JOHANNESBURG: Designer Pool Covers, a South African supplier and installer of automatic and manual pool covers, has completed more than 4,500 installations since it began trading in 2012, with projects delivered in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. The company said the total reflects a shift in how homeowners plan for pools: covers are increasingly specified while a pool is being built rather than added after a first summer of high water, chemical and heating bills. The range starts at R15,000 for pet and child safety covers and runs to R150,000 for the PoolDeck slatted automatic system.
The economics behind that shift are published on the company’s website. Designer Pool Covers estimates that a covered pool saves R800 to R1,500 a month in heating costs, R150 to R300 in water that would otherwise evaporate — roughly 15,000 litres in a summer month — and R200 to R400 in chemicals, a reduction of about 40 percent. Combined monthly savings are put at R1,150 to R2,200. On those figures, a thermal blanket costing about R8,000 pays for itself in four to seven months, a safety cover at R15,000 in seven to 13 months, and an automatic cover at R150,000 in three to five years.
“A cover is one of the few pool upgrades that gives money back every month instead of only adding to the property,” said Willem de Wet, regional manager at Designer Pool Covers. “Most of the systems installed now are part of the original build, because the deck, the tracks and the electrical point are far cheaper to integrate at that stage than to retrofit two summers later.”
The product line is built around three mechanisms. The company’s pet and child safety covers use an SABS-approved mesh that supports weight and is custom-fitted to any pool shape. Its automatic vinyl safety covers run on a heavy-duty track system and open or close in about 60 seconds, with a stated lifespan of six to 10 years. The PoolDeck slatted automatic cover operates on a single button and doubles as a safety barrier, with interlocking slats that bridge the water surface and carry a load.
Ownership costs extend beyond the invoice for the unit itself. Designer Pool Covers recommends an annual professional service on automatic covers at R1,500 to R3,000, quarterly checks on tracks and motors, and lubrication of moving parts twice a year. Skipping that schedule, the company warns, leads to repairs that start at R15,000. Its annual maintenance service covers that programme, and the company positions the servicing of existing units as a standalone line alongside new installations.
Municipal water and electricity tariffs have climbed steadily in recent years, and pool owners absorb the increase twice: once to fill and heat the pool, and again to replace whatever evaporates. Evaporation is also the largest single source of heat loss in a residential pool, because every litre that leaves the surface takes stored heat and dissolved chemicals with it. That combination forces pumps, heaters and chlorinators to run longer, which is where much of the monthly cost sits.
Retrofit work follows a different sequence from a new build. Where a pool has already been decked, the housing for an automatic cover has to be cut into the coping or surface-mounted, and a dry electrical point has to be provided at the head of the pool. The company quotes the two configurations separately and notes that an automatic system carries an annual service requirement that a manual cover does not. For that reason, thermal blankets and manual safety covers remain the most common first purchase, with an automatic unit often following years later.
For families, the safety case sits alongside the running-cost case. A safety cover is engineered to carry weight at the water surface rather than to warn people away from it, which is a different brief from a thermal blanket. The mesh used in the company’s safety range is anchored to the deck and tensioned across the pool, and every cover is cut to the pool’s dimensions rather than assembled from standard panels. That is why a site measurement precedes any quotation on a safety cover.
For owners who want the savings without an automatic system, thermal blankets remain the entry point. The company puts the payback on a blanket at under a year and recommends monthly rinsing, storage on a roller and replacement every three to five years. Manual safety covers sit between the two categories, with a six to 10 year lifespan and an annual inspection recommended to keep the mesh, anchors and tensioning within specification.
Installation follows a site visit rather than a catalogue order. Pool shape, deck material, coping height and access for the track and housing all determine which mechanism will work, and the company’s completed projects page documents builds ranging from vinyl safety systems to polycarbonate slatted covers. The same page records the finishes available to match an existing deck, which is often the deciding factor on a renovation where the pool surround is being kept.
The company said it expects automatic cover demand to keep rising into 2027 as new builds in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape are specified with integrated housings. Homeowners and pool builders can request a quotation and a specification through the Designer Pool Covers website. Pricing on the site is listed as a starting figure per category, with the final cost dependent on pool size, deck conditions and the mechanism selected.
About Designer Pool Covers: Designer Pool Covers designs, supplies and installs automatic, manual and thermal pool covers in South Africa. The company has traded since 2012 and reports more than 4,500 completed installations across Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.
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