Partial Pool Removal in Perth — The Budget Option, Explained Honestly

What partial removal actually is

Partial pool removal keeps the demolition — and the cost — to a minimum by leaving most of the shell in the ground:

1. Drain the pool under local disposal rules.
2. Puncture the floor, especially the deep end, so groundwater and stormwater can drain through rather than pond in the buried shell.
3. Break down the walls — typically the top 300 to 600 mm, so no edge of the old pool sits near the surface.
4. Bury the rubble in the deep end as base fill.
5. Backfill and compact clean sand in layers up to finished level — the same engineered method described on the pool backfill and compaction page.

Because most of the concrete never leaves the site, you save on breaking time, truck movements and tip fees. That's the entire saving — typically thousands against a full break-out. Current side-by-side ranges are in the Cost Guide.

The trade-offs, stated plainly

This page would be easier to write without this section, but you should choose with eyes open:

• Disclosure on sale. The buried shell generally needs to be disclosed to future buyers, and it can appear in council records. Some buyers won't care; some will negotiate on it.
• Land-use limits. The footprint over the old shell is effectively garden-and-lawn land. Building over it later usually means engineering assessment, piering, or digging the shell out after all — at which point the original saving is gone twice over.
• It's permanent-ish. Reversing a partial removal costs more than either option done once.

If any of those bite — you might sell within a few years, subdivide, or build — compare against full pool removal before signing anything.

When partial removal is the right call

Plenty of Perth owners land here for good reasons. If you're staying long-term in Thornlie, Gosnells, Ballajura or Kalamunda, the pool is a 1980s concrete shell nobody has swum in for years, and the plan for the space is lawn, a vegie garden or a trampoline — partial removal ends the pump bills, chemical runs and barrier inspections at the lowest cost that's still done properly. Perth's free-draining sands are ideal for it: punctured shells drain instead of ponding, and sand fill compacts reliably over the buried rubble.

The method above describes concrete pools — see concrete pool demolition for the demolition side. Fibreglass shells are a different story: burying them intact risks voids and collapse, and full removal is cheap enough that it usually wins — see fibreglass pool removal.

Council rules still apply

Cheaper doesn't mean informal. In many Perth LGAs partial removal is still demolition work needing a BA5 demolition permit under the Building Act 2011 (WA), councils must be notified so the pool leaves the inspection register, and your safety barrier must remain compliant until the shell can no longer hold 300 mm of water. Detail is on the Council Approvals page.

Enquiries are referred to independent local contractors. We ask the contractors we work with to hold the relevant WorkSafe WA licences and public liability cover — ask to see them, and ask for the compaction method in writing. Call (08) 6171 3458 for a quote on both options.