The Pond Gnome Process
Serving Phoenix, Scottsdale, Glendale, Arizona (AZ) & Surrounding Areas
What Is the Process for Having a Pond Built?
The Pond Gnome does its best to keep our processes fluid and simple so that it’s easy to choose us as your professional pond contractor!
Your Choice, Our Pleasure
First and foremost, we want you to be comfortable with choosing The Pond Gnome as your contractor. To that end, we attempt to supply you with as much information, research and knowledge as possible in our Pond Blog, as well as our individual pages on ponds, pondless features, remodeling, urban wildlife habitats, and pool conversions. Please feel free to take your time browsing around our website.
Can We Talk?
Once you’re ready to chat with us about YOUR project, you can do so by giving us a call, sending us an email, completing our online form, or booking a mutually convenient time to talk using our online booking system. We would appreciate it if you would send us some photos of the pond you wish to renovate or the building site so that we can speak to you intelligently about the project and make the best use of your time.
What Happens After You Decide to Work With The Pond Gnome?
Once you’ve chosen The Pond Gnome to design and build your pond, waterfall, stream, or water feature, the exciting part begins.
We’ll schedule a convenient on-site design consultation at your home, where one of our experienced pond designers will meet with you to discuss your vision, evaluate your property, and create a custom design tailored to your space, goals, and budget.
This is one of the most important steps in the process, and we don’t rush it. We take the time to understand how you want to use and enjoy your outdoor space, answer your questions, and ensure the final design reflects exactly what you’ve been imagining. Whether you’re dreaming of a koi pond, a peaceful waterfall, a backyard wildlife habitat, or a complete outdoor oasis, our goal is to bring that vision to life.
Once the design is finalized, your consultant will review the proposal with you, answer any remaining questions, and prepare the construction agreement. A deposit—typically 50% of the project total—is collected at that time, and your project is placed into our construction schedule.
If you’d prefer additional time to consider the proposal, that’s perfectly fine. We do charge a modest design consultation fee for on-site visits. However, that fee can be applied toward your project if you move forward within 30 days. Like many experienced design and construction professionals, we value the time, expertise, and personalized attention that goes into creating a successful project plan.
After your project is approved, you’ll officially become part of The Pond Gnome family. We’ll keep you informed throughout the scheduling process and remain available whenever questions arise. Need clarification? Have an idea you’d like to add? Decided you want the waterfall a little bigger? We’re always just a phone call away.
A few days before construction begins, you’ll receive a detailed confirmation email outlining your start date, what to expect during the installation process, and simple recommendations that will help make construction as smooth and stress-free as possible.
Our goal is simple: make the entire experience—from initial consultation to completed water feature—clear, enjoyable, and exciting. Because building your dream backyard should be just as rewarding as enjoying it for years to come.
The Build
The construction crew will show up the morning of the scheduled start date. This timing shifts a bit, depending on the time of year. In the “winter,” our crew show up between 7 and 9 that morning, depending on materials aquisition time, traffic, line at the coffee shop, etc. During the summer heat, our crew will arrive around 6 am to get started so that the guys can complete their work day before the brutal heat hits.
The average pond or water feature takes about a week to install. Once the installation is complete, either the Project Manager or the Consultant will walk you through your new water feature and go over some maintenance tips. You will also receive an owner’s manual with pertinent information, and we will collect the final payment on the contract at that time so that we can pay our Gnomes, and they can in turn pay their rent and go to the grocery store.
It’s Not the End...
But that’s all! You will receive a monthly newsletter from us with all kinds of seasonally appropriate information. If you chose a living ecosystem water feature, you will also receive weekly pond tips for the care and maintenance of your feature, along with other tidbits of information. And we remain as close as your phone or email for questions or concerns. You may also receive an invitation to the occasional event or party that we host. You are part of our family now, and we would never leave you hanging, so check our blog often for new stuff.
Why Is the Pond Gnome Different From Other Contractors?
Right off the bat, you may be wondering how The Pond Gnome is different from other contractors. Here are a few highlights of those differences:
We service what we build. It just infuriates us that some contractors say that they’re “too big” to service what they build. In our minds, that’s simply standing behind your product.
Our team is always in uniform and driving a company vehicle with signage so you know who it is showing up to your front door and poking around in your back yard.
We have business systems in place. No one is perfect, and our greatest fear is that something will fall between the cracks. We do our level best to prevent that from happening. Business systems also help ensure that The Pond Gnome will be around when you need us year after year.
We have separate divisions for construction and maintenance. Both teams receive specialized continuing education on their positions, as well as cross-training on others.
We show up on a schedule. When we set an appointment or a start date for a build, we’ll be there. Occasionally, because life is what it is, things get rescheduled due to vehicle issues, vacation schedules, sick days, etc., but overall, you can count on us.
We have been told time and time again that we are the cleanest contractor that anyone has ever worked with. We take great pride in that!
Our construction crew does one job at a time. That means that we won’t be pulling on and off your jobsite. When we start, we are there until the job is finished. And we do all the work ourselves, without hiring subs, so our team is the only team that you will see in your yard.
Our greatest joy is exceeding our clients’ expectations! You can check out what some of our clients have said about our work. And we’re always striving to add more to that list!
As you might have already noticed, we have a reputation for having a very educational website. We hope it helps you with whatever project you’re working on, whether that’s hiring a professional or doing it yourself. And it’s transparent, in that we give you all the information you’re looking for, including pricing.
We look forward to hearing from you soon about your project!