On The Water Front: Water Features

After finding materials he could rely on - and after incorporating a smooth construction method his employees could follow - Soeder made water features a successful addition to his business. For the past three years, Bill Soeder Landscaping has been regularly installing seven to nine water features each year, an increase from two to five water features annually during the previous years.

“It’s not just the number of water features we install that make this a profitable addition to our business,” Soeder enthused. “Once customers change their yard by adding water features, they start to think of it as a whole new living space that needs new landscaping.”

More contractors are finding profitable ways to incorporate water features into their customers’ landscapes.

K.I.S.S. Greg Wittstock, president, Aquascapes, West Chicago, Ill., has a creative philosophy on how every landscape contractor should go about building a pond: ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid.’

Easier said than done, he admitted, but “building a pond isn’t rocket science,” he said. “If you ask 100 different contractors how to build a pond, I bet you’ll get 100 different answers. It’s hard to find a successful process for building a water feature by experimenting with each one you build. Plus, when it comes time for repairs or maintenance, it becomes a guessing game.”

When first starting out building water features, trial and error is the name of the game, admitted Shane Wagner, president, Wisconsin Pondscapes, Jefferson, Wis. They build 50 to 60 water features annually, many more than a typical landscape contractor would build, but that’s because ponds are the core of Wagner’s business.

“We feel we’ve perfected the system,” Wagner said. “Landscape contractors who don’t want to build ponds ask us to do it, and in return we make sure we recommend landscape contractors for the work that needs to be done after the pond is built.”

Subcontracting the service out to another company like Wisconsin Pondscapes is what Scott Lewis, founding owner and partner, Lewis Landscape Design, Las Vegas, Nev., does. Due to the hot climate in Las Vegas, 50 percent of the jobs done by Lewis Landscape Design include some type of water feature, whether it’s a pool, fountain or pond, Lewis said.

“When we started incorporating water features into customers’ landscapes, we made a lot of mistakes,” Lewis recalled. “It became hard for us to find a system and then keep our employees trained on that system, especially with high employee turnover. So, we found a company that builds them the way we want it done. That way, we can implement water features into the landscape except we don’t have to deal with the hassles of building them.”

STEP-BY-STEP. Constructing a pond is as easy as following a step-by-step process every time, assured Greg Wittstock. If a landscape contractor can get the process down then there will never be a big difference between building a 10-foot by 10-foot pond or a 1-acre lake - there’s just more gravel and rocks involved with the lake, he said.

“Each pond built is a one-of-a-kind custom creation,” Greg Wittstock pointed out. “No two rocks are the same and the setting and shape to each pond is always different. The process is the only thing that should remain the same.”

Once landscape contractors find a process they are comfortable with, which should include everything from marking the pond territory, excavating the pond and installing the liner to washing the gravel, filling the pond and building the waterfall, they can plan a crew.

Greg Wittstock builds 11-foot by 16-foot ponds in one day with a four-man crew.

“It took about four to six applications done this way before we had it down pat,” he said.

Wagner, who has had problems in the past with employee turnover, is comfortable using a crew of just two to four workers.

“The biggest problem I see out there is companies growing too big and increasing their employees, which in turn increases employee turnover,” Wagner stated. “Then they have to train new people all of the time. It takes a worker at least four times to get the process down. With more unfamiliar people on a crew, it takes more than one day - maybe a week - to build a pond, and that increases the cost for the customer and decreases your credibility and profitability.”

After perfecting his pond building skills, Wagner said there are pieces of equipment he’s learned to rely on, including a good transit to level the pond walls (a 2 by 4 and a level also works well for leveling pond walls) and a hand stomper, which is a 40- to 45-pound, 2-inch-square metal block with a handle that helps to pack down soil so that it doesn’t settle with the rain and change the level pond walls and an excavator or back hoe for digging ponds larger than 400 square feet.

“For building ponds, the tool investment is low,” he maintained. “Besides a shovel and wheel barrow, we bring a pick ax and rock cart. But we never use machines. Because ponds are usually dug into already existing lawns, bringing other equipment in could rip up the lawn.”

THE SILVER LINING. The toughest part of building a pond, according to most landscape contractors, is experimenting with different pond supplies until they find something they know they can rely on to work with the natural ecosystem of water features and be low maintenance, i.e. have as few leaks as possible.

“I would recommend thinking of a water feature as a watertight vessel.” Lewis admitted. “We still use concrete, but we learned quickly that it needed to be sealed and liners needed to be added to avoid leaks.”

While liners have become the mainstay for a more leak-free approach to pond building, concrete is becoming less reliable, said Gary Wittstock, president of Pond Supplies of America, Yorkville, Ill. Today, less than 1 percent of new ponds are built with concrete, he noted.

“If you use concrete, you should use a liner anyway,” Gary Wittstock said. “Commercial sites that are concerned about vandalism to their liners are the only ones that really need or insist on concrete being used as a pond base. But it needs to be mixed consistently, adds to the cost of the pond and makes repairs more difficult. It also requires some specialty skills and equipment. If the concrete cracks, you have to gouge out the concrete - sometimes even with a jack hammer - and drain the system.”

Concrete, because it contains lime, also increases the pH of the water, effecting the overall ecosystem of the pond, Greg Wittstock added.

When it comes to choosing a liner for water features, the most used and recommended kind is a rubber fish-grade liner, he said. This type of liner is strong enough to handle gravel and rocks, and is also chemical-free in case fish are going to be added to the pond.

Wagner purchases his liner in 5-inch increments. For example, an 11-foot by 16-foot pond will have a liner of 15-feet by 20-feet in size.

“It’s better to leave the liner long, so that you have some extra to tuck into the corners of your pond and still have it extend up past the walls,” advised Soeder, who typically buys a 20-foot by 100-foot role of liner at a time. “Then you just cut off the excess liner when the pond is finished. I can build about four ponds out of one role of liner and I usually cut them in 10-foot by 20-foot or 20-foot by 20-foot pieces based on whether it’s a 5-foot by 10-foot pond or 10-foot by 10-foot pond.”

A liner, though, is not strong enough to prevent sharp rocks in the ground from poking a hole in it and causing a leak, Gary Wittstock said. An underlayment, usually a geotextile material (a felt-like fabric), should be placed underneath the liner.

“An underlayment is a 3-D material that has air pockets with room for air to travel through it,” Wagner explained. “It lets the gases escape out the sides of the pond through the underlayment instead of bubbling up underneath the liner and lifting to the surface of the pond. It also adds a cushion to save the liner from leak-causing rocks.”

Another trick is to go over the ground carefully before placing the underlayment and the liner down, said Louis Battista, landscape designer, Waterloo Gardens/Landscaping, Exton, Pa.

“We go over the ground with a fine tooth comb to prevent against future leaks and make it as smooth as possible,” Battista said.

THE CUSTOMER IS NEVER RIGHT. Customers never seem to have a problem describing the type of water feature they envision in their yard, Soeder said.

“Some customers envision almost impossible heights on their waterfalls,” Soeder explained. “We don’t want to limit height - we can do almost anything they ask for - but it adds a lot of cost and time to the project.

Soeder takes a 50- to 60-page photo album with him to customer consultations to show them different waterfall heights and how different-sized ponds look finished. He also gives them a reference sheet with a list of customer names and numbers they can call and talk to for ideas.

When showing them pictures, it’s also a good idea to explain what goes into the certain-sized pond they are interested in, how much each piece means to the overall development of the pond ecosystem, Greg Wittstock advised.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Skimmers, gravel, pond pricing and ecosystems are covered in the next month's article on pond maintenance, which can be found here: Eco-Logical Environments: Pond Maintenance.