Use us to build your Koi pond

Johannesburg only.

After 12 years in the Koi business, building Koi ponds is now something that we can do for you. We offer a single sevice only - the construction from start to finish of a turn key Koi pond project. Over the years we have seen many Koi pond builders come, and we have seen many of them go.

It comes down to two things. Cost and expertise. From our website you can pretty much build a successful Koi pond yourself - everything you need is here. But Koi ponds are extraordinarily complex - the road is littered with the corpses of those who have thought otherwise. Get it wrong and it's expensive.Seriously expensive.

Cost is a natural consideration. The costs of your Koi pond are comprised of two primary considerations - time and materials. Of the two materials is roughly the same as everyone else. You can nickel and dime on these to a certain extent but at the end of the day the differences are relatively small. Time is the bigger issue. This can in turn be broken down into two components, namely the cost of labour/overheads and profit. Make no bones about it, we're not building ponds because we like the colour of your eyes. We build them to earn a living.

So how does one balance all this?

The way we break this down is as follows:

Materials. Once we know the size and design of the pond these can be costed quite accurately, to within 10% or so. Bear in mind 'hidden costs' like plumbing water supplies, electrical supplies, moving sewer lines and the like - all of which will have to be accommodated by external specialists. Don't forget rubble/soil removal costs!

Labour. Less accurate. Rain, unscheduled delays, factors beyond our control are a cost centre for you. Still, with experience we can estimate a labout cost that will be reasonably accurate. Just bear in mind that changes to the plan can possibly have quite a material effect on your budget!

Overheads. The 'soft costs' associated with running a business. Design of the pond. Planning the pond behind the scenes. This all takes time and carries a cost you may not necessarily be aware of. We add 15% to our Materials and Labour estimates to cover overheads.

Lastly it comes down to profit. In our experience 20% is not an unreasonable figure. This is calculated from the initial calculated cost of the Koi pond, and we are paid this in advance. Any adjustments up or down are covered once the project is completed. If our reputation is not sufficient to give you peace of mind, then we are not the company to build your Koi pond for you.We work on trust and on a handshake.

We also offer a handover phase in which we will test your water and stock you with a few starter fish. This is a process that can take a few weeks. The costs associated with this are time based.

Estimates for Koi ponds vary from anything between R1.50 and R2.50 per litre for construction costs and between R0.70 and R1.50 for filtration costs. Finishes and complexity will add or subtract from the final costs.

Lastly - don't forget green/running costs. Badly designed Koi ponds can be cheap to build but require 1500W a month to run. Calculates the electrical running costs on that, month in and month out (at time of writing a .75 kW swimming pool type pump will cost you over R900 a month - for just the pump!). The same pond, properly designed could run comfortably on less than 200W, roughly 1/6th of what conventional old school filtration will cost you.