A deep pond with vertical walls will go a long way in predator control. Once in a while you will get a heron who learns to just stand quietly at the side and spear the fish when they surface, but I have never had it happen here. And I have lots of big herons fly over almost every day. I have shade sails over the pond so that may help some as well. Kingfishers don't care how deep the pond is though. They sit in a near-by tree and watch for a fish to surface, then dive in and get it. Comorants, Anhingas, and Ospray fish like that too. But I have never had an issue with any of those birds either. So you are new to koi keeping? Are you building this pond yourself or having someone build it for you? Do you understand the use of bottom drains that tie into filtration to keep the pond bottom clean? A koi pond, in otherwords a pond designed to provide the optimal environment for koi, differs greatly from a water garden. A properly designe koi pond can be VERY low maintenance. My biggest pond is 9000 gallons yet maintenance takes only 15 minutes a week at the most. You are in the perfect position to plan this thing out now and make it a wonderful habitat for the koi. I am attaching a link to a pond forum that I moderate on. There are some pretty good pond construction threads there with loads of pictures. Check it out if you get a chance. My newest pond building project is there, along with some good DIY filters and such. Here is a link that might be useful: The pond forum

When we built about eight years ago, we didn't range as far as an earth-bermed home. But we did want to follow "Category 1" energy standards, a standard the housing lobby fought tooth and nail for years, using the trite "people won't pay for that -- our sales would plummet" argument though it was clear people were springing for more square footage, fancier kitchens, and home theaters. We also wanted to network the audio/video/computers in the house. We found we had to provide a lot of education for the contractors and subs. Most of them had heard of the new techniques and standards, but had not had an opportunity to get their hands on them. In some cases, we had to provide the materials; in others, provide the specifications for the materials. Pricing was fluid as the contractors' prices and labor were unknown. We had to straddle the fine line between wanting to inspect to make sure things were done correctly and not making it look like we were checking up on the workers. We covered that by involving ourselves at the job site early. We'd come by to "see how things were going" and to take pictures "for the scrapbook" (both true, but not our entire motive). That gave us an opportunity to meet the workers. Sometimes we brought pop or coffee and donuts, etc. It gave us an opportunity to gauge their knowledge of what we wanted to do, and we tailored our comments to that (the electrician had never hung Cat 5 cable before; we had to give him some simple guidelines; ultimately, I decided to finish the connection panel myself, which I know was a relief for both of us). We didn't have any problems with the inspectors. We weren't building anything as "exotic" as an earth-berm or geodesic-dome house; what we were doing was an extension or upgrade to code they had inspected scores of times before and items for which there were few or no specific regulations. tsmith offers excellent advice. A collaborative approach with those who do the work and those who approve it will be the most successful, if our experience is any guide. Here is a link that might be useful: Minnesota Category 1 residential energy standard

"If you are following the code then there is no reason that an inspector would argue with you ." There are numerous things the code does not cover explicitly (LVLs, I-joists, steel beams) that mist AHJs want to see a stamp for. "Nothing. No questions about the steel beams, I joists, giant LVLs, etc. Even after we starting making changes to correct engineering issues the inspector never asks to see the engineer's drawings. But they were totally stressed about the height of the railing on the second level (code calls for 36" and they wanted me to make it 42" even though code didn't require it, I said no)." I would put them in the incompetent category unless they are actually PEs and checked the work themselves (pretty rare). Many of the I-joist and LVL companies supply free stamped plans to encourage use of their products. A steel beam without at least a quick analysis is trouble waiting to happen.

The things we've done to our house, so far, did not require detailed drawings, just a rough plan. In our area, there is no snow load, and just about 12 inches depth for foundations. No freeze depth to speak of. What we do have is wind loads for hurricane force winds, so that the walls and up through the roofing frame, must have these threaded rods embedded in the foundation, running up and bolting the roof to the house. That is what our new bath/walkin closet bumpout have, because that modified the roof with that job. The Teahouse also had the rods to hold the roofing down but did not require detailed building drawings. Our electrical work for this will be done next winter when we do the kitchen remodel, upgrade the power supply, and move all the breaker boxes. That will essentially be a total new roofline, new flooring throughout (except for the baths and the new closet), and modify the plumbing in the kitchen, and the electrical in several rooms. So with that one, I will be consulting a very nice woman I met at a kitchen design company, and have some plans drawn up for the work. I know what I want, and can tell them, but making sure it gets done right will be easier to accomplish with the proper plans. By October or November, I'll have them, and we are hoping that our usual contractor, DeMouy, will want to do the job. This job will involve only a 7' x 10' expansion of the house, but a lot of tearing out of the old kitchen and knocking down parts of three walls and the total shed roof currently over the old back porch. So yes, a plan SHOULD be done for this. The job will involve every system in the house, from ductwork extensions, electrical, gas line replaced and rerun, main breaker box replaced, kitchen window replaced with a larger one, my new sink put in, the window seat and pantries in the dining room, new hardwood floors throughout the house, new baseboards thruout also, the thermostat moved, a barn door for new entry to the master suite and a closet built into the hall replacing the present entry to the master suite. That way, both our bedrooms will be, essentially, private suites. Since it will be the LAST major home improvement project, I am trying to get ALL the odds and ends done at once. Might be my last chance. Sorry I got side tracked here. But with this job, I think a real drawing will be important.