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The Decksmith

Bin & Equipment Hideaways

I build custom enclosures for wheelie bins, pool filters, air conditioning units, gas bottles, and any other equipment that clutters an otherwise well-presented outdoor space. Built from hardwood timber or composite materials to match your existing deck or outdoor structure, these aren’t afterthoughts — they’re designed to look like they belong. If you can see it and it’s ugly, it can be hidden. I have built everything from simple two-bin enclosures to fully integrated pool equipment boxes with access panels and ventilation. If you have something specific in mind, get in touch and I’ll work it out.

Wheelie bin enclosures

Bins end up wherever suits both bin day and dropping rubbish in on the way past, which usually means the entrance to the house — so the enclosure is one of the first things anyone sees. Every one is built to size, and the options are yours: lids or no lids, open or closed, a planter on top, and hardwood, composite, fibre cement or painted pine.

Spotted gum wheelie bin enclosures on both sides of a Bronte duplex Painted treated pine wheelie bin enclosure with lids and gas struts, Clovelly Treated pine five-bin enclosure with lids and gas struts, Maroubra Spotted gum bin house with a raised roof for access inside, built to match the gate, Maroubra Blackbutt wheelie bin enclosure, open at the top for access, Double Bay Small bin hide with under-deck storage

Pool filters and pumps

A pool enclosure has three jobs beyond looking right. It has to ventilate, it has to keep the equipment dry in the rain, and it has to bring the noise down. I use gas struts on the lids, so a heavy lid lifts with one hand and stays up while the equipment is being worked on.

Spotted gum pool filter enclosure with black aluminium trim to match the deck, Bondi Merbau pool equipment enclosure with access doors to the panels and controls, Pagewood Pool equipment access doors in Trex Havana Gold composite, Alexandria Pool filter housing in merbau Pool equipment housing in two-tone composite Third stealth hatch open — pool equipment access — Kingsford Frameless Glass

Air conditioning and services

Air conditioning manufacturers stipulate the ventilation requirements for any housing built around a unit, and I follow them. Past that it is the same job as the rest: frame it, clad it to match what it stands against, keep the unit accessible, and stop it being the thing you notice.

Spotted gum air conditioning housing, Bronte Gas services housing with the door closed, Paddington Gas services housing with the door open, Paddington Combined air conditioning housing and outdoor storage Gas meter housing and storage with the door open Gas meter housing and storage with the door closed

Timber screens

Some things can’t be boxed in — a hot water unit, a meter, a neighbour’s window on the boundary. A screen handles those: battens on their own frame, spaced to block the view without shutting out the light.

Merbau screen hiding a garden shed, Randwick Merbau screen at the framing stage, hiding a garden shed, Randwick

Under-deck storage

The space under a deck is usually wasted. Where there is the height to use it, I build doors into the deck itself — the same boards and the same framing spec as the deck around them, so the opening reads as part of the deck rather than a hatch cut into it. Hinges, latches and all the hardware are supplied and fitted as part of the job.

Under-deck storage Under deck storage hatch open showing the full storage void beneath the deck

BBQ and outdoor kitchens

An outdoor kitchen is the same job as a bin enclosure, only bigger. It is a run of cabinetry built to take equipment, sited so it reads as part of the house rather than something parked against it. I build the carpentry: the framing, the stud walls, the cladding, the benchtop substrate and the openings the appliances drop into, in hardwood or composite to match the deck it sits on. The barbecue, the bar fridge, the sink and the stone benchtop are supplied and fitted by others, and the plumbing and electrical work is done by licensed trades. My part is everything that holds them and everything you look at.

The clearest example is the entertaining station on the Coogee job — a built-in barbecue, bar fridge and sink under a pergola, with a timber-clad feature wall behind it. See how that one came together.

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Or call Greg directly: 0468 486 290