PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
Brady sits in the geographic center of Texas and gets under twenty five inches of rain a year. Out here a tank is not an amenity, it is the difference between running a pasture and looking at it.
McCulloch County is the dry edge of our territory: limestone and sandstone under thin stony soils, mesquite over most of it, and a rainfall figure that punishes any tank built wide and shallow. Everything about how we build here follows from that one number.
Under twenty five inches a year, the water you lose to a hot sky matters more than the water you lose to the ground. A broad shallow bowl in a Brady August hands its water back to the sun by September, and that is how most of the old tanks around here failed.
The ground varies from clay flats that hold well to stony limestone and sandstone that does not. We have dug in this country and we know how it behaves, so you get a real range on the phone. What no one can do is see through the ground from a call, and some sites only show their hand once the basin is open.
Where a basin needs help the answers are a compacted clay core, bentonite worked in, or a liner. Each is priced the moment we can honestly price it, whether that is on the phone, on the walk, or standing in the hole.
The design answer in dry country is not complicated: less surface, more depth. A tank with a smaller footprint and eight or more feet at center loses far less to evaporation than a wide bowl holding the same water, and it is still there when the neighbors are hauling.
Our pricing starts at six feet at center because that is the honest entry point. In McCulloch County we will tell you to go deeper wherever the budget reaches, and the tool on this page shows you exactly what that costs rather than us just asserting it.
A McCulloch County tank runs in a set order, and the first number reaches you on the phone.
The first step costs nothing: photos, a rough size, your location. We come back same day with a range from the published list, and the site walk gets scheduled only if that range makes sense to you.
Your first number comes over the phone, from having dug in this dry country rather than from a form. Photos and a pin usually get you a real range the same day, transport included. Once you approve the estimate we come walk it, reading the draw, the catchment feeding it, herd access, spillway routing, and what mesquite has to go ahead of the machines. Anything that moves the number gets said out loud on that walk.
We put the whole build on paper in machine days, dig, dam, and spillway, with rock or liner contingencies called out up front where you can see them. The number you sign is the number you pay.
Once the quote is signed we get you on the calendar, typically a few weeks out. The machines arrive together, stage near the site, and stay until the job is finished, no disappearing mid-build.
Count on two to five working days of iron time for a typical pond. Every build follows the same discipline: saved topsoil, a real core trench, a dam raised in compacted lifts, and slopes cut so they can be mowed, not just admired.
Last step: a slow lap around the pond together. You check the dam, the spillway cut, the slope finish, and the dressed topsoil against the quote. We load the machines only when you are satisfied.
Twenty four inches a year means nobody honest gives you a fill date. What we control is the catchment: we size the watershed feeding your tank so it collects real runoff instead of waiting on rain that lands in the bowl. Built deep and tight, it keeps what it catches rather than handing it back to the sun.
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 McCulloch County the variables are rock, meaning how much of the basin is excavation in competent limestone or sandstone, and sealing on the stonier ground. Each is priced the moment we can honestly price it. Mesquite clearing rides on the same quote at published day rates.
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.
The quote has two halves: what every build includes, and the site-specific items we flag before work starts.
One price, one finished pond: siting matched to the water the land actually sheds, staking, saved topsoil, core trench, a dam packed up in lifts, a proper spillway, slopes you can mow, and banks dressed to grass. Machine transport and the walkthrough are never extras.
Two things move a Brady number. Rock: how much of the basin is excavation in competent limestone or sandstone rather than soil. Sealing: whether the ground holds on its own clay or needs a core or bentonite. Each becomes a line item the moment we can price it honestly. Mesquite clearing rides on the same quote at published day rates.
Real ponds, real day counts, photographed on site.
Stock tank holding water, Marion
Pond site work, Leander
Dam graded on limestone ground, LampasasFull process, statewide services, and the build standard: our Texas pond construction page.
Everything about a Brady tank follows from twenty four inches of rain. Deep and tight beats wide and shallow every single time in this county, and the tanks that survived the hard summers are the deep ones. We will push you past six feet and show you the cost rather than argue about it.
Mesquite has taken most of the open ground in this county, and the draw where your tank belongs is usually the thickest of it. Clearing is often the larger half of a McCulloch County job. We do both, so it is one mobilization, one schedule, and one bill.
A tank a herd uses needs depth against the sun, bank grades stock can use without breaking down, and a dam keyed into competent material rather than pushed into place. Tell us it is a working tank and we build it as one instead of as something to look at.
There are a lot of old tanks in this county sitting silted in behind dams that were never keyed. Rebuilding one properly is frequently cheaper than starting fresh. We will tell you honestly which one your place needs, including when the answer is the cheaper job.
Water is the hard limit on carrying capacity out here. A tank that holds into September decides how many head your ground runs, and that arithmetic is the whole return on the job.
Everyone in this county remembers the summers that emptied the shallow tanks. Depth built in at the start costs far less than coming back to deepen a failed one, and it is the difference between staying put and hauling water.
In country this dry, surface water concentrates wildlife hard. Sited well a tank supports a wildlife management valuation and keeps deer and turkey on your ground rather than the neighbor with the only water for a mile.
Buyers in this part of Texas look at water before anything else. A deep tank still holding in a dry September is the strongest single thing a McCulloch County place can show.
Most clients add at least one of these. Planned during the build, they cost less and land better than bolting them on a year later.
Bare banks on thin stony soil wash the first time it storms, so we seed and stabilize what we disturb with a mix that suits dry grazing ground rather than a lawn.
Aeration earns more in a hot dry county than a wet one. Moving water stays cooler, holds oxygen through a brutal August, and resists the bloom that turns a tank green by July. Conduit roughed in while the basin is open is far cheaper than trenching later.
Hardened access points stop stock breaking the bank down and silting in the tank you just paid for. Planned before the basin closes they cost very little.
Stocking waits until the tank is holding and settled. We will be honest about what survives a Brady summer rather than selling you fish that will not.
There is nothing I can say to truly express my gratitude for the work completed! Working with Taylor and Stephen was very easy and they made my once overgrown and unworkable land into a beautiful park like setting.
Kenneth Barber, Google review
Amazing service and final product. Hunter, Jonathan and Dustin were the operators for both the tree mulcher and the rock mulcher. Their work completely transformed my property. My only regret is that I did not have it done sooner.
Byron Hairston, Google review
I would highly recommend this company to clear your land. The estimating process was quick, easy and straightforward. Their operator was on time each day and worked all day.
Clay Pritchett, Google review
Dirt crews talk in shorthand. These are the six terms that matter most on a pond build.
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.
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.
We build ponds and tanks across the Hill Country and west Central Texas.
A quarter acre tank 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 McCulloch County variables and each is priced the moment we know.
Deeper than almost anywhere else we work. Under twenty five inches of rain a year, evaporation off a wide shallow bowl is what kills a tank. Pricing starts at six feet at center and we recommend eight or more wherever the budget allows.
Clay flats usually hold on their own and run the published list clean. Stony limestone and sandstone ground may need the basin cored or bentonite worked in. We know this country well enough to give you a straight expectation on the phone, and the exact number the moment we have it.
Out here you often will. Excavation in competent limestone or sandstone is slower and harder on machines than moving soil, so the day count rises. We tell you what we found and what it changes while we are standing on it, not afterwards.
Yes, and in this county that is usually the first real work and often the bigger half. Mesquite has to come off the basin and the dam footprint before a track hoe is any use. Same quote, same crew, published day rates.
Regularly, and it is often the better spend. We seal the basin, rebuild the dam with a proper key trench and compaction in lifts, and fix what was leaking. If a tank is not worth saving we will say so rather than take the work.
Two to three days for a quarter acre and nine to ten for two acres. Rock adds days and we name that up front. You get a day count with the quote.
We do, and we say so plainly rather than quoting you and then dragging our feet. Transport is in the number up front. We batch work in this part of the state where we can, so ask about timing when you call.
Send photos or a pin on the draw you have in mind and we will come back with a range, usually the same day. Transport out here is in the number up front, not added later. If the ground turns out to need sealing you hear it as soon as we know.