I'm standing in my backyard, staring at the koi pond that came with my house.
I didn't buy the pond. I bought the house. The pond was already there, sitting there in the backyard, looking expensive and serene and completely self-sufficient. At least that's what I thought.
Then I learned that koi ponds have pumps, filters, chemistry, seasonal care, predators, algae, and a person who knows what all of those things mean. There is always a guy. The pond looked like a feature of the property. But what I actually inherited was a small living ecosystem with a maintenance schedule.
A friend of mine had a custom pizza oven built into his patio. Another bought the kind of car that makes grown men lower their voices when they say the model name out loud. Both got exactly what they wanted. They also got the special fuel, the unusual replacement parts, the weird service interval, and the guy you call when the thing you love starts making a noise you don't understand.
Every luxury needs a mechanic.
What koi ponds teach about AI-built software, and why the build is the beginning of the bill, not the end of it.
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