The Manu pool from Tiny Pools is big enough for manu practice. Photo: Alex Sutherland
Bryn Williams started the company Tiny Pools in 2021. It is dedicated to designing and installing small backyard pools.
That turned out to be a smart decision.
"The recession last year was a record-breaking year for us. We doubled what we did the year before."
Williams won't reveal how many pools his company sold in 2024. He doesn't want to draw too much attention to Tiny Pools' success with numerous copycat companies popping up.
"Pools have been the same for 50 years and we broke the mould."
The number one seller by far is the Manu, a circular pool with a 3.7 meter diameter, and height of 1.9 meters. And yes, you can practice your manus in the Manu. A manu is a v-shaped bomb that leads with the bum and thought to have originated in Manurewa, South Auckland. Seriously, where would the world be without South Auckland.
The Manu has a 14,500-liter capacity, about a third of what your typical backyard pool from days of yore would hold.
It's visually obvious that our urban backyards are shrinking. Backyards are being sectioned off. Homes built on larger lot sizes are being demolished in favour of high-density housing. A 2019 report from the Real Estate Institute showed that in the Auckland region, section sizes have shrunk by nine percent to 675 sq m and they've probably shrunk more since, according to the New Zealand Herald.
A pool from Tiny Pools. Photo: Tiny Pools
It's something Williams became keenly aware of as a landscaper of 20 years before he started Tiny Pools. People still wanted pools but thought they didn't have the space for them, he said.
"That's the main thing with us is we honestly thought we were going to start mainly with lower budgets and smaller sections. We honestly got the whole scope of people [as clients]."
"We are doing big sections in Remuera and lifestyle blocks but we are also doing townhouses that you can only squeeze in one of these pools."
A pool from Tiny Pools. Photo: Tiny Pools
Tiny Pools recently fit one of its rectangle pools into a backyard that was 4 meters by 7 meters with council consent.
Grant Edwards from Wright Pools and Spas has been in the pool business for about 40 years. Pools have been decreasing in size for a while but it accelerated about three years ago, he said.
"It's almost like an exponential curve."
A decade ago, a typical Kiwi pool was 10 to 12 meters long. Now, 6 or 8 meters is the norm, he said.
"Back in the day, people would buy a swimming pool for fitness, but realistically they just sat around it drinking wine instead" with the occasional dip to cool off.
A pool from Tiny Pools. Photo: Tiny Pools
These days, even if you want to do lap swimming, you can use a smaller pool with jets so it becomes like a swimming treadmill, said Edwards.
"The costs are not massively different, but I don't think that is a driving force. A lot of it comes down to section sizes and what people do with their backyard."
For example, a cricket pitch or grass to kick a ball around or a tennis court (if you're dead set on blowing $75,000 on at-home recreation) can be used all year. A large pool can be heated in the winter but at a decent continuous cost.
A pool from Tiny Pools. Photo: Tiny Pools
Tiny Pools has the optional extra of a heater that gets the water to 40 degrees, which is spa temperature.
Wright Pools and Spas start at a minimum of $50,000 and aims for the higher end of the market, said Edwards. There is an eight to ten-month lead in time.
Tiny Pools balances quality with budget, offering up its small selection of four small pools as either full installs or kit sets. More than 90 percent of customers go with the kit set, either installing it themselves or hiring contractors to help.
A Manu kit set costs $25,000 plus GST, delivery and the cost of contractors. The time from order to delivery is about six weeks.
No matter what the size of a pool, homeowners still need to investigate whether council consent is required and that their pool follows New Zealand's fencing rules. Many councils in New Zealand don't require building consent for a pool that is less than 35,000 litres. Some propsed pools can trigger a resource consent.
A pool from Tiny Pools. Photo: Tiny Pools
Ben Speedy, a design director at the Development Collection, sees tiny pools, cold plunges and saunas as part of the wellness movement that will "encourage some backyard wellness retreats to start popping up."
Homeowners start with a romantic idea of adding a pool but costs and regulations quickly get in the way, according to Speedy. Even small pools with fencing requirements can make a backyard feel cramped if the design is not thought through.
"Ultimately, the decision to add a tiny pool should align with the homeowner's lifestyle and enhance the functionality of their backyard, not diminish it."
