Today's builders can offer a grotto with a staircase for $2,000 to $3,000 perhaps $6,000 to $8,000 for an elaborate custom design.Ī finished cave and waterfall, enhancing the value and appeal of an ordinary backyard pool, provides a feeling of satisfaction to builder and homeowner alike. The labor savings alone makes the component system extremely price competitive in the marketplace. A modular staircase system can easily be built in one day - much faster than the three-to-four days it would take to build a staircase system from scratch. New installers can often count on the manufacturer to supply technical support, in the field, for first time installations.Īdding slides, staircases and other fun options: Kids want to play under, jump off or slide down these water features, and that requires the building of a staircase or often adding a slide. Whether that is training on the first job or hands-on-training at a facility or pool, there are some tips and tricks that can make a builder's job easier and more cost-effective. It's important to partner with a supplier that offers hands-on training. Training: Builders agree that training is key to successfully building cave and grotto water features. Working with natural stone can often be a tricky enterprise and labor costs can get out of control very quickly.Ĭomponent water feature systems remove a lot of the risk and typically take a half-day to a full day for a crew of four people, while a large, complicated job with slides and multiple add-ons might take closer to three weeks. You might spend all day arranging the natural boulders, but then the customer comes home and says they think they would like to see the stones arranged in another way. Building water features with natural stone can be really unpredictable. Not only to price the job appropriately, but also for planning and scheduling. Time: All pool builders and renovators know the importance of being able to know exactly how much time it will take to execute any particular part of a job. Columns should be strapped and braced before filling. 5-foot wall sections are wired to the rebar frame that becomes the back of the cave. Modern component grotto/cave systems on the other hand are about 1/5th the weight of natural stone and designed with a weight distribution per foot that takes pool construction into consideration.Ī rebar column is part of the kit. Putting a large amount of weight on the edge of a pool can compress the ground and settle the entire pool. Weight: Grottos and caves are very attractive but if they were made out of natural stone, they would be extremely heavy. Having a water expert who offers landscaping allows the backyard retreat to be integrated under one company. But unfortunately, landscapers can often unintentionally create a water feature that compromises the pool in some way. When we first started offering them, we found that consumers were going to professional landscapers for both the water feature and the surrounding grounds. Landscaping: Landscaping is the key to making these water features blend naturally into the backyard. Fiberglass flume slides with rock type staircases and waterfall options can go from $15,000 to $50,000. Many water features include grottos and caves and price out in the $5,000 to $10,000 range while larger rotomolded slides and larger waterfalls tend to be more in the $10,000 to $15,000 range. Showing a "good, better, best and super best" option to consumers allows them to pick within their budget. ![]() Selling: When selling grotto and cave water features, budget is always a central consideration, as it is in any construction project. Once ordered, builders receive kits that come complete with all parts for assembly.įor those thinking about offering grotto and cave water features, here are some considerations: ![]() These new component systems are, in effect, a type of 'kit' that allows builders to show consumers a brochure of what the final product will look like at the time they sell the job. It's virtually impossible to tell the difference between real rock and the new cast-rock. ![]() Unlike previous options of artificial rock cast from rubber molds, the beauty of these new component systems is that they really look like real rock because they are cast from real rock - with the same shape, character and texture of real rock. With a generated mist settling over a cave, making everyday figures indistinct and mysterious, a young person's imagination can fill in the details of a wild pirate adventure. They provide all the benefits of a waterfall (visual beauty and the calming sound of cascading water) but also add a large measure of fun and excitement to the feature, especially for children. Caves and grottos are basically "super" waterfall features.
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