Economic Approaches

The approach we took to lower the cost was to use decision matrices to determine the best and cheapest components to buy without compromising on the quality of the item. We were able to find items that are cheap and available by shopping through vendors such as home depot and amazon instead of plumbing vendors who can be more expensive. Another way to lower the cost is to buy used parts or re-purposed pieces. Parts can be found used on craigslist, generally cheaper than when they are bought brain new. Used parts would also pose a sanitation issue. Craigslist was not utilized by our team, however, because we wanted to ensure that all the components ordered could be obtained by anyone who aims to recreate their own Wishing Well. They could also use the castors that come with the cooler cart assembly instead of upgrading to pneumatic wheels. The spigots are a very expensive component, and can be replaced with just a regular valve for a much cheaper price if aesthetics are not important.