| Mike
“As a contractor, I have a responsibility to make money to pay the bills. On the other hand, I am now seeing the need to balance this with the desire to do the right thing. I hope you can see a little better why the typical landscaper is not a bad guy. He was instructed in one way to build a water feature. This has the blessing of a noted, book writing "koi Doctor". All this is magnified by the lure of big, quick money.”
As a contractor, you also have a responsibility to listen to what the customer wants you to build. If they want a rock garden with water, then that is what you need to build. Not everyone wants a proper Koi pond. And that is OK. Not everyone wants or can afford a lexus either.
But as a contractor, it behoves you as a professional to listen to what the customer wants it to look like, then suggest how it can be designed to work well. All they are interested in is the looks. It is up to you to combine those looks with a well functioning system. That is where your expertise comes in to play. And you don’t become an expert over a weekend at a pond BS’a.
There are many good ponds that fall in this between zone. Many that have some stones in the pond as well. None will have gravel. It is up to you as a professional pond builder to suggest and incorporate functional additions to the pond to make it a healthy environment for the fish.
You also have to make sure the customer gets value for the money they pay you. Most of the holes in the ground I have seen the ADI builders build do not have that value to the customer. They might think so at first, but in the long term, its not there.
I have several we are in negotiations to rebuild at this time. One, is a swimming pool conversion done ADI style. The guy has spent 36 grand on the finished product, and the thing has never had more than 2 feet of water in it. After removing 25-30 tons of rock, the reason is simple. The liner has split where he seamed them together. Ripped actually. And the installer can not be found and will not return phone calls. How can I fix it for the guy, when he is already out that much money?
The other one last night looks like a homemade homeowner pond, done by an ADI grad using a 200 gallon preformed. You don’t even want to know how much he charged for that one.
Made lots of money? Yeppers, they sure did. And I am sure they made it to pay bills. But look at what they left behind. And there are too many of them like that.
By your post, it would seem you are different. I congratulate you on that. And it sounds like you have a conscience. That is good too.
Somewhere between the ADI pond and steves proper designed Koi pond is where you will build most of the ponds. Hopefully it will be further towards steves side.
Best of luck.
d |