Professional Watershaping
'For the best part of 20 years now,' wrote Brian Van Bower in starting his Aqua Culture column from March 2010, ' trend watchers have tracked Baby Boomers and have kept telling us that, as we aged, we'd definitely become homebodies - so much so that the words "nesting," "cocooning" and "staycation" have all taken significant
In listing ten more guideposts Paolo Benedetti wishes he'd known before he started his business, this entire second set is about knowing, following and being on the right side of the rules when it's time to work with inspectors and the codes and standards they're sworn to enforce.
An Interview with Paul Fischman by Andrew Kaner Through the years, we at Aquatic Consultants (Miami, Fla.) have formed bonds with several architects and landscape architects whose efforts we support with plans and details for the aquatic systems they're including in their projects. In that capacity, we have worked with Paul Fischman with some frequency. He's a partner at Choeff Levy Fischman, a Miami-based architecture firm, and in the past eight years we have seen our relationship grow to a point where we now consider
With the many questions he's asked in classrooms and in conversations with fellow watershapers, Paolo Benedetti is constantly reminded of things he wishes he'd known when he started his business. In the first of two articles, he begins by discussing ten of these key observations.
'Watershaping carries us onto the properties and into the private lives of our clients, and it does so to such a personal, even intimate level,' wrote Brian Van Bower to start his February 2010 Aqua Culture column, 'that I see the value and importance of getting to know them to the best of my ability. Invariably, that means asking the right questions and knowing how to
'If you ask a roomful of watershapers about the toughest of the basic business challenges they face,' wrote Brian Van Bower in opening his Aqua Culture column for January 2005, 'there's little doubt in my mind that a large percentage of them would say that finding, hiring and keeping good employees is near the top of the list.' 'Depending upon several factors - the size of your company, its business volume, its focus and how much work you submit to outside contractors - your own approach
Here's a list of all 36 of Mike Farley's 'What Is It?' videos. The series ran for nearly seven years after starting in 2012 and forms a video catalog of trends in pool and spa design and accessorizing. #1: Rain Fall - click
'When you work with someone in a cooperative effort to achieve a common goal,' wrote Curt Straub in a trailblazing article in October 1999, 'the odds are greatly reduced that you will wind up one day facing that person in a courtroom. 'The neat thing about this form of cooperation, also known in business circles as partnering, is that it can do much more than keep you off your lawyer's time clock. In fact, partnering is something that all of us in the industry can
'Until quite recently,' declared Brian Van Bower in opening his October 2009 Aqua Culture column, 'it was difficult to find too many people in the watershaping industry who were willing to say much about "going green." 'For a while now, I've thought that was a mistake: It's been manifestly clear for several years that practices and programs related to energy conservation, water conservation and an overall sense of environmental responsibility are here to stay, and I always think it's better to
'One of the themes I've covered repeatedly through the years,' wrote Brian Van Bower in opening his Aqua Culture column in September 2009, 'has had to do with the need for all of us to become effective team players. 'True, there have been times when egos have gotten in the way and I've found myself in fairly dysfunctional groups, but for all that, I have to say that collaboration very often
