Or a pool, at least. If you made pools your business, you could see several a day, in various parts of town, and, for Tessa Jayne at least, never get sick of them.

The 26-year-old has her own business, Blue Lizard Pool & Garden Services, maintaining pools all around Canberra and parts of NSW, with more than 100 regular clients.

She may be the one of the only women fronting such a business, making a mockery of the "pool boy" cliche, but she's part of a surprisingly vast ecosystem in Canberra - the world of backyard pool owners.

From cleaners and maintenance workers, to suppliers, shop owners, buildings, plumbers, electricians and landscapers, there's a raft of professionals servicing a sub-sector of the home renovation world that shows no signs of slowing down.

Ms Jayne, a one-woman show, works six days a week all year round, cleaning everything from suburban backyard family magnets to swanky rooftop penthouse pools and the many variations in between.

"Backyards are definitely getting smaller, especially in Gungahlin," she says.

"So no matter how big or small your backyard is, people will find a way."

And any weather is good weather when you work in the business.

If it's hot, pools get a lot of use and need plenty of maintenance.

If, like in the past couple of weeks, it rains a lot, pools go green and need extra special care.

It's a win-win for a pool girl like Ms Jayne.

She says people are often surprised when she fronts up to homes to clean and service swimming pools.

"They do [comment on it]. They're very amazed. Lots of them are quite speechless," she says.

"But I just love seeing people's reaction, because it's a very male-dominated industry."

Having studied business at the University of Canberra, she had long wanted to start her own outfit and already had a side-hustle in gardening.

Meeting people and spending time outdoors were her main requirements, so a pool cleaning business was a no-brainer.

"I felt there was a gap ... especially with females working in the pool and the garden industry, so I said, I'll give it a go," she says.

"It's the best decision that I've made."

One thing's certain - she'll never be short of work.

Most pool owners in Canberra opt to outsource its care, the better to enjoy their - considerable - investment more.

John Eldridge, who has run his company Nulook Pools for the past 13 years, says anyone wanting a pool just to increase the value of their house was in it for the wrong reason.

"You're not buying a pool to get more money on your house, you're buying it for the lifestyle," he says.

And despite Canberra's penchant for buying and selling properties, most agree with him and business is booming.

"A pool used to cost you $40,000 back when houses were $400,000," he says.

"Now they start from around $60,000, but houses cost in the millions. So it's not the cost it was."

He agrees that, at least when it came to putting in pools, Canberra does not appear to be a suffering from a cost of living crisis.

"Canberra really is a bubble - it's just different," he says.

His business is relatively small - he runs it with his wife Charissa - but he still averages around 45 fibreglass pools a year, ranging from four to 14 metres in length.

He has put in pools for as little as $45,000 - not including landscaping, which, he said, was often the largest cost of all - and as much as $200,000, with all the landscaping included.

A plunge pool (small, single-depth, pre-fabricated and suitable for small gardens) runs to about $60,000, while a larger, custom-built lagoon-style set-up will set you back at least $150,000.

And what about the cost of running a pool once you have one?

That all depends on what kind of pool owner you are - one dedicated to constant upkeep, or the type who lets the whole thing run fallow (for want of a better word) in the colder months.

Either way, you'll end up forking out for all kinds of chemicals - salt, chlorine, clarifier, flocculant, algaecide - to get the balance right.

In fact, in some ways, having a pool is a bit like running a farm.

And, according to a staff member at Cool Pools in Chapman, a deluge of rain brings a delayed effect to the shop, as people wait to see the diluting effects of fresh water when mixed with the chemicals.

Salt pools are by far the most popular and easy to maintain, with more and more opting for magnesium pools, essentially added minerals that do wonders for the skin (and the water quality).

Jason Warren-Smith, who owns and runs Pristine Pools, a pool maintenance company that recently began building plunge pools as well, insists that it's only as hard as you make it.

And yes, he says Canberra's pool quotient is notable.

"Canberra is an interesting demographic - there are more pools here per capita than anywhere under the Tropic of Capricorn," he says.

It sounds like an arbitrary figure, except that it includes Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, all warm cities with much longer swimming seasons than Canberra.

Roy Morgan research from last year put this at 11 per cent of our population.

The ACT government's Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate confirms around 8000 pools that have been subject to development approvals.

"We are more affluent in Canberra, and if you have a pool with a small heat pump, you can probably extend your season for six months," Mr Warren-Smith says.

When it comes to things like pools, he says the market is most sensitive to rises in interest rates, rather than cost of living issues.

Like a kitchen with a butler's pantry, or an upgrade on your luxury car every couple of years, it seems a pool is a good-living feature common enough to be considered almost standard in aspirational homes.