The Most Important Factor To Consider In Building Your Waterfall

If you're considering the purchase of a water feature for yourself or your clients, the process often seems a bit overwhelming; especially if this is your first time going through it. Where do you begin? In this article we will review the single most important thing you should know before purchasing or specifying a waterfall for your project.

Before you review the details of your space, or try to determine whether or not you should have a custom or prefabricated feature, what you really need to know first and foremost is the overall budget for this portion of your project.

Even if this is the first time that you are working with a waterfall on a project, and you are probably thinking that this is the type of information that the manufacturer can provide, and you’d be right about that, it is still really important to know what you or your client are prepared to spend for the right feature, based on your design intent.

A manufacturer can certainly fill in the gaps and provide specific pricing with regard to feature costs; however, there is no sense in designing or planning your space around a waterfall that costs $75,000 when the budget is limited to $10,000.

In our industry, we often hear the phrase, "if the client really likes the idea, they are prepared to spend the money," or something to that effect. Unfortunately, that level of info makes it more difficult for the manufacturer to provide the most complete information about the right product for your project.

Start by developing a budget range; asking yourself or the client, if we were to find something that we really loved for the space or if we knew that we could design a custom product that may add a whole new dimension, what is most we could possibly allocate for this item?

If you have an overall interiors budget, but have not broken out the numbers for individual elements, you should have a sense on whether this water feature is meant to be a focal point or a simple element meant to augment or blend in with the existing design. Naturally if the feature is a focal point, the possibility of trading off other elements to maximize the design possibilities is more likely.

Ultimately, the more information you can provide in terms of your design vision and budgetary parameters, the more any reputable manufacturer should be able to assist you. It is not critical that you provide exact numbers or even detailed drawings of any kind; although if you have them available, it is always helpful.

What’s more important is your ability to describe your design intent and have a rough budgetary range so that someone can help you to optimize that budget as much as possible. Be very wary of companies who are looking only to increase costs or add special materials when other more practical and economical options may be available.