Deck Building And Ponds - Working With Nature

There is no better way to admire a garden pond than from a deck. A raised pond with a deck built to finish level with its top gives the opportunity for many people to sit by and admire the pond.

It becomes the center piece when you are entertaining or having a family BBQ. A pond will significantly enhance a deck project and there are plenty of design choices for deck building and ponds.

First Things First

Before you start doing anything you need to find out if are allowed to build by checking with your local planning office. Planning laws vary wildly, not just from country to country but from state to state, county to county and even town to town. If you need to apply for permission and neglect to do so, you will probably be ordered to pull down any deck building and ponds already built, leaving you with nothing but a mess which will be costly to correct.

Second Things Second

Work out how much you can budget for this project. You may well want your decking to have a bridge majestically spanning a mini lake but can you afford it? Deck building is expensive, pond or no pond, so big is not always better. If your decking is going to be raised a foot or two you can buy a fiberglass pond that will just sit on the ground and then your decking can be built around it but if your decking is at ground level a hole will have to be dug to sink the pond. The type of wood used will also effect the cost as will your choice of hand rail if needed. With deck building and ponds there are many more variances that will effect the cost than if you were just building a deck or a pond..

You need to come up with some plans, preferably on graph paper and to scale. The plans will show how large and where the deck building and ponds will be. Also add to the plans the rest of the garden and include any other features already present. This will give you a better understanding of how it will look when completed. Use Google to search for pictures of decking with ponds for inspiration and ideas. Do several plans so you have a few options if one isn't viable because of cost.

Contractor Or Do It Yourself

Doing deck building and ponds yourself is obviously going to be vastly cheaper than hiring a contractor but there are reasons for that. A specialist contractor can work Monday to Friday on your job where as you may only be able to spare weekends. A contractor will work much quicker than you because he is experienced with deck building and ponds. A decent sized project would be done in a good week but if you are doing it yourself at weekends it could take the whole summer.

If you a competent DIY person and feel you are capable of doing the work yourself consider hiring some plant machinery, especially if its a decent sized project. What would take you to dig up in a day, a mini digger can do in an hour. A mini digger and concrete mixer will soon pay for themselves because they will make the job much quicker as well as saving your back.

Spending the money to have it done right first time is a good idea if you aren't confident of your skills and if your budget allows. Choose a contractor to do your deck building and ponds installation like you would select any other. Ask friends who did their decking, if you have seen some work you particularly admired, knock and ask who did the work.

You may live in an area where contractors must be licensed and if so, ensure they are. Ask for references and check with the Better Business Bureau to see if they have had any problems in the past.