How to Build a Professional Pond and Waterfall

Who wouldn't want to invest in a water feature that will last for decades? If you are going to spend several thousand dollars on a waterfall and pond, don't you want it to be trouble free and add equity to your home? If so, then you do not want to cut corners by using a rubber liner, along with the accompanying cheap plastic biofalls, filter, skimmer and energy wasting sump pumps.

I have been building concrete and rebar reinforced rock waterfalls and ponds for over 29 years and have never had one crack or leak. Hundreds of "do-it-yourselfers" have professionally constructed their own water features with the help of my Construction Manual, and they will never have to worry about the high cost of maintenance that is a given when using a pond liner.

Pond liner contractors boast that their liners have twenty to thirty year warranties, depending on the manufacturer of the liner itself. What they don't tell you is that the liner is warranted against factory defects only. They won't tell you that twenty to thirty percent of ponds built with liners leak within the first year from causes such as rats, mice, ground squirrels, gophers, chipmunks, woodchucks, tree roots, stretching and punctures from heavy rocks placed on the liners, not to mention dogs, raccoons, and many other animals. The list goes on.

In addition, unlike the rocks that are secured with mortar in concrete constructions, pond liners are covered with loose rock, including the construction of the waterfall. Consequently, it presents a hazard for both children and adults who attempt to climb on the rocks. The loose rocks placed around the pond's edge and in the waterfall attract burrowing rodents, snakes and other animals. Because the rocks are not well-secured with mortar, as in concrete construction, they can easily shift and reveal the unsightly liner underneath.

Liner ponds utilize gravity filters that require frequent cleaning; and this is a hard, messy and stinky job. Liner ponds also utilize sump pumps to circulate the water. Sump pumps use sixty percent more energy than the centrifugal pumps that are used in concrete construction and are normally installed close to the edge of the pond. Consequently, they do not properly circulate the water, so all the fish waste and debris ends up collecting and rotting on the bottom, causing serious problems to the aquatic life. In addition, sump pumps have a short life span and most have only one or two-year warranties.

With concrete construction, two anti-vortex drains are installed in the center of the pond; so fish waste and other particulates gravitate to the drains and are sucked up and collected in a pressurized bead filter. This type of filter only requires the turning of a handle once or twice a week to back-flush the water, which insures a clean, crystal-clear pond.

Concrete ponds use professional pool skimmers to remove leaves and debris before it has a chance to waterlog and settle to the bottom. Concrete construction costs only twenty percent more than liner ponds and they will last for decades.

With the proper instructions, any "do-it-yourselfer" can build their own water feature by hiring professional subcontractors and ordering their own concrete company and rebar installers.

In as little as one to two weeks, you can have a pond and waterfall that will last for decades and cost only twenty percent more than a leak-prone rubber liner pond. Plus, you will experience a nearly maintenance-free water feature.

How To Design A Water Garden

    If you have ever designed a water garden by sketching with colored pencils on a sheet of graph paper, let me be the first person to tell you that there is a better way! Here's why:

1. Increase Your Net Profits

Prior to introducing digitally designed water gardens, I would close 6 out of 10 sales, or 60 percent. Now, by using a digital design, I sell 80 percent. On the remaining 20% I still made money even though I did not close the sale because I charged $350 for each design.

So besides earning an additional income of $2,800 ($350 for each of the eight signed contracts for building a water garden), the digital designs earned an additional $700 for the two building contracts that were not signed. At an average of 100 water features built per year, I have added $35,000 to my bottom line just with this new revenue.

Finally, you must consider the additional contracts that were signed on the basis of the digital design alone. If my annual gross income before offering these types of water features was $600,000, then 20% or $120,000 is money I would not have had without digital designs.

2. Set Yourself Apart from the Competition

Our designs elicit positive responses and compliments, which we rarely received before with sketches and floor plans. Unlike sketches or floor plans, digital design provides a virtual photograph so a client sees what he is getting in advance. Water gardens designed this way eliminate misunderstandings that can sometimes arise from poor communication, involving vague or convoluted descriptions, drawings and sketches. What you see is literally what you get.

Digital designs look (and are) professional, and with computer software so widely available now, and various instructional programs that are easy to follow, there is really no reason to wait! Any edge you can get on your competitors will affect your bottom line. And don't forget to design in a water leveler for your customer's pond, even though they won't see it in the actual digital picture you show them.

3. Reassure your Customer

A portfolio of previous digitally designed water features can be used to sell the design option to future clients. When offering the package to a customer, the portfolio shows them what other clients received, and that they are not alone in a decision to opt in to getting their own digital design.

4. A Personalized Picture

A digitally designed water garden actually allows the client to see the finished water garden in their own back yard. This allows them the feeling of ownership since the photograph is of their own yard, except now they see the finished water garden in it.

5. No Tape Measures

Providing a digitally designed water garden eliminates the need to sketch out their back yard and take extensive measurements. Sketches and measurements are replaced by the simple click of the camera shutter, and the computer mouse in the virtual world of the water garden digital library.

6. No Sale? No Problem!

Even if you do not get the sale, you will earn $350 for a design you otherwise would not have made. Before offering the digital design option, all the time you spent with the client consulting, sketching and measuring, plus travel time, was wasted if you did not sell the job. By selling this design, you have received $350 for your effort and walk away feeling fairly compensated.

7. The Digital Design Fee is Refunded

By offering a refund of their design cost if the client decides to sign the contract, your closing ratio will increase. You tell the client that $350 will be deducted from the labor in the contract if they decide to sign with you. They are now more willing to part with their money. You explain that they not only will see exactly what they are getting, but they will have a photograph to use when they get other bids. The labor in the contract is not an exact amount, and will vary from job to job. So it is impossible for the client to know where their $350 refund shows up. You simply state in the contract that the $350 refund was deducted from the labor cost. The labor figure is necessarily an estimate; it is never itemized, nor are materials. So in reality you can easily add a few extra dollars in either category to cover the refund money, which is actually only on paper.

In summary, I can tell you that by adding digital designs to my business, I have increased my bottom line by 38 percent! You can easily see how someone could make a good living just designing water gardens, especially at $350 per hour for a 6 to 8 hours day.

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