Custom ponds, waterfalls, and water features. Excavation, liner, stonework, and plumbing.
Water features are part construction, part art, part landscaping. Done well, a pond or waterfall looks like it's been there since before the house was built. Done poorly, it looks like a bathtub with rocks around it. The difference is mostly in the stonework and how the feature ties into the grade around it.
The biggest thing that makes or breaks a water feature is how it fits into the existing landscape. We look at the grade, the views, where you'll see it from, where the natural low point is. A waterfall that ends in a pond at the lowest point of the yard looks inevitable. One that sits in the middle of a flat lawn looks weird.
Excavation for a water feature is shaping work — building the shelves, the drops, the basin. Then the underlayment goes down (protects the liner from rocks), then the EPDM liner itself. This is the part that has to be watertight, so we take our time with it.
This is the fun part. We place boulders and stone to create the look — hiding the liner, building the waterfall, creating natural-looking edges. Pump and plumbing go in, water goes in, we tune the flow until it sounds and moves the way it should.
If you want fish or plants, you need a pond. If you just want the sound and look of moving water without the ongoing maintenance of a full pond, a pondless waterfall is the move. Water disappears into a hidden reservoir under the rocks and gets pumped back up. Way less upkeep, no algae issues, no fish to worry about in winter.