PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
We built a quarter acre pond outside Bastrop in two days, photographed from the first bucket to the finish work. The Lost Pines country has both the best and trickiest pond dirt in Central Texas, and knowing which is which is the job.
The county splits between prairie clay that holds like a bowl and Lost Pines sand that holds like a screen door. The county road you live on mostly decides your build.
North and west of town toward Elgin and Cedar Creek, Bastrop County is blackland prairie: deep, tight clay that seals with nothing but compaction. Our two day build ran on this side, and two days is what this dirt allows.
Prairie side ponds run the published list as written, and they are some of the easiest water we build anywhere.
The pines grow east and south of town because the soil is sand, the same reason unsealed ponds there go dry between rains. Pines side ponds are real projects, but they are sealing projects: chase the clay streaks, work bentonite into the basin, or line it outright.
We treat the pines side as a sealing question from the first call, every time, because hope is not a liner.
Two soils, one river, straightforward work. Here is how a Bastrop County pond build actually runs, start to finish.
Text or call with pictures of the spot and what you have in mind. Because the price list is published, we can give you an honest range on the first call, then put a boot on the ground to firm it up.
Bastrop is a two-soil county and the walk decides which one you own. West and south into the Lost Pines it is sand that drinks water; north and east it is blackland that seals like a jar lid. We test the draw with a shovel and your soil in hand, read the watershed, and give the verdict on the spot: where the pond sits, whether the ground seals itself or needs clay work, and the price in machine days.
You get one page with real numbers on it. Excavation, dam construction, spillway, transport, and any flagged contingency, all in plain terms. No allowances that balloon later, no asterisks doing heavy lifting.
Mobilization is usually measured in weeks, not months. The dozer and excavator arrive on a lowboy, we stage at the site, and from that morning the build runs continuously until the pond is done.
The dig itself runs two to five days on most builds. Topsoil is saved for the banks, the core trench goes in first, and the dam is built the slow, right way, in compacted layers rather than one loose push. You will see the pond take shape daily.
We do not leave until you have walked the finished pond with us. The dam, the spillway, the bank grades, the topsoil dressing, all of it inspected against what was promised, and corrected on the spot if it falls short.
With around 36 inches of rain a year feeding the Colorado basin, Bastrop ponds fill faster than most of the Hill Country. A pond matched to its watershed can catch its water in one wet spring. Grass the dam the week the machines load, let the spillway prove itself in the first storms, and the pond will do the rest on Bastrop’s schedule.
Published, not hidden behind a form. Prices and build times are based on 6 feet of depth at center with a 4:1 bank.
| Pond Size | Starting Price at 6 ft depth, 4:1 bank | Build Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 acre | from $12,300 | 2 to 3 days |
| 1/2 acre | from $19,200 | 3 to 4 days |
| 3/4 acre | from $23,300 | 4 to 5 days |
| 1 acre | from $27,000 | 5 to 6 days |
| 1 1/4 acre | from $30,400 | 6 to 7 days |
| 1 1/2 acre | from $33,800 | 7 to 8 days |
| 1 3/4 acre | from $36,800 | 8 to 9 days |
| 2 acre | from $39,500 | 9 to 10 days |
Prairie side builds run the list; our two day documented build is the proof. Pines side builds add sealing as a flagged line item. If you are not sure which side you are on, the pines themselves are the answer: where they grow, the sand does too.
Size it, tell us what to do with the dirt, then draw the pond right on a photo of your land. Your estimate comes back by email, along with a preview of the finished water.
We would rather explain the number before you sign than after. This is the whole anatomy of a pond quote.
The number includes the pond, whole and finished: design against the watershed, staking, topsoil stripped and banked, core trench, compacted-lift dam, cut spillway, finish-graded slopes, and dressed banks. Getting the iron to your gate and the closing walkthrough are in there too.
Clay borrow or bentonite when the basin runs into Lost Pines sand, priced at design instead of discovered mid-build. Rock hammer time almost never happens here, and when it could, it is flagged first. Clearing at published day rates when the site starts in post oak brush or pine, and spoil stays on the property in nearly every build.
Real ponds, real day counts, photographed on site.
Pond dirt work, Bertram
Pond site work, Leander
Bastrop water, standing full
Elgin, 20 min north: 5 days
Elgin expansion: 1 dayFull process, statewide services, and the build standard: our Texas pond construction page.
Day one: topsoil stripped and saved, core trench cut, and the excavator benching the basin by lunch, the stage you can see photographed above. Day two: dam compacted in lifts, banks pulled to grade, spillway cut, topsoil dressed back. Two days is not a rush job on blackland, it is what tight clay and a right-sized quarter acre allow.
Bastrop learned the hard way what dry country does, and ponds here carry a second job: water on hand. A pond will not stop a wildfire, but a full tank with drafting access is what volunteer departments and insurance adjusters both like to see on rural acreage, and we grade a drafting point into the bank when owners ask.
Tracts along the river and Cedar Creek carry mapped floodplain, and pond placement there is a maps-first conversation. The good news: bottomland clay is superb pond dirt, and a site fifty yards off the line usually builds beautifully.
The pine side of the county and the prairie side build very different ponds. Blackland seals itself and asks only for good compaction; Lost Pines sand needs a clay plan, borrowed from the property or blended as bentonite, before it will hold a drop. Neither is a problem, both are just facts, and the design respects the one you own from the first stake.
Bastrop catches real rain, and its draws move that rain efficiently toward the river. A pond sized to its watershed here fills on one good season and holds, which is a luxury the counties west of Austin do not share. We still size honestly, because an oversized basin disappoints in any county, but Bastrop owners wait months, not years, for full pool.
Summer still takes its feet of evaporation here, and shallow water still grows weeds. Eight feet or more at center keeps the fish cool, the water clear, and the pond honest into September. On sandy sites depth also buys margin: more head of water pressing the seal tight.
A bare dam and a blackland downpour make gullies, so seed and matting go on before we call the build done, and your job is keeping it watered in. Once the pond holds steady water, stock forage first, minnows and bluegill, bass a season later. Bastrop water grows fish fast when the order is right.
Whether the site starts in loblolly or post oak brush, we clear it as the Bastrop clearing crew we already are: grubbed or mulched clean, keeper trees protected at the roots, topsoil saved and dressed back. County that has watched land recover knows the difference careful iron makes.
When the dirt work is done you can keep the same crew on the finish work. These four add-ons turn a new basin into a finished pond.
Seed and erosion matting close out every dam, because both Bastrop soils misbehave when bare: blackland gullies and sand just leaves. Grass established before the first storm locks the dam and banks into one piece of ground.
A bottom diffuser keeps oxygen moving when August stills the water, which means healthy fish and algae kept honest. On ponds near the house a fountain earns its spot, motion you can hear from the porch on a pine-quiet evening.
Docks cost least and fit best when they are planned while the basin is dry. Tell us on the walk and the shoreline gets shaped for it, shelf, grade, and depth, so the dock goes in level instead of improvised.
Stock in food chain order, forage fish first and bass the following season, and a Bastrop pond becomes a private fishery quicker than most, this county grows everything fast. The evening bite beats the drive to Bastrop State Park’s crowds.
Absolutely the best service you could ask for. When Bobby said he would be at our property every day at 0700 and work from 0730 to 1530 he meant it. He was here every day 5 minutes early.
lewis ecker, Google review
Taylor, Preston, and the machine operator Steve were consummate professionals every step of the way. The bidding process, delivery of the machine, and frequent communication during the heavy rain were all handled well.
Derek Knapp, Google review
I have nothing but great things to say about Pierce Land Clearing. They were punctual and professional. Bobby was an artist on his machine. Great folks and great work.
Cory Cox, Google review
Learn these six and you can grade any pond quote you are handed, including ours.
The armored low route storm water takes around the dam. In a county that remembers what the Colorado can do, we cut them generous.
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.
The water level at the bottom of the spillway, the highest the pond is designed to hold day to day.
Where the dam dirt comes from. On a well designed pond it is the basin itself, so every yard dug does double duty.
The prairie-and-pines ring around Bastrop, and the crews already in it.
Yes: the quarter acre, two day build photographed on this page, dug, dammed, and finished on prairie side blackland. It is the reference for every Bastrop quote we write.
Yes, as a sealing project: clay streaks where they exist, bentonite worked and compacted where they do not, a liner where sand rules outright. We test your basin soil first, because the pines side punishes guesswork.
Prairie side: the published list as written, quarter acre from $12,300, and our documented build ran exactly that play. Pines side adds sealing as a flagged line. The calculator above runs your size either way.
Our documented build took two days. Blackland digs fast, and quarter to half acre prairie ponds routinely finish inside a workweek.
A full pond with drafting access is a real rural water asset, and we can grade a drafting point into the bank. Ask your carrier what credit it earns; ask us to build it either way.
Mapped and checked. Bottomland clay is great pond dirt, and placement just off the line usually gets both the soil and the simplicity.
Send photos and your county road. We can usually tell you which soil story you are in before we even walk it, and the documented two day build is the reference.