Customisation Options: Fibreglass vs Concrete Pools (What You Can Actually Change)

What “Customisation” Actually Means

Pool sales talk uses “custom” to mean three different things, and they're worth pulling apart:

• Shape and footprint. Can the pool follow a non-standard outline, a curve around a tree, an angled wall, an unusual depth profile? This is where concrete wins.

• Finish and features. Colour, lighting, jets, water features, beach entries, integrated spa, automation. Both types are flexible here, just with different choice sets.

• Surrounds. Coping, paving, decking, landscaping, fencing, screens. Identical across both, surrounds are a separate trade and have nothing to do with the shell.

Most buyers blur these together. When a concrete builder says “fully custom” they usually mean the first one. When a fibreglass rep says “lots of options” they usually mean the second. Working out which one you actually need is the difference between buying the right pool and paying for flexibility you'll never use.

What You Can Customise on a Fibreglass Pool

More than most buyers expect. Our range and the wider Australian fibreglass market cover the vast majority of requests. On a typical kit, you can choose:

• Shape, from the manufacturer's mould range, rectangular family pools, plunge pools, lap pools (up to around 11 to 12m), freeforms, kidney shapes, wedges, and pools with built-in beach entries and bench seating.

• Length within the mould. Most ranges run from about 4m up to 11 to 12m across many shapes.

• Colour and finish. The AquaGuard-X™ range offered by our manufacturer includes over 19 gelcoat colours: six Shimmer finishes are included as standard, plus 13 Marbletech™ options as an upgrade. The Shimmer finish carries the industry-standard 6-year cosmetic warranty; Marbletech™ carries 20 years. See the full AquaGuard-X™ colour range.

• Tanning ledge or beach entry. Many modern moulds include a built-in shallow ledge or a sloped beach entry.

• Step configuration. Corner steps, side entry or full-width steps, chosen per mould.

• Built-in seating. Bench seats and lounging shelves are moulded into many current shapes.

• Lighting. LED pool lights, colour-changing or white, in standard or custom positions.

• Water features. Spillover walls, sheer-descent waterfalls, deck jets and bubblers can all be plumbed in. The feature itself is usually a separate stone or concrete element built into the surrounds.

• Heating, sanitisation and automation. Heat pump, gas or solar; salt, mineral or freshwater; app control, all open choices.

• Spa. Many ranges offer an integrated spa, or a separate spa can be plumbed in.

Where fibreglass gets tighter: deep ends past about 2.15m, genuinely unusual outlines, and pools longer or wider than the mould and the truck will allow.

What Concrete Lets You Do That Fibreglass Can't

These are the genuine concrete-only options:

• Bespoke shapes and footprints. Curves that follow a retaining wall, angles that match a heritage building, asymmetric designs that don't fit any mould.

• Depths past about 2m. Diving pools, deep plunges, varied floor contours.

• Length past the fibreglass range. Long lap pools, resort-scale pools, wraparound designs.

• True vanishing or knife-edge designs. Achievable in fibreglass with a custom concrete edge added, but cleaner in straight concrete.

• Architectural integration. Pools that join an indoor swim-up bar, wrap a structural column, or sit on a raised concrete beam to match a specific look.

• Hand-laid tile, mosaic murals and feature walls.

These matter for a small slice of the market, premium custom homes, architect-led builds, tricky blocks. For the typical family backyard, none of them are deal-breakers. The one most people ask about, the infinity edge, is covered in Can You Get a Fibreglass Infinity Pool?.

Colour and Finish

Colour is one of the more underrated choices, because it changes how the pool looks far more than buyers expect. On fibreglass, the colour sits in the gelcoat layer applied during manufacture. The usual groupings:

• Pale tropical: silvery white, soft aqua, light blue. Reads like clear shallow water, great for a beach look.

• Mid-blue: classic pool blue. The most popular pick, clean and refreshing without going dark.

• Deep blues and teals: sapphire, teal, lagoon. Richer and slightly cooler, popular in resort-style designs.

• Dark and charcoal: granite grey, charcoal, near-black. The “lake” effect, reflects the sky and surrounds, very contemporary.

Concrete colour comes from the interior finish, pebble, plaster, render, paint or tile, and tiled pools can run mosaics or feature patterns. The trade-off is that those finishes are rougher than gel coat (which affects maintenance) and need replacing or resurfacing every 10 to 15 years.

Depth, Steps and Tanning Ledges

For most families, depth comes down to one call: a true deep end for older kids and adults, or a more uniform depth for paddling, exercise and little ones. Typical profiles:

• Uniform (about 1.2 to 1.4m): common in plunge and small family pools, as well as lap pools. Safer for young kids, good for exercise, cheaper to fill.

• Sloped (about 1.0 to 1.8m): the standard family profile.

• Deep end (about 1.0 to 2.15m): older family use, lap swimming, a proper deep end.

• Past 2.15m: concrete only, and increasingly uncommon, modern design has moved away from very deep pools on water use and energy grounds.

Steps and entries are well covered in fibreglass, corner steps, side entries, full-width steps and beach entries are all in the range. Tanning ledges (the shallow shelf you can lie on with a deck chair) have become an available feature in mid-tier moulds.

Equipment and Feature Add-Ons

Equipment choice is identical between the two. Whatever you can plumb into a concrete pool, you can plumb into a fibreglass one. The menu:

• Filtration. Australian made AstralPool is the standard worth holding out for; sand, cartridge or glass media.

• Sanitisation. Salt chlorinator (most popular), mineral system, freshwater, or ozone/UV.

• Heating. Heat pump, gas or solar.

• Lighting. LED, single colour or colour-changing.

• Water features, automation and cleaners. Spillover walls and jets; app-controlled pump, lighting and dosing; robotic, suction and cordless cleaners.

Customisation freedom is the one thing concrete does that fibreglass can't fully match, and you pay for it in time and dollars. We run those numbers in Lifetime Cost Analysis: Which Pool Type Saves Money?, and if a sloping or awkward block is pushing you towards a custom build, above-ground and semi-in-ground fibreglass is worth a look first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get a custom-shaped fibreglass pool? You choose from your manufacturer's mould range, covering rectangles, freeforms, kidneys, lap pools, plunge pools, wedges and pools with tanning ledges. For a genuinely unique outline, concrete is the answer.

Can a fibreglass pool be deeper than 2 metres? Most fibreglass moulds top out around 1.8 to 2.15m at the deep end, although there are exceptions, particularly in larger pools (10-11m). Concrete is the option for anything deeper, or for a diving pool.

What colours do fibreglass pools come in?

CFPK offers over 19 AquaGuard-X™ gel-coat colours: six Shimmer finishes as standard, plus 13 Marbletech™ upgrades, grouped from pale tropical through mid-blue, deep blues and teals, to dark and charcoal.

Can I add a spa or water feature to a fibreglass pool?

Yes to both. Integrated spas are available in many moulds, or a separate spa can be plumbed in, and water features can be built into the surrounds and plumbed into the circulation.

Are fibreglass pool surrounds different from concrete pool surrounds?

No. Coping, paving, decking, fencing and landscaping are independent of the shell. A fully landscaped fibreglass pool can look identical to a fully landscaped concrete one.