Pool surround paving for Perth backyards
IBP Paving supplies and lays pool surround paving and coping for new pools and pool renovations across Perth's northern suburbs from Landsdale. Over 20 years in Perth, fully licensed, and our lifetime workmanship warranty covers the paving we lay. Pool surrounds are part of our brick paving service and our wider Perth paving work.
Why pavers rather than a poured slab around a Perth pool: pavers leave access to the pipes and the skimmer line, light stone stays cooler than concrete, and when the backfill around the shell settles, as it does on sandy ground, pavers are lifted and relaid where a slab cracks.
This page covers the field paving, the coping, slip ratings, heat, chlorine and salt, and the WA barrier rules that paving levels affect. For a quote, request a free site measure or call 0449 020 336.
Best pavers around a pool: slip, heat, salt and chlorine
Slip rating
The CMAA and Midland Brick Surface Requirements for Pavers factsheet sets a minimum P4 wet pendulum rating for external walkways and P5 for ramps, tested to AS 4586. We specify P4 or better for every pool surround and P5 on any ramp or step run. Smooth face concrete and honed or polished stone can be slippery when wet, so pool finishes are textured, shot blast, tumbled or flamed.
Source: CMAA and Midland Brick, Surface Requirements for Pavers factsheet, July 2024.
Heat
Light, porous stone stays coolest underfoot; dark granite and dark concrete get hottest. Light tumbled travertine is the usual barefoot choice in Perth, with honed limestone and pale textured concrete the alternatives.
Materials we lay
Tumbled travertine; honed or tumbled limestone, natural and reconstituted; flamed granite in light colours only; and textured or shot blast concrete pavers such as UrbanStone's pool paver range, which the supplier lists as durability class General Purpose. Concrete ranges are on the brick paving page. Porcelain is not a material we supply.
Salt and chlorine
Pool chemicals and salt water attack soft stone and concrete over time, and the symptoms are crusting and spalling of the surface. Natural stone and reconstituted limestone around a pool are sealed with a penetrating sealer and resealed every two to three years. We can seal as part of the job or later through our paving sealing and cleaning service.
Source: Master Builders WA, salt attack note; Midland Brick and Think Brick, Brick Durability factsheet, August 2025; UrbanStone WA pool paver listings.
Pool coping options
Bullnose coping, with a rounded front edge, is the most asked for and the most forgiving on shins. Square edge or mitred coping gives a sharp modern line. Drop face coping carries the stone down over the pool edge for a thicker look. Tumbled edge coping matches tumbled travertine or limestone field pavers.
Coping is bedded on sand cement or mortar on the pool's bond beam, or fixed with a flexible adhesive on a fibreglass shell, and the field pavers are matched to it in colour and thickness. Perth sources we can draw from include Country Earth (bullnose, mitre join, half round and tumbled), UrbanStone Endurastone bullnose, and the Freo Stone and Remastone pool ranges. Ranges change, so ask us for current samples.
WA pool barrier rules and your paving
Paving levels change how a pool barrier measures up, so the rules below shape every pool job. They are taken from the WA Building and Energy guide Rules for Pools and Spas, December 2025 edition, which applies AS 1926.1-2012 through the Building Regulations 2012, and are correct at the time of writing.
- Every pool or spa deeper than 300 mm needs a compliant safety barrier.
- The barrier must be at least 1.2 m high measured from the finished ground level on the outside, so raising the paving against the fence reduces the effective height.
- A 900 mm non climbable zone applies on the outside face of the barrier, and nothing climbable may sit within 500 mm of it. Objects, steps, retaining walls and ground level changes that reduce the barrier height are not permitted within 500 mm; the guide's Diagram 11 shows a retaining wall inside 500 mm as non compliant.
- The gap between the bottom of the barrier and the stabilised ground surface cannot exceed 100 mm, and the guide lists pavers, concrete and decking as suitable stabilised surfaces.
- Local governments inspect pool barriers every four years.
- A pool fence itself generally no longer needs a building permit (masonry over 0.75 m, non masonry over 1.8 m and some other cases excepted), but the pool does, and a BA7 notice of completion is due within seven days.
Source: WA Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety (Building and Energy), Rules for Pools and Spas, December 2025, pages 5 to 6 and 11 to 17.
Our practical rule from this: finished paving levels are set from the barrier, planters and limestone walls stay outside the 500 mm zone, and the gap under the fence is checked before the paving is signed off. Walls near a pool fence have their own rule, covered on limestone retaining walls, and planting around the fence is on our landscaping page.
How we lay pool paving in Perth sand
- Base. Pool paving goes on compacted road base or a concrete slab with the fall running away from the pool, never on loose backfill.
- Settlement. The backfill around a new pool shell settles for one to two years, which is why pavers around pools sink. We compact in layers and tell you up front that a relay after settlement is normal and cheap, because the pavers are reused. See sunken paving repair and paving relaying.
- Leaks. Sinking that continues after that points to a pool plumbing leak washing the bed out, so we check before relaying.
- Drainage. Splash and rain must fall away from the house and stay on your lot, usually to a soakwell.
- Coastal and bore water sites. Washed bedding sand, dense pavers, sand swept joints and a sealer. See our Hillarys and Mindarie pages for coastal specifics.
The lifetime workmanship warranty covers the bed, the edges and the joints on the paving we lay.
Pool paving cost in Perth
These are indicative ranges, not IBP's price list. The only published pool specific figures in our research are national: supply and lay of pool pavers at about $130 to $180 per square metre and coping at $130 to $220 per lineal metre. Perth paving overall runs $63 to $170 per square metre, typical $105, as an indicative Perth industry range.
Source: national pool paving cost guides, 2026, marked indicative; whatsthedamage.com.au Perth paving costs. Indicative industry ranges only.
Pool work sits above standard paving because the coping goes on mortar, there are cuts around the shell and the skimmer, the materials are slip rated and the stone is sealed. We quote every pool on site. More in our Perth paving cost guide and best pool pavers for Perth.
Pool, alfresco or stone page?
Paving that runs from the pool to a covered area is one job; the alfresco side is on patio and alfresco paving. Material deep dives are on stone paving, travertine and limestone. Pool landscaping, walls and planting around the fence are on landscaping, and resealing or cleaning black mould around a pool is on sealing and cleaning.
We lay pool surrounds in coastal Hillarys and Mindarie and in Ballajura, Madeley, Landsdale and Duncraig, where 1980s to 2000s homes are adding or renewing pools. See all areas we service.
