To sum it up I took great pleasure in building this pond and surroundings in our garden. It took me a little over 10 months of nothing else but work in the day and late nights and weekends and a few holidays working on the pond in the garden to complete it by myself.
But to make all this happen a few pointers or words of advice from a novice:-
1, Plan out exactly what shape you are going to build your pond and stick to that plan moving the goal posts half way through could make a real difference to the overall costs.
2, Do drawings even if they are on a back of a fag packet as I found problems could be overcome even before you put the shovel in the ground.
3, Work out how much material you will require to complete the task” sand cement” ect.
4, Estimate the cost EVEN BEFORE you start then add at least 10% to it remember you will still need filters pumps ect.
5, Get advice on the construction methods as a rule of thumb i would ask questions to anyone who was in that trade on that part of the that building phase at that time.
6, Build over the top construction methods as water is very heavy and a failed pond wall or cracks can cost you dear with your favourite fish lying dead around your garden.
7, if this is your first pond DO get advice on filtration systems flows etc and make sure you are covered for the amount of fish you are going to keep.
8, Join a club or at least get down your local aquatics shop like I did and you will be surprised on how much information you can get from just a chat with someone.
9, Do not cut corners do the job properly or don’t do it at all, otherwise it will come back and haunt you in the future.
10, Purchase the best materials money can buy, don’t sacrifice for example cheap bags of cement as they have a sell by date on them stick to one brand of cement even if you have to go elsewhere to get it due to stuff being out of stock and buy your materials from the same supplier.
All of my cement came from B&Q as they are open all the time until late but chippings ect was purchased from a local builders merchant because it was cheaper.
10, And lastly plan ahead think about pipes under ground ducting mains power ect.
At the end of the day/nights work I would clear up then make a coffee sit down in a garden chair and look at what I had achieved that day and plan in your head what will be done tomorrow and what will be needed to complete it. |
