Aqualand offers an exercise in paradise

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By ROALD HAASE

rhaase@kcchronicle.com

ST. CHARLES -- No, Greg Wittstock doesn't ask employees to submerge their heads in a breathing test before they're allowed to work at Aqualand.

But yes, it wouldn't hurt job hunters to possess at least a passing curiosity about most things moist.

That's because Wittstock's Aquascape Designs Inc. has carved out a unique headquarters and distribution center across from DuPage Airport -- one that focuses as much on the natural environment as it does the profit-and-loss statement.

It's an environment that reflects Wittstock's singular success in exploiting the public's interest in backyard waterfalls and ponds. It's a workplace, too, that reflects Wittstock's concern about his workers' health.

"The owner's philosophy is whatever it takes to get the work done," ventured Jennifer Zuri, the firm's marketing communications manager, in a tour this week.

What it takes, apparently, is a workplace that pays attention to workers' fitness levels. Witness a volleyball court, an indoor soccer field, pool tables, a batting cage, basketball court, a fitness center and, yes, even a beach: this last item awaits warmer weather, so the large pond in front of the corporate board room can be stocked with fish and the banks can filled out with sand.

It's a building featuring an interior waterfall and other water features, and a board room complete with a bamboo floor. There's ample space here, too, for meeting areas, where employees can chat in an atmosphere removed from the walls of their compartmented offices.

"The contractors were like, 'Are you guys ever going to work here?' " Zuri recalled, chuckling.

She assured them that, indeed, work gets done here. It's an environment Wittstock touts as key to the creative process, as pond designers strive to keep coming up with something new.

Perhaps most significant, however, is a feature that cannot be appreciated from inside. That's the sloping roof, which will be seeded in the spring with prairie grasses and become in Wittstock's words, a "green roof."

Such benefits for the 120 employees who moved to their new digs three weeks ago have not been lost on the business media. In 2005, Wittstock graced the cover of Fortune Small Business magazine, as the publication tipped its hat to the 15 best bosses for whom to work.

That was even before the move here from its previous headquarters in Batavia.

And on Saturday, the nation's biggest player in the so-called water feature industry will celebrate the opening of its new Aqualand, with an industry open house.

It will offer Wittstock a chance to tell vendors, contractors, landscapers and assorted dignitaries his vision for the future. If it's anything like the recent past, it should be interesting.

Asked what makes Aquascape Designs a good place to work, Zuri answered, "It's very rewarding, in more ways than one."

"I think what makes it that way is it's an entrepreneurial company."

That spirit has pushed the privately owned firm to annual revenues of between $55 and $60 million in its most recent fiscal year, Zuri said (the final statements were being completed). In designing backyard ponds, then selling contractors and homeowners the materials to turn those designs into reality, Aquascape takes the question marks out of the construction.

"Our philosophy, or our thought is, everybody wants a water feature, they just don't know it yet," Zuri said.

While Aquascape counts California and Florida among its top market areas, surprisingly, Illinois ranks high, too. Even areas blessed with wide seasonal variations in weather -- like the Midwest -- can use the water areas year round, Zuri said. Water can circulate throughout the year, she said.

From Aqualand are shipped the $5 million to $6 million in current inventory that includes such items as pond liners, underlayments and cleaning supplies, as well as features that help highlight the ponds and falls.

The warehouse itself resembles nothing so much as a slightly larger Home Depot, the shelving stocked with supplies that must be shipped at moment's notice.

Wittstock practices what he preaches. His Wayne home features a 1-acre water feature, known as "Aquaterra." And at Aqualand, in his two-level office with stone-covered fireplace and full-length windows, Wittstock can look out day or night, seizing moments of reflection in the midst the din of business.

The building even includes Aquascape University, a large conference room that accommodates visiting landscape contractors and vendors, looking to learn about the latest in backyard ponds.

Zuri said the employees are delighted to work at Aqualand.

"We try to work with Mother Nature, to keep it as natural as possible."