Rent-a-pool: grain containers inspired French mobile pool business

Swimming pools are expensive to build – but now you can save money by renting one by the month.

Serge Guirbal spotted a gap in the market for mobile pools and has seen nearly all his stock of 10 or so pools rented out in less than three months.

A permanent pool is a big investment

Mr Guirbal has worked as a pool builder and maintenance man for around 20 years in Tarn-et-Garonne, south west France, and said the idea developed slowly.

“It is a big investment to buy a pool [easily €30,000 for a nice- sized one] and I began to realise that people might like the idea of just hiring one for the summer instead of paying out for a classic installation,” he said.

Read more: How much value will a swimming pool add to my French house?

The idea grew

“We’re in a rural area [Moissac, near Montauban] with lots of lorries carrying cargo bins that can be loaded and unloaded at the side of a field to collect cereals and it is from seeing this that the idea grew.”

A local business makes steel containers for rubbish collection lorries and Mr Guirbal and the owner were able to adapt their process for the steel bodies of the pool.

The sides are covered with a liner and a proper pool filtering system installed.

Wooden cladding and decking around the pools adds a finishing touch.

Prices are €1,600 a month but reduce if people want the pool for longer than three months.

‘We try to make it simple’

“Obviously, we need a flat space, 6m x 2.5m big, and access for the lorry which has the pool on its back,” he said. “We take care of the installation and make sure everything is working as it should.

“The pool just has to be filled with a hosepipe, and plugged into an ordinary domestic electricity supply for the pumps.

“We leave a bag of chlorine tablets with the pool for people to add when they need to, and that is it. We try to make it all as simple as possible.”

Delivery is free within Tarn-et-Garonne but not for orders outside the department.

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