water. The wrong stone becomes slippery. Coping that does not match the house makes even a beautiful interior look unfinished.

The firm frames pools with quality paving and meticulous workmanship — bluestone, ceramic tiles and architectural concrete among them — so the wet area, the entertaining terrace and the house read as one composition. That is the difference between a pool dropped into a garden and a finished outdoor room.

Built for Melbourne weather

Bayside summers are long enough to justify a pool; the rest of the year is cool enough that heating, covers and efficient pumps earn their keep. The Pickersgills specify plant that can run a pool through the seasons without turning it into a chore: variable-speed pumps, heat pumps, gas heaters, solar arrays and automation systems that handle chlorination and lighting.

Self-cleaning systems and in-pool lighting appear on several of their published projects. The practical point is simple. A pool that is easy to keep clear is a pool the family actually uses.

A local Cheltenham address

The workshop is at Unit 10, 347 Bay Road, Cheltenham — close to the suburbs where much of the work is built. That local base helps with site visits, council requirements and the small decisions that accumulate on a concrete pour, a tile set-out or a paving layout.

Houzz lists a substantial project gallery under the Bayside Pools name, and Melbourne Pool + Outdoor Design has profiled a run of completed gardens. The through-line in that work is not a single house style. It is a preference for custom concrete, full tiling, resolved paving and a backyard that still has room to live in.

Planning a pool in Bayside

Homeowners thinking about a new pool in Cheltenham, Brighton, Hampton or nearby should come with a clear sense of how the garden will be used. Do you want lane swimming, a spa for winter evenings, a shallow entry for children, or a quiet plunge pool against the house? Those answers shape the size, the depth, the tiling colour and the paving.

From there, Bayside Pools & Paving can assess access, levels, fencing and plant. Concrete pools take time — they are not a weekend install — but the result is a structure designed for the block rather than a standard shell dropped into it.

Bayside Pools & Paving — contact details

Bayside Pools & Paving
Unit 10/347 Bay Road
Cheltenham VIC 3192
Australia

Telephone: (03) 9553 4395
Mobile: 0408 375 309
Email: info@baysidepools.com.au
Website: https://www.baysidepools.com.au
Instagram: @baysidepoolsandpaving

Enquire through the website or telephone the Cheltenham office to discuss a custom concrete pool, spa or paved outdoor area.