Professional Watershaping
‘I know many of you absolutely dread the permitting process and are even more bothered by inspectors and the inspection process,’ observed David Tisherman near the top of his May 2007 Details column. ‘While this anxiety may be common, it’s nonetheless misguided. ‘Yes,’ he continued, ‘the nitpicking requirements applied in some areas seem unnecessary and, yes, some inspectors can be
'When I teach seminars on watershape design,' wrote Brian Van Bower in opening his Aqua Culture column ten years ago, 'I always emphasize the importance of having a list of questions to ask prospective clients during initial conversations. It's a point that always seems to ignite discussion - and it usually ends up with someone in the audience asking me to provide such a document for general use. 'I always refuse to do so, not because I
‘Whenever I’d call my mother on the phone when I was a kid,’ began Brian Van Bower in a column he wrote for WaterShapes’ January 2002 edition, ‘she’d start the conversation by asking me, “Are you smiling?” ’ At a time when the pressure is on businesses to perform with higher levels of client service and accommodation than ever before, that question might carry even more significance than it did when Brian first wrote about it. He continued: ‘Back then, I never gave her greeting too much thought because
'Anyone who runs a good business knows that day-to-day operations are so all-consuming that it's difficult to step back and scope out where you fit within your corner of the industry.' 'We can't give those daily details short shrift,' wrote Brian Van Bower in opening his Aqua Culture column in the December 2006 issue of WaterShapes. 'Still, it occurs to me that . . . our daily endeavors need to be
'If you've been paying any attention to the media lately,' wrote Brian Van Bower at the start of his Aqua Culture column in WaterShapes' November 2006 edition, 'you may have noticed that watershaping is "in" as a big-time topic for television, books, magazines, newspapers and other forms of mass communication.' 'Never in all my years as part of this industry can I recall a time during which the subject of
'I've always been excited by innovation. I place creativity high on my list of aspirations and priorities in my own business, and I think my life gets most interesting when I'm involved with people who are similarly attuned to this desire to do and try new and interesting things.' That's how Brian Van Bower opened his
'We water and landscape professionals literally shape the outdoor environments in which we work - cutting grades, building walls, planting trees, installing pools, ponds and fountains and preparing patios, decks, planting beds and lighting systems.' 'In designing these outdoor-living spaces,' noted Bruce Zaretsky in kicking off his On the Level column in
'I understand that everybody has to make a living,' wrote David Tisherman near the top of his Details column in the June 2006 edition of WaterShapes, 'and I've always known that there are many people in the watershaping world who make their daily bread by selling, designing and building the pool, starting it up, selling pool toys and acid and chlorine, servicing the pool, winterizing it in the fall and opening it back up in the spring.' 'The range of activities some people try to master beneath the umbrella of
Back in June 2012, the publisher of WaterShapes was kind enough to write a blog about our work with Project Scion, a program Zaretsky and Associates (Rochester, N.Y.) was helping to develop as a means of bringing green spaces to rough urban neighborhoods. At that stage, it was still a dream: We had just launched into our first round of funding through kickstarter.com and had no clear sense of how
'It's a fact of life,' declared David Tisherman in opening his Details column 15 years ago this month: 'The best design feature in the world isn't worth anything if it isn't executed properly. And no matter how good your in-house staff or subcontractors are, they need guidance when it comes to the nuts-and-bolts work of getting the job done the way its designer intends.' '[W]hen you have good, tight supervision provided by a knowledgeable overseer working with good crews and a good set of plans, anything
