Hi Everyone

I would like to have a pond in my garden, and I've just had a quote from
a pond specialist which strikes me as rather expensive. It's for a pond
approx 11 x 9 ft, about 2 foot deep, surrounded with rocks and with a
filtration system, at a cost of about £10,000. The chap who gave the
quote sounded very knowledgeable and showed some lovely photos of other
ponds he'd done, and I'm sure he'd do a good job, but it strikes me that
this could be a lot more than is sensible to pay for what I would have
thought was a reasonably straightforward job.

Am I underestimating how much work is involved in digging a pond, or is
this quote really very high?

Any thoughts gratefully received. Also any suggestions for other pond
specialists in the south London/Surrey area gratefully received.

Thanks

Adam

On Thu, 22 May 2008 09:10:22 +0100, Adam wrote:

Hi Everyone

I would like to have a pond in my garden, and I've just had a quote from
a pond specialist which strikes me as rather expensive. It's for a pond
approx 11 x 9 ft, about 2 foot deep, surrounded with rocks and with a
filtration system, at a cost of about £10,000. The chap who gave the
quote sounded very knowledgeable and showed some lovely photos of other
ponds he'd done, and I'm sure he'd do a good job, but it strikes me that
this could be a lot more than is sensible to pay for what I would have
thought was a reasonably straightforward job.

Am I underestimating how much work is involved in digging a pond, or is
this quote really very high?

Any thoughts gratefully received. Also any suggestions for other pond
specialists in the south London/Surrey area gratefully received.

Thanks


That does sound a lot, but remember that there's a lot more to it than
just 'digging a pond'. After the excavation it will need a sand bed, a
butyl liner and surroundings, plus the filter system with a suitable
pump and its electrics wired back into the house. Those parts are all
quite expensive.
With a job of this size I would in any case get three quotes from
different contractors so that I could compare them.

"Adam" wrote
I would like to have a pond in my garden, and I've just had a quote from a
pond specialist which strikes me as rather expensive. It's for a pond
approx 11 x 9 ft, about 2 foot deep, surrounded with rocks and with a
filtration system, at a cost of about £10,000. The chap who gave the quote
sounded very knowledgeable and showed some lovely photos of other ponds
he'd done, and I'm sure he'd do a good job, but it strikes me that this
could be a lot more than is sensible to pay for what I would have thought
was a reasonably straightforward job.

Am I underestimating how much work is involved in digging a pond, or is
this quote really very high?

Any thoughts gratefully received. Also any suggestions for other pond
specialists in the south London/Surrey area gratefully received.


That does sound excessive, certainly for a straightforward rectangular pond.
No doubt he will be laying a concrete base and bricking the sides and then
getting a made to measure box liner to fit exactly so no creases etc? Are
you installing skimmers, a vortex, filters, bottom drains etc too?
What exactly is he offering for £10k?

I can't believe a top class Koi pond of that size would cost that much (2 ft
is too shallow anyway), ask a swimming pool installer how much a swimming
pool of that size would cost with everything included and it will give you
an idea, or contact some of the Koi firms and ask them how much.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

Thanks for the helpful thoughts everyone. I've found a couple of other
people to give some quotes, so let's see what theirs look like.

Adam

On May 24, 10:12*am, Adam wrote:
Thanks for the helpful thoughts everyone. I've found a couple of other
people to give some quotes, so let's see what theirs look like.

Adam

I'd be interested in hearing what the other quotes are because £10,000
sounds like a joke - sorry but I would have thrown a quote like that,
straight in the bin because it just seems way OTT. I've never had one
installed, my pond was here when I bought the place. I was surprised
someone said £1000 - I'd think a quote like that would be very good
but as others have said, best to find out exactly what they're
offering for their quotes.

2 foot doesn't seem that deep, mine is not quite as large but about 3
feet at the deepest points - it may depend whether you have small
children or not, of course you might not want it that deep.

"Adam" wrote in message
...
Hi Everyone

I would like to have a pond in my garden, and I've just had a quote from a
pond specialist which strikes me as rather expensive. It's for a pond
approx 11 x 9 ft, about 2 foot deep, surrounded with rocks and with a
filtration system, at a cost of about £10,000. The chap who gave the quote
sounded very knowledgeable and showed some lovely photos of other ponds
he'd done, and I'm sure he'd do a good job, but it strikes me that this
could be a lot more than is sensible to pay for what I would have thought
was a reasonably straightforward job.

Am I underestimating how much work is involved in digging a pond, or is
this quote really very high?

Any thoughts gratefully received. Also any suggestions for other pond
specialists in the south London/Surrey area gratefully received.


When we moved here (Wiltshire) 25+ years ago I dug our pond, OK, only about
6' x 4', which is much smaller than yours, but mine's over 3' deep and my
fish are more than 15 years old.

Unless you want to have only waterlilies and no fish, 2 feet is far too
shallow, IMHO.

10K seems to me to be totally over the top.

You're teasing us, right? This is a joke posting?

someone

someone wrote:
"Adam" wrote in message
...
Hi Everyone

I would like to have a pond in my garden, and I've just had a quote
from a pond specialist which strikes me as rather expensive. It's
for a pond approx 11 x 9 ft, about 2 foot deep, surrounded with
rocks and with a filtration system, at a cost of about £10,000. The
chap who gave the quote sounded very knowledgeable and showed some
lovely photos of other ponds he'd done, and I'm sure he'd do a good
job, but it strikes me that this could be a lot more than is
sensible to pay for what I would have thought was a reasonably
straightforward job.

H
5k of that is cos the bloke prob. calls himself 'an aquatic landscaper'
DIY, a pond that size would cost between £200/1,000, depending on equipment
choice. How much you spend to landscape is down to personal preference.
--
Pete C
London UK

On 24/5/08 15:15, in article
, "Chrissy"
wrote:

On May 24, 10:12*am, Adam wrote:
Thanks for the helpful thoughts everyone. I've found a couple of other
people to give some quotes, so let's see what theirs look like.

Adam

I'd be interested in hearing what the other quotes are because £10,000
sounds like a joke - sorry but I would have thrown a quote like that,
straight in the bin because it just seems way OTT. I've never had one
installed, my pond was here when I bought the place. I was surprised
someone said £1000 - I'd think a quote like that would be very good
but as others have said, best to find out exactly what they're
offering for their quotes.

2 foot doesn't seem that deep, mine is not quite as large but about 3
feet at the deepest points - it may depend whether you have small
children or not, of course you might not want it that deep.


We did a customers near 1 acre field for him last winter, large - very
large, perhaps quarter acre - pond for which the liner alone cost £3k. We
hired a digger, two people did the work, planted it all up, supplying all
the plants, laid gravel etc. and it cost £20k for all that including labour
and materials and plants. He didn't need a filtration system but has a
powerful pump which takes water in from a stream in one small area and
returns it via a second pond which is more of a bog garden, lower down.
There are some pics on the web site under More Info. which will give the OP
an idea of the size of the pond.
2' is not deep enough for fish BTW but a small child can drown in a puddle,
so in that sense the depth is immaterial from the safety point of view.
£10k for a pond that size is appalling! I'm shocked, truly.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon