WATERFEATURES...WHAT'S NEW...
BEWARE of SELF-STYLED "POND EXPERTS", LANDSCAPERS and "THE MAN YOU KNOW WITH A DIGGER". Here's the worst HORRORS and EYESORES, including some we've rectified+how to spot them before being taken in!
Chapter One of Six (72 images)...Just Terrible!
NOTE THAT THE ABOVE IS NOT ONE OF OURS!
MINIMUM PRICES...As you will see our water features are designed and built with masses of detail which takes a lot of specialist stone and skill and as such cannot be compared price wise to a LANDSCAPERS/DIY "HOLE IN THE GROUND POND" with a ring of rocks around the edge (examples below) leaving all the liner and pipes visible!
Minimum Charges...Renovation and Repairs to Small Ponds £5,000 upwards. New ponds built from £8,000 upwards.
Natural Swimming Pool Projects are £50,000 upwards.
We have Designers available to talk to you 7 days from 8a.m to 8p.m on 0800 91 98 33 or Paul direct 07970 309 165
Alternative e-mail to send attachments...pauldyer@btconnect.com
VAT FREE PRICES: SPECIAL OFFER 20% OFF APRIL-MAY-JUNE ONLY
To accelerate our latest expansion program (we have just taken on three apprentices who will work with our highly qualified and long-time served Stonemasons and Pond Builders), we are discounting a limited number of spaces per month.
Normal prices apply when those months spaces are filled
MAY 25% AVAILABILITY JUNE 30% AVAILABILITY
Note these are latest figures which may differ from the home page. Charges...Renovation and Repairs to Small Ponds £5,000 upwards. New ponds built from £8,000 upwards.
Natural Swimming Pool Projects are £50,000 upwards.
AND NOW TO THE PICTURES...The example above was created by a Landscaper, to show the quality of his work!!! WHAT???
Yes really...can you believe that someone "professional", would think this is good enough to convince potential clients that he can build Water Features and Gardens?
Clearly he does, which means he's a danger waiting out there somewhere..............waiting to get you!!!
In these chapters I'll be showing you what to avoid, what to look for and what questions to ask...to enable you to find someone to build your dream and not your worst...
Nightmareeeeeee!
Yes, Mr "Professional Pond Builder/Landscaper" strikes again. This horror, had to be completely destroyed by us, and totally rebuilt. In other words the client paid somebody to create this, then had to pay me to destroy it and start again...even the rocks had to be dumped. And it's the rocks that you need to study, because usually that's the biggest clue to the finished product that you will get.
So, what should you look out for when choosing someone to construct your dream "natural" garden?
Well the first obvious thing to look for, as I said, is the type of rock that they use. The rock in these first two examples is D-I-Y rock. And it's D-I-Y rock because this is the type of rock that you buy from retail outlets, not the type of rock that is handpicked direct from the actual quarry as mine is.
So why do they, as "Professionals" use D-I-Y rock that's all the same size and shape? Well because, that's all they know...that's all they can get, so that's what they have to use!
They don't know where to get quality natural rock from! And that's because they don't have enough rock work to have the contacts to handpick it themselves direct from the Quarry.
So how do you find out what type of rock they use? You ask them to supply you with pictures of their work, but not just one or two...that's too easy!
*VAT FREE-VAT FREE-VAT FREE-VAT FREE-VAT FREE....
*VAT FREE-VAT FREE-VAT FREE-VAT FREE-VAT FREE....
HELP US TO FILL OUR QUIETEST MONTHS SEPTEMBER to FEBRUARY and get a 20% even 30% discount. Our "OFF SEASON" Discount is *equivalent to NO 20% VAT!!!
The cheapest time to create a new garden or pond, is also the best time, ready to "SPRING" into life. Should our considerable experience be beaten by very, very bad weather the work would be undertaken in the spring at the discounted price...so you can't lose)!
SEPT is 60% FULL. OCTOBER is 65% FULL. NOVEMBER is 40%.
DECEMBER is 35% FULL
Note:
Normal prices apply MARCH 2013.
Not applicable to Swimming Pool Projects
This discount cannot be combined with any other discount.
Also note...this web site is an on-going project for me, which I fit in between actually designing and creating the subjects with my own staff. Therefore you will find that some of subjects are as yet empty or just contain pictures...but there's still masses to see, and of course with your appetite whetted, hopefully you will return many times to view the progress.
And hopefully you will be inspired to give me a call about creating something in your garden.
Please note we have a minimum charge for any project of £5,000 for renovations and £6,500 for a small natural or formal pond.
All of the projects are for private clients, and are only featured with their permission. No prices will ever be given in relation to specific projects, (except for "Show Gardens"), as that would be a betrayal of client confidentiality.
Here's one of mine...compare the type of rock I've used to get this completely natural look, with what you've just seen.
Next I'll show you what this looked like before. But before you move on let me tell you about PRICES!
People call me and say things like, "we love your work but you look expensive"? Well yes we are more expensive than a Landscaper, but our features have huge amounts of detail in them, which of course is very time consuming...but it's that detail that makes them look so natural of course.
Also very time consuming is the handpicking of the rock, but again it's the rock we use that gives the 100% natural look.
Landscapers will just order a few tons of rock from the local supplier, which is fine if that's what you want, and the Landscaper's price could be half mine. Look at the next picture coming up and you'll see what you can get for half my price.
I have arrangements, which go back years with various small quarry owners throughout the UK that allow me to pick every piece of rock myself...and I DO pick it myself, with my men, the same men that will be building the feature, and that's the art of creating a perfect natural looking water feature...now let me show you that typical Landscaper's pond...
If you were being kind you'd call this a good D-I-Y attempt...unfortunately the clients paid someone, who, they said "works for a well known Aquatic Supplier" to build this for them.
And again as in the other example, they had to pay me to destroy it and do it properly.
What else should you beware of? A very common problem is a Landscape Contractor, who claims to be an "Expert in Pond Building" BUT can only show you a few pictures of past work.
And worse there's the House Builder. How many times have I heard..."our worst mistake was asking our Builder to do it".
Or..."I just mentioned to our Builder that we wanted a pond, he said HE could do ponds". Yes of course he can, and he loves using concrete and stone that he feels comfortable with. And what does he feel comfortable with? Well rocks that are brick or block shaped of course.
If THEY REALLY ARE EXPERTS they will be building water gardens on a regular basis, and they will have pictures of DOZENS/HUNDREDS of different projects, as I have. Builders won't, but of course the problem is, he's good at doing your building work, and he's a nice man, so you trust him, difficult, very difficult.
Another clue to look for then is CONSISTENCY. On my sites you will see 1000's of examples of past work, all shapes and sizes and using different types of rock.
So here's some guidance...if they can show you twenty or thirty different projects that are consistently good, then they DO know what they are doing.
If they can only show you three or four, then beware, they are Landscapers that build ponds as a sideline, which of course is fine if you want something basic. Or if you're unlucky...something that leaks, something that shows all of the liner or something that just simply looks wrong... which will annoy you forever!
So apart from the use of very unimaginative rock what's also wrong with the example above?
One of the most important aspects of avoiding building something like this is how you dig the hole!
The hole...I can imagine you laughing...the hole, all you have to do is dig!
Well yes you do, but it's exactly HOW and WHAT you dig that's important...and again this is one of the most common mistakes that the Landscaper/Builder makes.
Above you can see the most common mistake that they make...to the left the water is at the bottom of the rock, yet to the right the liner is clearly visible ABOVE the waterline...not natural at all, what's the point of leaving the liner visible above the water! Oh and the waterfall is plastic...ok for DIY, because natural waterfalls ARE difficult to get right without years of practice, and that's why he's used plastic.
Then there's "Mr Unimaginative Landscaper"...how could anybody think that this could ever have looked any good as a cascade?
It's unbelievable...apart from the fact that it doesn't look even slightly "natural", it's impossible for the water to run over the top of them, all the water could ever do is run through the gaps and pour out below!
Well really, I've been asked to rectify some terrible things but this!!!
You just have to take a look at it in Chapter 4, absolutely unbelievable...and next (wait for it, it gets worse) here's the stream that goes with it...
Again then, if they use DIY rocks like this they DO NOT know what they are doing!
Next I'll show the "Natural Stream" that matches this one...
DIY rocks but bigger!!!
How unimaginative is that stream!!! Like a double row of broken teeth...next is how we rebuilt it.
But first another very common mistake is to leave all of the liner showing, like they've done here...what's the point of trying to recreate nature and then spoiling it by allowing you to see the crinkly liner?
And NO "it won't disappear eventually", you will always see it...so don't fall for that one!
But of course to hide the liner costs a lot more than just leaving it visible...just depends what you can tolerate versus what you want to pay for the extra detail!
And this is how we changed it.
Again the work of Professional Landscapers! The client left her Landscapers at home building this while she went to a Garden Show...she saw my work there and immediately called them and told them to STOPPPPPPPP!
I was then commissioned to take it apart and start again.
So what's wrong with it? For a start there's nowhere to put any plants, they would just slide down into the bottom of the pond...and again why would you want to see all that liner, because you couldn't possibly disguise it.
And why can't you disguise it? Well, even in such a small area the left side of the pond is about 3" lower than the right...which means that you would always see 3" of liner above the maximum waterline!!!
And there's not a thing you can do about it, except to start again.
Well now, this has to take first prize. Look carefully and you will see that the Landscaper (yes this isn't DIY) has found some old stone guttering and balanced them onto each other!
I can just imagine them saying to my client who asked me to rebuild it..."wotya mean mate, looks a mess, it's not finished yet, still gotta hide the liner with a bit of gravel"
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