If you're considering hiring Tracy Large of Willamette Waterscapes in Salem to build your pond, please know what you are getting yourself into. Tracy and his helper worked long hours on our pond and stream, but the outcome was terrible. We are very disappointed and upset with his work to say the least.
We thought we were hiring an experienced and honest professional. Not so. We expected the pond to look realistic and exceptional. Not so. The photos of the "finished" pond speak for themselves.
When we expressed our displeasure about a huge amount of rubber liner showing, he said he could come back in the spring to fix it, but that was seven months out. He also had the nerve to say he would charge us even more money to fix the problem.
Because we weren't confident he could successfully complete the job to our expectations, and because there was no attempt on his part to contact us about finishing the work, we hired a qualified landscape contractor to repair what Tracy left unfinished.
In the course of fixing Tracy's mess, the landscape company discovered many errors. Here are some, but not all, of the issues:
1. Tracy failed to build the pond as we showed him on sketches, photos and at an onsite visit to our old pond. We showed him drawings of how the liner is stepped with shelves to hold the side rock. We said we want to replicate construction of our old pond. None of this happened.
2. A huge amount of liner was exposed above the pond's waterline around the entire perimeter. Not only is this aesthetically displeasing and unnatural looking, it is also detrimental to the liner itself by exposing it to ultraviolet radiation, ozone and other environmental conditions.
3. Related to the shelf, we asked him to make it 18 inches deep and 12 inches wide. And make it flat to accommodate waterlily pots. His shelf didn't come close to these specs.
4. Tracy didn't level the ground before digging. As a result, an extreme amount of liner was exposed at the upper end of the slope. He assured us "there would not be much liner exposed; maybe two to three inches." But, it was closer to two feet exposed above the water in about a third of the pond.
5. He used long nails to secure the underlayment to the walls of the pond. This was discovered by the landscape contractor who said nails should never be used under a liner.
6. We found some of the rocks on the pond's edge were unstable. This is a serious safety issue and a potential liability should someone stand on them.
7. The liner in the stream was installed too low in several places. We had to repair several leaks in the stream, and when it rained, the stream and pond filled with mud.
8. We received no instruction manuals, warranty information, serial numbers or product registration forms including the LED lights, pond light transformer, skimmer and spillway. We received no owner manual for the water pump. Additionally he did not give us itemized receipts for these products.
9. We wanted to maximize water flow over all falls and drops in the stream, yet there are places where water runs around and under the "waterfall rocks" thus diminishing the cascade effect we requested.
10. The overflow system was inadequate. The overflow device in the skimmer did not work during heavy rains because the dry well was too small and too shallow with minimal rock.
11. The LED low-voltage lighting system was inadequately installed by using standard wire nuts and black vinyl electrical tape on splices where Tracy cut off the quick-connect connections. He should have used quality DBR/Y-600 waterproof wire connectors.
12. The UV sterilizer bypass manifold was incorrectly installed. There should have been a ball or gate valve installed between the two pipes to reduce flow to the sterilizer. As a result of the improper install, water wasn't diverted into the sterilizer.
Tracy comes across as knowledgeable and very personable, but don't be deceived. You may regret hiring him to do your project. read more