Business Isn’t as Hard as It Appears : Entrepreneur: Artificial rocks, lava and foliage made by Edward Lewis’ Rock & Waterscape Inc. have made him some real money. He’s weathered drought, recession and competition.
For years, Elena C. Gonzalez was careful not to show visitors the “embarrassing jungle” that had overrun her Newport Beach back yard.
But that changed when the 42-year-old registered nurse met Edward D. Lewis, who transformed her back yard into a tropical paradise, complete with an 8-foot-high waterfall that plunged into a small lagoon bordered by artificial rocks and tropical foliage.
“The change was remarkable,” Gonzalez said. “It was as if a portion of Hawaii was transplanted in my back yard, and my two kids loved it.”
Lewis is president of Rock & Waterscape Inc., an Irvine company that has spruced up hotels, theme parks and back yards from San Clemente to Saudi Arabia. Founded in 1975, the company employs between 100 and 200 people, with offices in Guam, Las Vegas, Orlando, Fla., and Irvine.
While some of Lewis’ workers refer to the products as “fake” rocks and corals, Lewis prefers terms such as artificial or simulated to describe what his company does. And the otherwise amicable, soft-spoken businessman can get annoyed when people describe his products otherwise.
“We don’t make fake rocks or phony seashells,” he said. “It’s a slur to our profession because fake denotes poor quality, cheap imitations. We’re artists who produce images of life and things on this planet.”
The Irvine company can skillfully mold fiberglass and reinforced cement to look like quarried rocks. And it can shape and dye plastic to create seashells and colorful coral.
Rock & Waterscape’s list of clients include such major hotel chains as Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt and Marriott. Its other major customers are gaming resorts, theme parks and, to a lesser extent, private homeowners.
While the Gulf War raged nearby earlier this year, Lewis’ company built an $8-million grotto and waterfall surrounded by several pools at Prince Khaled Bin Sultan’s estate in the outskirts of Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. The prince was a familiar figure to American television viewers during the war when, as head of the Arab coalition military forces, he stood beside Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf and gave daily press briefings.
Lewis’ Irvine business flourished for many years, furnishing the entertainment industry and homeowners with imitation starfish, coral and waterworks for landscape architects.
Although respected in the industry, the 16-year-old company has been troubled lately. Sales grew steadily from $628,000 in 1975 to $20.4 million in 1989, as the company’s projects grew bigger and bigger. But the combined effects of the recession and a slowdown in hotel construction caused sales to plunge 20% last year, to less than $17 million. Nevertheless, Lewis is optimistic that sales will bounce back this year to about $20 million, citing projected U.S. and domestic business.
His optimism is not unfounded. Trends in the landscaping industry point to more natural sceneries in hotels and residences, said Robert A. Porreca, senior financial analyst at Dun & Bradstreet Consulting Services in New Providence, N.J. Hotels and resort developers increasingly are adding water-oriented features to atrium-type lobbies or elsewhere. And travelers sometimes copy these ideas, re-creating miniature tropical waterfalls, water slides and caves in their back yards, he said.
With the economy moving at a sluggish pace, hotel and resort operators are upgrading their properties instead of building new ones, he said.
When guests enter the lobby of the Waterfront Hilton in Huntington Beach, for example, the sound of music and running water can be soothing, said Robert L. Mayer, the hotel’s owner. Last year, he invested about $500,000 on an elaborate waterfall in the hotel lobby that flows into a small stream and then into another waterfall on an outdoor terrace.
“People almost always stop to see where the water leads to,” Mayer said.
At Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, Lewis’ company did the rock and water scenery at Camp Snoopy and the Big Foot River Ride, while at Disney World’s Epcot Center it constructed the Japanese Pavilion. At Opryland U.S.A. in Nashville, Tenn., the company built the rock formation and waterfalls at the theme park and an adjoining hotel.
Its latest project--and largest to date--is in the tiny southern African republic of Bophuthatswana, where Lewis and his crew are re-creating the ruins of a mythical royal African residence called the Palace of the Lost City. The company’s work is a small part of a $750-million project slated to open late next year.
Because large projects like the Palace of the Lost City are scarce, the company depends on business from theme parks and resorts for most of its sales.
But there are problems. A number of competitors have sprung up in the last decade to challenge Lewis’ company. More important, the prolonged drought in the Southland is putting a damper on water-related projects.
“Water and rock motifs are just one of many motifs that developers and property owners use to make themselves different from others, but because of the drought, hotels and motels are careful about putting water-related projects” in their plans, said Jim Abrams, executive vice president of the California Hotel and Motel Assn. in Sacramento.
Lewis scoffs at arguments that his projects are wasteful of resources, noting that most of the water is recycled. The only loss comes from evaporation, he said.
“It takes less water to maintain a rock and water feature than watering a lawn,” he said.
As Lewis tries to emphasize larger projects, some competitors are vying for the smaller jobs that the company still does. Rock Formations Inc., a small company in Anaheim, has carved a place for itself among homeowners who want to dress up swimming pools and gardens with rock and water features. Company founder Bruce Riley worked for Lewis until 1979, when he founded his own company.
Another competitor is Di Giacomo Inc., an Azusa company that does mostly commercial and large residential projects.
As competitors cut into some of Lewis’ business, he’s seeing his profits shrink. Although he would not disclose the private company’s earnings, he said that it has not been highly profitable the last few years.
“The offsetting rewards are that all our bills are paid and we get satisfaction from building memorable monuments,” Lewis said.
Rock & Waterscape’s Major Projects
THEME PARKS: (Project / Theme Park / Location) Camp Snoopy Big Foot River Ride, Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park (1984) Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, Los Angeles (1988) The Japanese Pavilion, Disney World’s Epcot Center in Orlando, Fla. (1983) The River Ride, Magic Mountain, Valencia (1981) Rapid River Ride, Astro World, Houston (1982) Rapid River Ride, Great Escape, Albany, N.Y. (1984) Rapid River Ride, Great Adventure, Jackson, N.J. (1983) Rapid River Ride and Opryland Hotel, Opryland U.S.A. in Nashville (1981, 1985)
PROJECTS FOR ZOOLOGICAL EXHIBITS: San Diego Zoo Los Angeles Zoo Denver Zoological Garden Bird World National Zoological Park, Washington Dallas Zoo San Francisco Zoo Philadelphia Zoo Fresno Zoo
HOTELS AND RESORTS: The Fontainbleu Hotel in Miami, Fla. Caesars Palace, Lake Tahoe, Nev. Acapulco Princess, Acapulco, Mexico Marriott Hotels (Palm Desert; Anaheim; Irvine; Maui, Hawaii; Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando, Fla.) Hyatt Regency Hotels (Waikoloa and Maui, Hawaii; Orlando, Fla.) Ritz-Carlton at Rancho Mirage, Calif., and Chicago Caribbean Beach Resort, part of the Disney World complex (Orlando, Fla.) The Mirage (hotel and casino), Las Vegas Pacific Islands Club, Saipan and Guam. Source: Rock & Waterscape Systems Inc.
