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Yeah anything i would improvise would be of the same quality or better than a $10 piece of engineered plastic and neither i or the customer would pay unnessary costs. I know the savings i will have not using a vault on my current project will keep the project within my clients budget and she will be able to have a nicer water feature. And quality will not be sacrificed. Client is going to get a nice affordable water feature and we get to bill out for 30 man hours. Win-win.
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I missed this the first time I read this post. That is A LOT of hours for an urn bubbler.
 
Discussion starter · #22 ·
I would be interested in seeing your eventual solution. I sure others on this forum would also be interested. Post your final list of materials and components, and maybe a photo or two of the construction stages.
So you can pick it apart?

But i will just to see if the lawnsite gods approve. Might be a couple before i can fit in my schedule.
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Discussion starter · #24 ·
I want to incorporate a tennesse stack stone wall, but i need river rock as my pondless aggregate. I was going to try to break up the two by planting green giant lariope between the wall and the river rock bed. Thoughts? What kind of water loving ground cover would eventually cover the river rock? Asaitic jasmine? Fig ivey? The last waterfall i did the fig ivey softened the stone, but it wasnt so close to the water.
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Just a question but how many water features have you done? There is no way a bubbler water feature should take 3 guys to build.. one guy four hrs max if you know wat you are doing.. thats y ur *****n bout component prices cut the number of guys in get quality parts.
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I want to incorporate a tennesse stack stone wall, but i need river rock as my pondless aggregate. I was going to try to break up the two by planting green giant lariope between the wall and the river rock bed. Thoughts? What kind of water loving ground cover would eventually cover the river rock? Asaitic jasmine? Fig ivey? The last waterfall i did the fig ivey softened the stone, but it wasnt so close to the water.
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Why would you want any ground cover to cover the river rock. All it will do is hinder the water flow to the pump and quickly clog the entire system with root mass.
I am truly wondering now exactly how much experience you have constructing Water Features.
 
Discussion starter · #34 ·
Just a question but how many water features have you done? There is no way a bubbler water feature should take 3 guys to build.. one guy four hrs max if you know wat you are doing.. thats y ur *****n bout component prices cut the number of guys in get quality parts.
.
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How can you say that when you don't know site conditions? I have a 3 man landscape crew, so I bill out for an entire day for them to come on site for a job. I can't just lay off a couple full time guys for a day... at least I don't operate like that.

But the job will include a small stack stone wall, piping an autofill from a hard to access point, and mobilization of materials. $1500- $1800 sounds a little cheap to me. I have estimated material cost to be around $800 for the stone, stack stone for the wall, mortar for the wall, bubbler urn/water feature, autofill, liner, vault, plant material etc. I might be over estimating my material a bit, because I don't do water features every day, but I would rather be safe.
 
The urn doesnt look bad.. the waterfall is way tall doesnt look natural to on the pool. It looks like a big pile of rocks w water. Instead of going taller go wider so iy doesnt look like a dome. Last pond well.. lets just say it was an improvement for the previous contractor i asume
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Discussion starter · #37 ·
Why would you want any ground cover to cover the river rock. All it will do is hinder the water flow to the pump and quickly clog the entire system with root mass.
I am truly wondering now exactly how much experience you have constructing Water Features.
To be honest, not as much experience as I would like! I love water features and I would love to learn as much as I can about them. I know it is a learned fine art, and I really have respect for guys that can put together a natural looking waterfall.

Of course, my little urn project is probably not too exciting to yall, but I look forward to the chance to do something a little more creative than what we do day in day out... plant installs, irrigation, sod etc.
 
When I use manufactured components, it is done so because I know that a considerable amount of research and engineering have gone into the development of that product with the result being that I am confident that the product will generally meet the needs for which it is designed. That is not to say that I will not improvise on occasion.

The idea of using less than ideal materials for a project in order to increase the profit margin is unquestionably UN-professional and results in the customer being made as the sucker for paying for something of lower quality than they had bargained for.
Again...I don't have a dog in this fight...but...I agree with this...but would like to place emphasis on the underlined statement above.

I have seen many poor quality but expensive "pre-packaged" specialty items that were for dummies that had no ingenuity or knowledge as to how to make a superior product on their own.

So, while I don't build these things a hidden heavy duty plastic reservoir is still a hidden heavy duty plastic reservoir...and in terms of professionalism...I for one WOULD THINK it would be very professional for a quality builder to use substitute items that are of equal or superior quality but lower cost...IF (and only if) they also passed a significant portion of those savings onto the customer.

This way a customer can get a NICER unit for the same amount of money OR an equal unit for less money.

As long as quality doesn't suffer AND there is no dishonesty, then there is no lack of professionalism.
 
Discussion starter · #39 ·
The urn doesnt look bad.. the waterfall is way tall doesnt look natural to on the pool. It looks like a big pile of rocks w water. Instead of going taller go wider so iy doesnt look like a dome. Last pond well.. lets just say it was an improvement for the previous contractor i asume
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Actually we ended up cutting the pool deck and adding more plant material to soften the rocks, and planted fig ivey on in the planters to soften the rock.

Here is a photo after the plant material... BUT if you notice the homeowner had his pool guy F@#$ up my waterfall by making the waterfall come out in a sheet instead of naturally flowing down the rocks like I had it before. Oh well...

Plant Water Property Botany Nature
 
Anything that deals w waterfeatures gets me excited as i do them everyday doesn't matter how big or small. U can always find ways to improve urself even us old timers.. especialy the bearded tadpole lol..
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