Semi-frameless fencing earns its place on the jobs where frameless gets awkward. Lawns are the clearest case. A frameless spigot needs solid concrete under it, so a fence across grass means pouring a footing for every panel. A semi-frameless post just goes into its own concrete footing in the ground, and the glass clamps between the posts.
Posts on grass and slopes
Each post is set plumb in a footing, and the panels hang between them on clamps. Because each panel is held at both sides, the fence can step down a slope one panel at a time, with each panel lower than the last. The height is measured from the finished ground on the outside, so on a falling block the set-out has to keep 1200 mm everywhere along the run, including the low corner of each step.
Posts also suit garden beds, where the soil level moves over time. If a bed builds up against the fence, the gap under the glass shrinks, and if it washes away the gap can grow past 100 mm. Check it after heavy rain in the first season.
The rules don’t change because there are posts
NSW pool barrier
- Minimum height
- 1200 mm from finished ground level
- Gap under the barrier
- 100 mm or less
- Gaps between uprights
- 100 mm or less
- Non-climbable zone
- 900 mm arc outside, plus 300 mm inside
- Boundary fence as barrier
- 1800 mm high
- Gate
- Self-closing, self-latching, opens away from the pool
- Standard
- AS 1926.1-2012 for pools built after 1 May 2013 and any modified barrier
Source · NSW Government, Pool owner obligations
Posts are fine on their own. The trouble starts when something horizontal is added. A rail, a planter box fixed to the posts or a ledge along the bottom can give a child a foothold, and horizontal climbable bars have to be at least 900 mm apart. The 900 mm zone outside the fence has to stay clear too, which is easy to forget once garden beds go in along a lawn fence. The glass pool fencing page covers which standard applies to your pool.
What it costs
Yakka Labour’s October 2026 guide puts semi-frameless with aluminium posts at about $280 to $450 a metre, including GST, and an aluminium or semi-frameless gate at $450 to $900. Service.com.au’s April 2026 guide gives $300 to $430 a metre installed. Yakka Labour notes that Sydney sits towards the top of its ranges, and sites with poor access or a lot of stepping cost more.
Gates and colours
The gate can be a glass panel hung from a post, which keeps the look consistent, or an aluminium gate in the same finish as the posts. Either one has to swing shut and latch from any open position and open away from the pool. Posts come powder-coated, most often in black, white or a silver or grey tone, and matching them to the window frames ties the fence back to the house.
If the pool sits in pavers or concrete and the view matters most, compare this with frameless fencing.
