We were contacted by a couple who had recently retired from the Army. Both had served at least 20 years. We are located right outside the world’s largest military base by population, Fort Bragg, so it is always our pleasure to build a pond for a client who has sacrificed for our nation. The least we can do is build them a relaxing water feature!
When they first contacted us, they did not know what they wanted — they just knew they wanted the sights and sounds of water. The wife stated that she also wanted to have fish, as long as nothing was too big for them to reasonably maintain. We come up with a plan and a size that was agreeable to them—a 8-by-11-foot pond that is 2 feet deep with a 5-foot stream. Aside from that, we had virtually an empty slate to work with.
As contractors, we sometimes get a look from the customer during the beginning stages of construction that makes us ask ourselves, “Did I make a mistake?” Whenever I see this look, I always remind the homeowner that they have seen my previous work and talked with many of my clients for references. Just focus on the finished product! This usually tends to calm their fears and worries.
The pond digging was easy, because the soil is very sandy in this area of the country. We really knocked out the digging of this pond in about two hours, which is not bad for a crew of three. We used an Aquascape 8 x 11 kit with an upgraded Aquascape 4000 pump because the homeowner wanted to connect a separate fountain into the same plumbing lines. We often do this if we know that the customer could add something or expand the project.
One of the challenges (and blessings) that we ran into was the location of the drainage system. When their home was built, they ran a drainage system near where the pond would be located. Instead of looking at this as a challenge, we used it as an opportunity to tie the pond’s overflow system into the existing drainage system. It ended up being fortunate that we did this, because right after we finished building the pond, we had about a week of rain. The homeowner mentioned that the pond level was constant, and there was no water pooling in their yard.
This pond is located right off the screened-in porch and covered patio where the homeowner likes to host parties and barbecues. The homeowner added their own special touch by adding more moss and plants. Witnessing this as a contractor is one of the joys of building a pond.
The homeowners emphasized that they like to go camping and wanted the sound of a soothing waterfalls in their yard. According to the client, we “truly mimicked nature.”
This project was fun for me and my crew. The homeowners referred us out and are ready to add more water features to their yard. This retired Army couple has defended our nation, so when we were called upon to build their pond, we gave it 100%.
