Professional Watershaping

Client Tech
As all professional designers know, prospective clients can be unpredictable.  Sometimes they get in sync with what we're doing right away, and it seems every step is a positive one.  Other times, however, they can be slower to figure things out, and the process can become more complicated. I started working for a pool-construction company soon after graduating from college with a degree in industrial design.  This was before
Doing Our Best, Sustainably
Every year, it seems, there's a new trend we have to deal with as designers.  Once it was beach entries, another time it was container gardens.  For a while, it was all about outdoor kitchens; fire features enjoyed their time in the sun as well. To be sure, each of those once-trendy pursuits has had staying power, and I still hear from clients about
Size Revisited
'Most of us are in business to earn a living,' wrote Stephanie Rose to open her Natural Companions column in the May 2005 edition of WaterShapes, 'which is probably why so many of us think of the high-end market as the place to be.  . . .  But when I look more closely at the work I've done through my career, I believe we might be overlooking valuable opportunities for personal and professional growth by being so single-minded in
Setting Personal Standards
'I've had the pleasure of teaching hydraulics to watershapers in a variety of classroom settings,' noted Dave Peterson in opening his Currents column in the May 2010 edition of WaterShapes.  'These courses . . . ask a lot of the students who sign up for them . . . [and] I find it enormously encouraging that so many people are focused on spending the time and energy required to improve their skills and
The Evolving Studio
I've been working with digital design technology for nearly ten years at this point, and I have to say that the rate of change with both the software and the hardware has been rapid enough to make a casual observer's head spin.  And that's fine, because those of us who've been involved with it from the beginning have come to expect no less. In my case, however, I didn't start out with computer design.  In fact, I'd been working as
On the Ground Floor
I grew up in my father's pool business - a successful design/build firm based in Henderson, Nev.  Even in high school, I was consciously preparing myself to get involved on the design side of things and had signed up for a drafting class to start developing the requisite drawing skills. But something big was happening in the late 1990s:  I was all set for my drafting class and had equipped myself with the tools I'd need
Thoroughly Modern
I followed a well-worn path when I started designing watershapes:  I acquired a drafting table and worked at gaining proficiency in the use of pencils, protractors, scales, squares, various templates, colored markers and a multiplicity of other drawing tools as a means of communicating design ideas to my clients. To this day, I have great admiration for those who work quickly and decisively with these tools, but about ten years ago I was introduced to an array of digital design systems - and I've been
Concrete’s Ways
Many times in the past 15 years, articles published by WaterShapes have referred to water as "the main ingredient" when it comes to pools, spas, fountains, ponds and all of the other forms of contained, controlled water.  I'm willing to accept that assertion and have probably offered it myself a time or two. Here, however, I want to
Straight and Narrow
It's been a while since I shared a video with you through WaterShapes.com, but it occurred to me (even after a good, long gap) that this one fit perfectly into the series we once offered on the subject of site access and the ways equipment and the products of demolition and construction can be moved from place to place under
Working Multi-Year Relationships
Some pool builders think of a project as a one-shot deal:  You install the watershape and move along.  Others put in the pool, then generate longer-term revenue with service and maintenance work.  But there are still others who focus on understanding the lifestyles of their clients and find ways to continue to act as their contractors, year after year, as the original project is gradually upgraded, updated and remodeled. We at All Seasons Pools (Orland Park, Ill.) count ourselves among the third group of builders and capitalize on