Upper-Crust Ponds

An Interview by Lenny Giteck

From a very young age, Steve Sandalis was fascinated by natural waterfeatures — an early interest that years later led him to found his watershaping company, Mystic Water Gardens.

The Encino, Calif.-based business has prospered mainly by designing and building high-end waterfeatures for the wealthy elite of Los Angeles, including major figures in the entertainment industry. Many of Mystic’s projects, which mostly come through word-of-mouth referrals, have carried six-figure price tags, including one that ran $800,000.

We recently spoke with Sandalis about what it’s like to create custom-crafted ponds, waterfalls, pondless waterfalls, koi ponds, lakes and streams for the rich and famous.

Are wealthy people especially drawn to waterfeatures for any reason?

A lot of these people, particularly the celebrities, lead such hectic and stressful lives their houses really are like an oasis for them. They have gates and guards, and once they pass all that, their homes are safe havens. Sanctuaries. So they want to create the most incredible relaxing environment — and waterfeatures really are key to achieving that.

I recently completed a major project for a movie star. We put in a two-acre lake with an island in the middle that has trees and other beautiful plants. We built a little Balinese-style hut on the island, where the star can do yoga. How nice is it to come home and have your own private island where you can meditate or sit and read a book?

Is designing and building waterfeatures for the affluent different from doing it for the rest of us?

Well, for one thing it’s really great to work with people who have a vision, but who also have the budget to back up that vision. A lot of people have champagne tastes but are on a beer budget, and that can make it pretty hard to give them what they have in mind.

Many people would assume that rich clients are difficult to work with.

It really depends on the individual. One of my first big jobs was in Malibu at a vineyard. The client was a banker and was very hands-on. I thought, He’s a banker sitting in an office all day, so what does he know about creating waterfeatures?!

The guy turned out to be one of the most creative people I’ve ever worked with. When we were done with the first project, he had us back to do other jobs. I would tell him the price, and without blinking an eye he’d write a check for half up-front. He was a joy to work with.

Any other examples come to mind?

The project I just did for the movie star. Working for him was probably one of the easiest jobs I’ve ever done. It was smooth, his people trusted me, and the client loved the outcome.

Do wealthy clients tend to make unreasonable demands?

Face it, these are people who usually get their way in life. Sometimes they get a vision in their mind and they want you to do the impossible. For example, water does not flow uphill, so you can’t have a stream that flows uphill!

What I’ve found is that as long as I’m designing and executing a project from my heart, the clients eventually come around. They see the expertise and the passion I have, and they start to trust me. But in some instances when they get set on a particular design they have in mind, I do have to persuade them to go down a different route.

That route being…

With me it’s all about creating an environment that looks natural. I don’t want to create anything that looks odd or obviously artificial. I strive to have everything I build look natural and be functional.

You mentioned the movie star’s “people.” Is it typical for celebrities to have a whole retinue of employees — and does dealing with them complicate the process?

Famous people do tend to employ layers of individuals who work under them, so in some cases you don’t even get to meet the actual client. For example, movie stars usually have a right-hand person, often someone they grew up with and feel they can trust. That individual might make a lot of the important decisions on a project.

The star usually has additional individuals on staff as well. During the planning stage and while the project is in progress, you might be dealing with three or four layers of people. It can be a little overwhelming, because getting everyone on the same page can be a challenge.

Seems like a recipe for conflict or dissatisfaction as the project progresses.

That’s why when you’re involved with this kind of situation, it’s essential that you get things signed off on at each step of the way. And you need to be as detailed and clear as possible in what you’re asking them to sign off on, so there are no misunderstandings. Being that precise can be easier said than done.

What about relating to your well-to-do clients on a human level?

Most people who have a lot of money are extremely well-traveled and enjoy the finer things in life. As someone who works for and with them, you really have to relate to them on that level. I don’t have as much money as they do, but I do like fine wine, my wife and I like to travel, we like to stay at nice places, and all of that helps me understand my wealthy clients better.

Do you find high-end projects especially stressful to work on?

They can be, You’re dealing with much larger sums of money, so there’s more at stake and that can be pretty stressful. But believe it or not, I sometimes find that I have much less stress on the big-budget jobs. As I say, the money is there to get the exact materials we need, the proper equipment, whatever is required to do the job the right way.

With some of the small jobs where the homeowners don’t have much money, you need to improvise a lot. If you don’t have the budget for, say, the exact type of rock you want, you might have to use a blend of different rocks. Maybe you’ll only use the rock the client really likes at the top of the pond, and you’ll compromise by using cheaper rock on the bottom. That can lead to frustration and stress.

Have any of your rich clients ever stiffed you when it came to paying the bill?

Not really — although I do recall one project where, after the job was finished and paid in full, I came back a year later to install of couple of lilies that cost $50. The client never paid me. With some of these folks, the stock market plummets, they lose a great deal of money, and then they don’t pay your $50 bill — when the original feature you put in was a $500,000 lake.

So no real horror stories?

I’ve actually had complete horror stories with the people who work for the rich clients. Some landscape architects, for example, think they can draw a plan that includes every single rock on a waterfeature. But when you’re actually in the field, it doesn’t work that way.

Setting boulders and forming rock outcroppings — these things have to come from within. It depends on the actual site and how it all plays out. It’s not something that can be drawn on a piece of paper — “OK, I want four rocks here and three rocks there.” It has to happen organically.

You’re talking about when a number of different professionals working on a project?

Exactly. In many of these projects, the client is totally rebuilding the house or building a new house from the ground up, and occasionally the interior architect winds up designing the pond and deciding which rocks go where. That’s not the architect’s specialty at all, so it can get a little hard to take.

Sometimes you need to bite your lip a little and just work with people. In the end, you usually win them over when they see the final product. That’s always very rewarding.