Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Human habitat; dreaming out loud

Brettski,

Unfortunately you can never think of everything and even if you do, you probably can't incorporate all of it. I enjoy looking at the pond, so I built my house with the front facing the water and the back facing the road. I have lots of windows and a big patio downstairs and a narrow balcony running across the front that also serves as the front porch. I have an inside and an outside kitchen, the outside being downstairs; the close proximity of the pond to the house promotes a lot of outdoor activity. It gets extremely hot here so I tried to take that inconsideration as much as possible by building the house so that the monsoon winds hit the house broadside instead of head on; this also lets me catch more of the breeze. With two yearly monsoons it rains a great deal so I have an open and a glass enclosed patio, both have kitchens and access to a full bath on the ground floor. My house is 2 stories and as close as I am to the pond’s edge, about 10’, affords a great view not only of the pond but the surrounding area as well.
The biggest challenge for me has always been trying to install all of the underground things, water, electric, sewer, etc. before I installed all of the hardscape, before I installed all of the landscape. I do ok with the immediate stuff but, often forget to plan ahead. This time I ran conduit for water and electric all the way around the pond, but forgot outside lighting for the front of the house, I am going to have to tear up something to install a couple of flood lights to shine out over the pond from the house.
Put in plenty of hose bibs, 3 way switches between house and outbuildings, hot water at the outdoor kitchen, foot bath between your beach and house, water and electricity at the dock and other outdoor gathering places. Outdoor shower? Accent and walkway lighting, make sure you can reach the windows for cleaning, is there plenty of air flow around the house, shade, enough, too much?
Your property is more than just a pond like mine so you will have the opportunity to have views of animal activity at places other than the water. I am sure as you and Donna-ski walk the property you will locate the best site for a house pad, I was lucky in that I owned the property for almost a year before I started building and was able to see the changing patterns of the sun and wind.