Clients crave professionalism. With an increasingly automated society, the hallmarks of superior service are friendly acknowledgment, rapid response and timely follow-up, instead of standard procedure.<\/p>\n
California Aqua Pros have proven the value of professionalism for more than 25 years. Greg and Marlo Purkey honed their customer service skills to create a thriving business, enhancing the lives and landscapes of their clients. Serving the entire San Francisco Bay Area, they built a network of contractors and friends who assist their company design and install unique gardens and water features.<\/p>\n
Covering nine counties and 101 municipalities throughout the Bay Area, each with their own rules and regulations, every job demands its own set of permits and constraints. \u201cWe need to get a license for every city we work in, and they are usually only good for a year,\u201d Marlo says. At any given moment, they hold at least a dozen licenses. \u201cThey all have very different requirements, and it\u2019s constantly changing. Before we even bid a project, we need to see exactly what is allowed, and not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greg and Marlo were high school sweethearts in central California and moved to the Bay Area after they were married. \u201cMy father and grandfather were both in the pool industry,\u201d Greg says. Although he was successful sticking to swimming pools, after getting a taste of the extra beauty and excitement a water feature can offer, he started \u201cdabbling in ponds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Always a fan of continued education, Greg Purkey discovered Greg Whittstock and Aquascape Inc., a pond-building company based in St. Charles, Illinois. Whittstock was a pond and turtle lover who founded his company in 1991 to build and design water features, waterfalls and ecologically balanced ponds. Whittstock eventually devised a system to share with others, as well as a complete product line of biofilters and skimmers that keep water features running clean and clear.<\/p>\n
Now known as \u201cThe Pond Guy,\u201d Whittstock has built a network of pond professionals using proven systems and products to ensure both customer satisfaction and contractor profits. \u201cWhat they are doing right is offering training,\u201d says Greg Purkey.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe meet once a year with other Aquascape contractors,\u201d Marlo says. \u201cThere\u2019s lots of camaraderie and ideas exchanged. We\u2019re all from different areas, so we\u2019re not competing. We can openly share information. We call it the tribe!\u201d<\/p>\n
The Purkeys are proud tribe leaders. \u201cLast year we were the third largest contractor in the world for Aquascape,\u201d Greg says. California Aqua Pros have consistently been one of the top 10 contractors through the last decade for the manufacturer.<\/p>\n
Greg originally produced all the designs on paper, but in the past year, the company has hired a dedicated designer. \u201cWe met Jorge Castellanos at an educational event. It was a good match and he has been with us for over a year now,\u201d says Marlo. The company employs seven people.<\/p>\n
While California Aqua Pros performs the actual pond and water feature design and installation, other parts of the job are contracted out to the company\u2019s wide network of professionals. \u201cWe sub out a lot of our big projects,\u201d Greg says. \u201cWe have a concrete guy for concrete, and a paver guy for pavers. We work with multiple landscape contractors throughout the area. We have four or five different contractors we can use for the irrigation, depending on the location. We try to stick to companies who are specialists in their field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marlo ensures that all subcontractors are thoroughly vetted before they ever set foot on a job site. \u201cWe\u2019re audited every six months, so we need to be sure that everyone is updated, licensed and insured,\u201d says Marlo. \u201cWe need to be sure that all contractors have proper liability, workers\u2019 comp and all the other requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Government regulations played a big part in one of the couple\u2019s most interesting jobs of late. The call for a massive water feature, plus a complementary front-yard design, was a bit above-and-beyond for the company, but they were up for the challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe met at a home show, before their house was even built,\u201d Greg says. \u201cThey did it right, getting us in at the design stage. I met them on-site when there was nothing but the slab for the house poured.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The front-yard landscape was one of the biggest hurdles. \u201cThe city had preapproved the front-yard landscapes by the developer, but our client wanted something beyond the cookie-cutter gardens offered,\u201d says Greg. \u201cThe developer gave them a choice of only a few plants, and if you look down the street, every front yard looks exactly the same. They wanted more.\u201d<\/p>\n
The client had a sound working knowledge of plants and wanted color and style. \u201cWe installed dry-stack boulder walls in the front that meandered around the walkway and drive, and they created some great terraced planting areas,\u201d Greg says. \u201cShe wanted colorful foliage as well as flowers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Little did they know that it would require satisfying an obstacle course of rules and regulations to upgrade the front-yard landscape design. \u201cThe city required a detailed plan with all plants labeled as to water requirements,\u201d says Greg.<\/p>\n
The Purkeys created a complete plan that checked all of the boxes, including bringing in other irrigation experts, Greg says. \u201cThey required us to hire a certified irrigation auditor to perform and audit and complete a report before they would sign off.\u201d<\/p>\n
The regulatory obstacles in the front yard made the massive project in the back seem simple in comparison. The water feature itself was 18 feet by 24 feet and required a substantial raised wall. \u201cThey had a huge \u2018California room\u2019 along the whole back side of the building, so it feels like the waterfall is literally falling into the house,\u201d Greg says. The doors to the room open up, bringing the outdoors into the living space.<\/p>\n
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But there\u2019s plenty of living space outdoors around the water feature as well. A dining area and a fire pit create an irresistible invitation for entertaining and lounging. \u201cOf course we had to pull permits to run the gas line to the fire pit,\u201d says Marlo.<\/p>\n
The client had design demands for the backyard as well. \u201cShe had a pond at her previous home and loved it. There was a black panther sculpture that she was bringing with her, and she wanted a great spot for it on the slope somewhere. It was almost life-sized \u2014 it\u2019s huge,\u201d Greg says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put it next to the waterfall, and for nighttime viewing we put a light on its face. It actually looks kind of menacing!\u201d he jokes.<\/p>\n
As well as design challenges, the company faced a few other issues. \u201cWe had time constraints and scheduling challenges as well,\u201d Marlo says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hit a bunch of shale during the excavation process, so we had to use a jackhammer,\u201d says Greg. \u201cWe made special accommodations to protect the liner for the pond, because the rock was fairly sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n
The weather provided a few setbacks as well. \u201cWe started right around the same time the rainy season did, about December, and by February we were a little behind because of the rains,\u201d says Greg. \u201cBut we had already done all the gas line work and concrete work, so we were able to catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe say in our contracts that one day of rain can cause up to seven days of delay,\u201d Greg says. \u201cThat\u2019s mainly because if we hit a downpour and we\u2019re doing excavation, it\u2019s just a mess. Typically a day or two of rain isn\u2019t bad, but if we have clay and have excavated, you can\u2019t move it around, and it sticks to everything.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe excavation and concrete pour were massive,\u201d Greg says. The project used nearly 80 tons of rock, all set by hand. \u201cLike many new developments, there was only about a 4-foot access on either side of the house to the back, so equipment use was limited. We hand dug, using jackhammers with spades on them, and brought out the soil by hand. After we put the liner in, all those tons of boulders were brought in using just a dolly and a wheelbarrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once the boulders were in the back, they needed to be hoisted up to create a structure for the waterfall and outline for the pond. \u201cWe use special planks used for high-rise building scaffolding because they are very durable. We use them to span the waterfalls and roll the boulders up them. It\u2019s a tedious process,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boulders were set so they could mesh perfectly,\u201d says Greg. \u201cIt ended up looking very organic and natural.\u201d And the clients loved it.<\/p>\n
After more than a quarter century at work, Greg and Marlo still greet each day with enthusiasm and professionalism. What is the key to success? \u201cEducation, education, education,\u201d says Greg. \u201cNever stop learning. We spend a lot of money every year on continued education.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t take shortcuts,\u201d Marlo says. \u201cYou have to follow the rules. It\u2019s not always fun at the time, but the end results are so worth it!\u201d<\/p>\n
California Aqua Pros follow state regulations while building a water feature that stands out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":3213,"parent":0,"template":"","main-categories":[27,28],"class_list":["post-3208","features","type-features","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","main-categories-irrigation","main-categories-landscape"],"yoast_head":"\n