PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
We build ponds and stock tanks across Blanco County, on limestone ground where the river itself goes dry in a bad year. Water you can count on has to be built, and built deep.
This is limestone country with thin soil over it, and the honest local fact is that the Blanco River itself stops running in a hard drought. Surface water here is not a given. It is something you engineer, and the first question is always whether your ground will keep what you put in it.
Blanco County soils are shallow and stony over layered limestone, and that rock is jointed. Water finds joints. A basin dug into fractured limestone with no clay beneath it drains, sometimes over a season and sometimes over a weekend.
What we go on is experience in this exact country and what the ponds we have already built nearby did once the basin was open. That tells us a great deal and it does not tell us everything. We would rather say so than sell you certainty nobody has.
Where the clay is not there, the honest fixes are a hauled and keyed clay blanket, a bentonite treatment worked into the basin, or a synthetic liner on the sites that warrant one. Each is a line item on the quote before you agree to anything, never a surprise after the first rain.
The reason to build here is precisely the reason it is hard. When the creeks stop and the river goes to pools, a place with a deep pond still has water and the neighbors are hauling. That is not a landscaping feature, it is an operating asset.
Blanco County terrain sheds rain hard, so a pond sited on the right draw catches real runoff and can fill in one wet stretch rather than over a season. Getting the siting right is most of the work and it is free if it happens before the machines roll.
Working ranches, hunting places, and the properties along the river all want different things from water. We build stock tanks that carry cattle through August, wildlife water sited where game will actually use it, and river-place ponds that are the view from the porch.
A Blanco County pond runs in a set order, and the first step decides whether the rest makes sense.
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.
Your first number comes over the phone, from experience in this county rather than from a form. Photos and a pin usually get you a real range the same day. Once you approve the estimate we come walk it, reading how the ground lies, where runoff arrives from in a hard rain, what needs clearing, and whether a loaded truck can reach the spot. Anything that moves the number gets said on that walk, not saved for the invoice.
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.
This terrain sheds water hard, so a well sited Blanco County pond can fill in one wet stretch. We will not promise a date, because rain here arrives in feast or famine and the year matters more than the month. What we control is the catchment: we size the watershed feeding your pond so it is collecting runoff rather than waiting on rain landing in the basin.
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 |
Prices are based on 6 feet of depth at center with a 4:1 bank. In Blanco County the two variables that move a quote are rock, meaning how much basin is excavation in competent limestone rather than soil, and sealing, meaning whether the ground holds on its own clay or needs help. Rock we can usually judge from the area and the jobs we have done nearby. Sealing sometimes only shows itself once the basin is open. Either way you get the number as soon as we honestly have it, in writing, and never buried in a final invoice.
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.
Two things move a Blanco number, and we price each one the moment we can honestly price it. Rock: how much of the basin is excavation in competent limestone rather than soil, which is slower and harder on equipment. Sealing: whether the ground holds on its own clay, or needs a hauled clay blanket, bentonite worked into the basin, or a liner. Each becomes a line item the moment we can price it honestly, whether that is before the dig, during it, or after on a site that is genuinely questionable.
Real ponds, real day counts, photographed on site. These were built north of here on the same limestone, and the labels name where each one actually is.
Half acre pond, Lampasas
Basin shaping, Gatesville
Pond expansion, LampasasFull process, statewide services, and the build standard: our Texas pond construction page.
Our pricing starts at six feet at center because that is the honest entry point. In Blanco County we will usually tell you to go eight or more if the budget reaches, and we will tell you why: a four foot pond in this country is warm, weedy and green by July and gone in a drought year. Depth is what makes water dependable, and dependable is the only kind worth paying for.
Most sites here need cedar off the basin and the dam footprint before anything can dig, and on Blanco County ground the clearing is often the bigger half of the job. We do both. One mobilization, one schedule, one bill, and no second contractor to coordinate.
A working tank has a different job from a pretty one. It needs depth against evaporation, a shape stock can get to safely without breaking the banks down, and a dam that holds when the rain finally does come hard. We build for that when that is what you need, and we will say so if the site cannot support it.
The Blanco drainage floods the way Hill Country rivers flood, which is suddenly. Every dam we build is keyed into competent material, compacted in lifts rather than pushed into place, and given an emergency spillway sized for real runoff. That is not an upgrade, it is the minimum defensible way to hold water in this county.
The Blanco goes to pools in a hard drought and everyone here knows it. A deep pond is the difference between running stock through that and hauling water. It is the most useful improvement you can make on working ground in this county.
Surface water concentrates wildlife faster than anything else you can do. Sited well, a pond supports a wildlife management valuation and keeps animals on your ground rather than moving them to whoever has water.
Land nobody walks to is land that is not really yours to enjoy. Water changes that. Put a pond somewhere with a view back toward the house and the far end of the place becomes the part people go to.
Anyone can sell Hill Country acreage. Reliable water on limestone ground is scarcer, and Blanco County buyers know the difference between a pond that holds and a wet weather hole with a good story attached.
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.
Bare banks on thin limestone soil move the first time it rains hard, so we seed and stabilize what we disturb with a mix matched to shallow ground rather than a generic pasture blend.
Aeration pays for itself in Hill Country heat. Moving water stays cooler, holds oxygen through August, and resists the algae bloom that turns a clear pond green by midsummer. Conduit roughed in while the basin is open costs a fraction of trenching later.
Docks and hardened water access get planned before the basin closes so footings land on competent material rather than fill. On limestone ground there is often good rock right where you want to anchor.
Stocking waits until the pond is holding and the water has settled. We will tell you what actually does well in Hill Country water and how long to leave a new basin alone first.
Pierce Land Clearing did an amazing job. Our property was covered in extremely thick cedar. They came out and cleared it for us and transformed our land. They are friendly and knowledgeable.
Rob Rindone, Google review
This company is simply the best. They are very professional, did the work they said they would do, it looks great, far beyond our expectations. They were on time and worked a full day. It is probably the best experience we have ever had with a contractor.
D’Layne Rhynsburger, Google review
From the moment I saw this forestry machine on their website, I not only believed it would get the job done but I desperately wanted one. To say it got the job done is a gross understatement. Cedar trees have no chance!
David McFadden, Google review
Learn these six and you can grade any pond quote you are handed, including ours.
Where the dam dirt comes from. On a well designed pond it is the basin itself, so every yard dug does double duty.
One acre of water a foot deep, about 326,000 gallons. The unit that decides whether a stock pond needs a state permit.
Saving the living top layer before the dig and dressing it back over the banks after, so grass takes the first season.
Clay you can roll into a ribbon in your hand. The soil that seals a pond, and the first thing we look for on the walk.
Texan for a working pond built to water cattle. Usually smaller, always practical, and built with the same dam discipline.
A keyway cut below grade under the dam and packed with clay, so water cannot travel beneath the structure.
We build ponds across the Hill Country and Central Texas.
A quarter acre pond starts at $12,300, a half acre at $19,200, and a full acre at $27,000, based on six feet of depth at center with a 4:1 bank. Minimum job is $8,000. Rock and sealing are the two things that move a Blanco County number, and each is quoted the moment we can honestly price it.
Some Blanco County sites hold on their own clay and some will not, and the honest answer is that nobody knows for certain until the ground is open. What we bring is experience in this county and the ponds we have already built in it. If your ground holds you are close to chart price. If it does not, we price a clay blanket, a bentonite treatment, or a liner the moment we know.
Deeper than you probably think. Pricing starts at six feet at center and we recommend eight or more here whenever the budget allows. In a county where the river itself goes to pools in a drought, depth is the difference between a pond and a seasonal puddle.
Usually you will. Excavation in competent limestone is slower and harder on machines than digging soil, so the day count goes up. We tell you what we found and what it changes while we are still standing on it, not in a final invoice.
Yes, and here it is normally the first real work. Cedar and brush have to come off the basin and the dam footprint before a track hoe earns its keep. Having one company do both means one mobilization and one schedule.
Faster than flat country when it rains, because this terrain sheds hard. We will not name a date, because Hill Country rain is feast or famine. What we do control is the catchment, and we size the watershed feeding your pond so it collects real runoff.
About two to three days for a quarter acre and nine to ten for two acres. Rock adds days, and we will name that up front. You get a day count with the quote.
Often, and it is a regular call out here. We drain what is left, find where it is going, and treat it, whether that means keying in a clay blanket, working bentonite into the leak zone, or rebuilding a dam that was never keyed in. If it is not worth saving we will tell you that instead.
Send photos or a pin on the spot you are considering and we will come back with a range, usually the same day. If the ground turns out to need sealing, you hear the number as soon as we have it rather than at the end. Free site walk across Blanco County and the surrounding Hill Country.