The quintessential pool house has become the subject of an innovative alternative, which has resulted in nearly $50,000 in savings for a Leopold family.

Royal Wolf was able to engineer two shipping containers to become a 12mx4.8m covered poolside retreat for the company’s Geelong Branch Manager, Justin Van Loon. Van Loon says the idea came to him after receiving an $80,000 quote from a landscaping company.

“The quote to do it using two shipping containers was significantly cheaper and we actually ended up with a larger pool house than we initially planned. All up it cost about $30,000-$32,000, which included buying two containers, all modifications done by Royal Wolf and then completing other works ourselves like electrical and flooring.”

The engineers took into account the location, building regulations and wind ratings and subsequently drew up plans for the pool house.

“They (the engineers) advised us on what materials we needed in order to strengthen the building and the window openings. The team modified the containers based on the drawings that were supplied by the engineers.

royal wolf poolhouse

“They removed two side walls of one container and one side wall of the other container, which was then strengthened and stiffened up with wide window openings, doors welded closed and the exterior painted.”

The pool house was built at a Royal Wolf facility and then placed at the home. From sketch to completion, the project took just 10 weeks.

“The best part was we had very little disruption or inconvenience at our home - we had the concreters dig and put the foundations in and then Royal Wolf delivered the pool house and installed it on the footings the next day. All up it only took about a week of work at our place,” says Van Loon.

“It’s a great point of difference. We designed it to suit our needs and how we wanted it to look.”

Architecture News & Editorial Desk

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