This is the step that stops most people from ordering a DIY pool fence. Not the installing — the measuring. Everyone's worried about the same thing: what if I get the numbers wrong and end up with a driveway full of glass that doesn't fit?
It's a fair worry, and it's also a solvable one. Measuring a pool fence is not carpentry. You need a tape measure, an hour, and a system. Here's the system.
What you'll need
- A tape measure — 8m minimum, and a second pair of hands makes long runs much easier
- A can of marking spray, or a bag of pegs and some string line
- Your phone, for photos
- A sketch on paper. Not a CAD drawing. A rectangle with numbers on it.
Step 1 — Walk the line before you measure it
Before any numbers, decide where the fence is actually going. Walk it. Then check three things:
- What's it made of underneath? Concrete, paving, decking, soil or lawn. This decides your footing type more than anything else — see step 5.
- Where do you want the gate? Put it where people naturally walk, not where it's convenient to install. A gate in the wrong place is the number one reason gates get propped open, and a propped-open gate is both a compliance fail and the actual safety risk.
- Is there anything in the 900mm zone outside the line? Air-con units, pumps, retaining walls, garden beds, bins. If there is, either move it or move the fence line — because that arc has to stay clear for the fence to be compliant. (See our WA pool fence rules guide for the detail.)
Mark the line with spray or string. Everything after this is measuring the line you've marked.
Step 2 — Break the run into straight segments
Almost no pool fence is one straight line. Yours is probably three to six straight segments with corners between them.
Sketch the shape looking down from above, and letter each straight segment: A, B, C, and so on. Measure each one separately, corner to corner, and write the number on the sketch in millimetres.
Don't try to measure around a corner with one pull of the tape. That's where errors come from.
Step 3 — Measure to the millimetre, not the nearest "about"
Two rules that save people:
- Work in millimetres. Panels and posts are sold in millimetres. Writing 4.2m instead of 4200mm is how a 200mm error gets introduced.
- Measure each segment twice, and if the two numbers disagree, measure a third time. Tape measures sag over long pulls — keep it taut and level, not drooping across the lawn.
Where a segment starts or ends at a wall, measure to the face of the wall, and note whether that wall is straight — older rendered walls often aren't.
Step 4 — Check your levels
Pool fences are made from fixed-height panels, so sloping ground is the thing most likely to change what you need to order.
Walk each segment and note anywhere the ground rises or falls noticeably along the line. Two reasons this matters:
- The 1200mm minimum height is measured at every point, perpendicular to the ground. A panel that's 1200mm at one end can be short at the other if the ground rises.
- The maximum gap under the fence is 100mm. On falling ground, a level panel opens up a gap at the low end.
On a gentle slope you step the panels down. On a steep or continuous slope — the sort you get running down the side of a sloping block — you may need raked panels, which are made to follow the fall. If you've got more than about 100mm of fall across a single panel width, flag it. That's a good moment to send us a photo rather than guess.
Step 5 — Decide how it's fixed down
This is the part people expect to be hard and it usually isn't. What's under the fence line decides it:
- Existing concrete or a slab (100mm+ thick): core-drilled spigots or base-mount spigots. Base-mount is bolted to the surface and is the more DIY-friendly of the two — no core drill hire.
- Pavers: the fixing needs to reach concrete beneath, not sit on the paver. Note the paver thickness.
- Soil, lawn or garden bed: you'll need footings poured, or posts set in concrete. Measure the segment as normal and note the surface.
- Timber decking: the fixing must go through to a structural bearer or joist, not just the deck board. Note the deck construction if you can see it from underneath.
Take a photo of each surface type along the run. It takes thirty seconds and answers questions we'd otherwise have to ask you.
Step 6 — Place the gate and measure its opening
The gate is the one component with no tolerance for a rough number. Measure the intended opening precisely, and remember:
- The gate must swing outwards, away from the pool — so check there's clear space on the outside for it to open into.
- The gap under the gate must be no more than 100mm.
- The latch release needs to sit at least 1500mm above the ground on the outside face, so there needs to be room above the gate for a top-pull latch.
- Gates need self-closing hinges and a self-latching latch. A standard hinge isn't compliant no matter how good the gate is.
Standard gate widths cover most jobs. If your opening is unusual, that's worth a conversation before you order.
Step 7 — Note what's at each end
For every segment, write down what it terminates against: a wall, a corner with the next panel, a gate, or a free end. End conditions decide which brackets, clamps and posts go in the kit, and they're the easiest thing to forget.
Step 8 — Put it through the calculator
With your sketch in hand, open the fence calculator for the style you want — frameless glass, aluminium flat top, blade or perforated mesh. Enter your segments, add the gate, choose your finishes, and it works out the panel layout, the hardware and the price for the complete kit.
It's the same process we'd run manually — you're just doing it with the numbers you took yourself, which means you can change your mind about the layout as many times as you like without ringing anyone.
The five mistakes worth avoiding
- Measuring the pool instead of the fence line. The barrier line is not the pool edge. Measure where the fence goes.
- Forgetting the gate swing. Outwards, away from the pool — and it needs somewhere to swing to.
- Ignoring the slope. Fifty millimetres of fall you didn't note becomes a 150mm gap under a panel.
- Rounding. "About four and a half metres" is not a measurement.
- Not photographing the ground. Surface type drives the fixing, and the fixing drives half the parts list.
Or we'll come and measure it for you
If you'd rather not carry the risk of getting it wrong, book a Site Inspection & Measure. We come out, measure the run properly, check the fence line against the WA compliance requirements, and give you an exact parts list for your job.
Plenty of people do this for the first fence and measure the second one themselves. That's a perfectly sensible way to go about it.