PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
Austin pond builders with published pricing and documented builds within an hour of town. We clear the site, dig the pond, and build a dam that holds, on either side of the I-35 soil line.
The I-35 line splits Austin pond building into two different jobs. Knowing which side you are on is half the site visit.
Spicewood, Dripping Springs, Bee Cave, and the canyon country run thin soil over solid rock. Ponds absolutely get built out here, but honestly: we check depth to rock first, and sometimes the right answer is moving the pond to miss the ledge, adding bentonite, or building it lined.
When rock has to move, hammer time gets billed by the day, and we tell you that before we start, not after.
Manor, Elgin, Bastrop, and the farm country east of town sit on clay that seals naturally and digs fast. It is some of the best pond ground in Texas, and it is where several of the documented builds on this page live.
East side builds usually run right down the published price list with no surprises in the hole.
Most of our pond clients have never hired dirt work before. Here is the whole arc, exactly as it runs on a typical Austin area build.
Send photos of the spot, a rough size, and your town. You get a ballpark from the published list the same day, and if it sounds right we set a time to walk the property. No pressure loop, no form-and-wait.
This is where Austin ponds are won. We find the draw the water already wants, check the soil, and west of I-35 we probe for rock before anybody promises anything. You will hear a straight opinion on the spot, including when the answer is move it, shrink it, or seal it.
A real number in machine days: what the dig costs, what the dam costs, what happens if we hit rock, and what the clearing adds if the site is brushed up. The price on paper is the price, and the rock contingency is spelled out instead of buried.
A lowboy shows up with the dozer and excavator, usually within a few weeks of a signed quote. We need a gate the iron fits through and a spot for the trailer, and we handle the rest.
Two to five working days for most ponds. Topsoil gets stripped and saved, the core trench gets cut, the dam goes up in compacted lifts, and the basin takes shape a bench at a time. You are welcome on site every day of it, at a safe distance from the swing radius.
Before the machines load, we walk the pond with you: dam, spillway, slopes, and the topsoil dressed back over the banks. If it does not match what was quoted, that is the moment we make it right.
A new pond fills on rain, and in Central Texas that usually means a storm season, not a weekend. Grass the dam right away, watch the spillway in the first big rains, and when it fills, it is yours for decades.
Published, not hidden behind a form. Prices and build times are based on 8 feet of depth at center with a 4:1 bank.
| Pond Size | Starting Price | Build Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 acre | from $14,000 | 2 to 3 days |
| 1/2 acre | from $23,000 | 3 to 4 days |
| 3/4 acre | from $28,500 | 4 to 5 days |
| 1 acre | from $33,500 | 5 to 6 days |
| 1 1/4 acre | from $38,000 | 6 to 7 days |
| 1 1/2 acre | from $42,500 | 7 to 8 days |
| 1 3/4 acre | from $46,500 | 8 to 9 days |
| 2 acre | from $50,000 | 9 to 10 days |
Build deeper and it takes longer and costs more. Rock is the big variable around Austin: granite or solid limestone means hammer work billed by the day, and on a lot of properties we can move the pond and miss the rock entirely. Expansions and rehab work are quoted on equipment day rates.
Slide in the size, depth, and bank slope you have in mind and see roughly how much dirt has to move and what that runs. Works for anything up to 2 acres.
3:1 is the steepest bank and moves the least dirt. 5:1 is a gentle wade-in bank, easier on cattle and safer around kids, but it takes more digging to get the same water.
This is an estimator, not a quote. It figures the dirt you would move for a bowl shaped pond at the size, depth and bank slope you picked. What you actually pay depends on whether we hit rock, what shape the ground is in, how far we have to haul spoil, and whether the spot needs clearing first. Rock is the big one around Austin: if we run into granite or solid limestone we have to bring a hammer out and that gets billed by the day. Call us and we will come walk it.
No surprise line items. Here is how the number breaks down on every quote we write.
Siting and design against your watershed, staking, topsoil stripped and saved, the core trench, the dam built in compacted lifts, the spillway cut and shaped, slopes finished to mow, and topsoil dressed back over the banks. Machine transport is in the quote, and so is the walkthrough before we leave.
Rock hammer time if we hit granite or solid limestone, billed by the day and flagged as a contingency up front. Bentonite or liner material when the soil will not seal on its own. Clearing and grubbing when the site starts as brush, quoted at our published land clearing day rates. Long spoil hauls when dirt has to leave the property, which on most ponds it does not.
Real ponds, real day counts, all photographed on site, and all within striking distance of town.
Liberty Hill, 35 min north: 2 days
Bastrop, 35 min east: 2 days
Elgin, 30 min east: 5 days
Elgin expansion: 1 day
Burnet, NW Hill Country: 4 days
The finished product: water that staysWant the full statewide picture, the build process, and every service? See our Texas pond construction page.
A rain fed pond fills when the sky cooperates, and around Austin that means the spring storm season does most of the work. A pond matched to its watershed can catch the bulk of its water in a single wet spring; one built too large for the ground draining into it will sit half empty for years and slowly convince you the builder failed. That is why we size the hole to the watershed during design, and why we would rather build you a three quarter acre pond that stays full than a two acre pond that never does.
Evaporation is the quiet thief here: a hot summer can pull several feet of water off an unshaded pond. Depth is the defense. Shallow ponds go dry and grow weeds; a pond with 8 feet or more at center holds a cool refuge for fish and keeps water for stock through the dry months. It is also why we push back when someone asks for a big, shallow pond, because in this climate that is a mud flat with a mortgage.
The first job after we leave is yours: grass the dam and banks before the first gully washer, because vegetation is what locks a new dam together. Once the pond has held water for a few months, the food chain goes in from the bottom up, minnows and bluegill first, bass a season later. Stock it in that order and an Austin pond becomes a fishery; rush it and the bass strip the pantry bare in a summer.
New dams settle a little, and that is normal. Watch the spillway do its job in the first big rains, reseed any bare spots, and never let a tree grow on the dam, because roots are how good dams start leaking twenty years later. That is the whole maintenance program. A pond built with a real core trench and compacted lifts does not ask for much.
Around Austin the pond site usually shares the property with oaks worth more than the pond, and we treat them that way. We route haul paths around root zones, keep the iron off the drip lines, and because we are a clearing crew before we are anything else, the brush that comes out comes out clean, mulched or grubbed, without wounding the trees you are keeping. The site gets left the way a place you live deserves: graded, dressed, and ready to grass.
The build does not have to stop when the water shows up. These come with the same one-crew, one-call approach as the pond itself.
The dam and banks get seeded and grassed as soon as the dirt work is done, with erosion matting on the slopes that need it. Vegetation is what locks a new dam together, and having us handle it means it happens before the first big rain instead of after.
A bottom diffuser or fountain keeps oxygen moving through the water column, which means healthier fish, less algae, and a pond that does not go stale in the August heat. We plan the power run and placement with you, and a fountain earns its keep in looks alone.
Fixed and floating docks, and here is the trick nobody tells you: the best time to plan one is while the basin is still dry, when we can set the grade and placement with the machines already on site. Tell us on the site walk and the pond gets built dock-ready.
When the water has settled, we coordinate stocking in the order that builds a real fishery: forage minnows and bluegill first, bass the following season. Your pond, stocked on a schedule that works, instead of a bucket of bass eating themselves out of a home.
What a great experience. This company was prompt, and right on budget. They made a pond and tank for me on my ranch. The owner and his team were very professional.
Glenn Gonzales, Google review
Pierce cleared 36 acres for us in Spicewood, Texas. Will the operator was absolutely brilliant. Great comms / delivered as promised. Both Cedar eater and excavator work was top!
Wolfgang Maasberg, Google review
This company gets customer service. They promptly contacted me, scheduled service within the week and promptly showed up each day of the project. The operator listened and provided fabulous service. Our 2 acre grading was done to our specs.
Cindy Pullin, Google review
Six terms you will hear on the site walk, and what they actually mean for your water.
A keyway cut below grade under the dam and packed with clay, so water cannot travel beneath the structure.
The dam built up in thin layers, each packed tight by the machine before the next goes on. The opposite of a pushed up pile.
The armored low route storm water takes around the dam instead of over it. The difference between a rain event and a rebuild.
Four feet of run for every foot of drop. Gentler banks are safer and easier to mow; steeper banks get more depth from less dirt.
The dry dam height above full pool, the safety margin that keeps a big storm inside the pond.
Every acre of ground that sheds rain toward your pond. It, not the hole, decides how fast you get water.
We clear land and build water across the whole metro, both sides of the soil line. If you are anywhere on this map, we have machines near you.
Same documented price list we run everywhere: quarter acre ponds from $14,000, half acre from $23,000, up to two acres from $50,000, at 8 feet of center depth on a 4:1 bank. The calculator on this page lets you run your own size and depth. The Austin variable is rock: west of I-35 we sometimes hit limestone that changes the number, which is why we walk the site before we quote it.
Yes, with honest caveats. West Austin ground is thin soil over limestone, so we check depth to rock and soil seal before promising anything. Sometimes the answer is moving the pond a hundred feet to miss the rock, sometimes it is bentonite or a liner, and sometimes the best answer is a smaller, deeper pond where the soil allows. We tell you which before we dig.
Usually, yes. The blackland clay running through Manor, Elgin, and Bastrop seals naturally and digs fast, which is exactly why several of our documented builds sit out there. If your land is east of I-35, odds are good you are holding prime pond dirt.
Deep enough to beat the sun. Central Texas can evaporate several feet of water off a pond in a hot year, so a pond that is only four or five feet deep can go dry by September. We build to 8 feet at center as the baseline, and go deeper for ponds that need to carry fish or livestock through a drought summer. The calculator shows what extra depth does to the dirt and the price.
It fills on rain, not on a schedule. A pond sized correctly to its watershed can catch most of its water in one good Central Texas storm season, and spring is when it usually happens. A pond built too big for the ground above it never fills, which is why sizing to the watershed is part of our design work and not an afterthought.
After the pond has filled and settled, usually a few months of holding water. The proven order is forage first, minnows and bluegill to build a food base, then bass the following season. Rush the bass in early and they eat the food chain before it establishes. We will point you at good stocking suppliers when the water is ready.
Most ranch and acreage ponds around Austin fall under the same agricultural exemptions as the rest of Texas and need no permit. Anything on a named creek, inside a floodplain, or inside city limits can need review, and Travis and Williamson counties each have their own wrinkles. We flag what applies when we scope the job.
Typically a dozer and an excavator on a lowboy, and one to two operators who stay with the job start to finish. We need a gate the equipment fits through and a place to park the trailer. Most builds run 2 to 5 working days, weather permitting, and we walk the finished pond with you before the machines load out.
Yes, and that is the reason to call us instead of a dirt-only outfit. We clear cedar and brush across the Austin area every week, so the same mobilization clears your site, grubs the roots, digs the pond, and builds the dam. One crew, one bill.
Grass the dam and banks as soon as we leave, before the first big rain, and keep an eye on the spillway when the water runs. Some settling on a new dam is normal; bare spots want seed, and trees should stay off the dam permanently because roots make leaks. Do that much and a well built pond needs almost nothing from you for decades.
Send photos of the spot and a rough size. West of I-35 we will come check the rock before we promise anything; east of I-35, odds are you are sitting on prime pond dirt already.