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Good project management focuses on doing everything right for the project.  The client’s best interests are naturally a result of that.

The Project

This pool shell is “shoe-horned” onto this property just within setback lines and a designated wetlands area.

The homeowner had contacted me at this stage because things were just not moving ahead and any advice she was getting did not seem right to her.

She had lost confidence in the pool contractor and needed help getting the project back on track both in terms of design and implementation.

Ingredients To A Successful Project

Ideally there is thoughtful planning from the very beginning that involves 3 major players.  The homeowner, landscape designer or architect, and the civil engineer.

Discussions should not only cover design, but logistical issues as well.

You must always consider not just how something will look, but also how it’s going to get done.

Project Manager

It’s very important that before you undertake a project like this you try to plan out and anticipate as many details as possible.

A project manager with experience will break the project down into an ordered sequence of phases. When the work begins the PM schedules and oversees each phase.

There is now a new important relationship.  It includes the homeowner, the project manager and the contractors.

If there is a mismatch in that team in terms of expectations and standards of workmanship, the project is destined to have disappointments and delays.

Plan As Best You Can, Then Improvise

Not being involved from the beginning, especially regarding the design and planning stage, there were things I certainly would have done differently.

And it was challenging (and awkward) to get questions answered from the original planners and pool contractor just because of the circumstances.  Nevertheless we now had a great team in place.

The jacuzzi / waterfall you see was built close to the wetlands area line. Under no circumstance are you able to encroach on this line in any way.

One of our challenges was to give this elevated feature a setting that would help visually justify it being there. Normally you design elevated features like this with surrounding land and landscape so it makes sense.

Within the limited space we worked with large boulders to echo the waterfall and to support additional earth that was brought in.

Finally, with careful selection and placement of plant material, the jacuzzi / waterfall appears as though it belongs there.


Here’s the next post for this project.

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