PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
We build ponds and stock tanks around Canyon Lake, on the steep limestone shoulders above the Guadalupe. Living next to the biggest water in the county does not mean you have any of your own.
Comal County ground above the lake is thin soil over layered limestone on slopes that shed rain in minutes. The lake belongs to the Corps and gets drawn down when the Corps says so. A pond on your own place is the version nobody else controls, and the question is whether your ground will keep it.
The shoulders around Canyon Lake are shallow soil over jointed limestone, and the slopes are steep enough that siting matters more here than almost anywhere we work. Put a basin in the wrong place on this ground and you are fighting both leakage and erosion at once.
We are straight about what we can and cannot know. We have built water on this limestone and we know how it behaves, so you get a real range on the phone. What nobody can do is see through your dirt from a call, and some sites only show their hand once the basin is open.
Where the ground needs help the answers are a hauled and keyed clay blanket, bentonite worked into the basin, or a liner on sites that justify one. Each is priced the moment we can honestly price it, whether that is on the phone, on the walk, or standing in the hole. It is never buried in a final invoice.
Steep country delivers. A pond sited on the right draw above the lake catches serious runoff from a modest rain and can fill in one wet stretch rather than over a season. Siting is most of the work and it costs nothing extra when it happens before the machines roll.
That same speed is why the spillway is not a formality here. This drainage feeds the Guadalupe and it floods the way Hill Country rivers flood. We size emergency spillways for real runoff and key every dam into competent material.
What people want out here is usually the view, and we design for it: bank shape, where the deep end sits, how the edge meets the cedar and oak, and where the evening light lands on the water from the porch.
A Comal County pond runs in a set order, and the first number reaches you a lot sooner than most people expect.
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 built water on this limestone 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 with you, reading how the slope lies, where runoff arrives from in a hard rain, what has to be cleared, and whether a loaded truck can reach the spot. Anything we see that moves the number gets said out loud on that walk, not saved for the invoice.
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.
This country sheds rain fast, so a well sited pond above the lake can fill in one wet stretch rather than over a season. We will not name a date, because Hill Country rain is feast or famine. What we control is the catchment, and we size the watershed feeding your basin so it collects real runoff instead of waiting on rain that lands in it.
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. Around Canyon Lake the two variables are rock, meaning how much of the basin is excavation in competent limestone, and sealing. 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.
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 Canyon Lake number. Rock: how much of the basin is excavation in competent limestone rather than soil, which is slower and harder on machines. Sealing: whether the ground holds on its own clay or needs a hauled clay blanket, bentonite, or a liner. Each becomes a line item the moment we can price it honestly.
Real ponds, real day counts, photographed on site.
Half acre pond, Lampasas
Dam work on a Burnet County build
Stock tank holding water, MarionFull process, statewide services, and the build standard: our Texas pond construction page.
Canyon Lake is a Corps reservoir. It rises and falls on a schedule nobody living around it controls, and in a drought year the shoreline walks a long way from where people built. A pond on your own ground is the water you actually own, and for a lot of places out here that is the whole point.
Nearly every site above the lake needs cedar off the basin and the dam footprint before a machine can work, and on this ground the clearing is often the larger half. We do both, so it is one mobilization, one schedule, and one bill.
Pricing starts at six feet at center and we will usually tell you to go eight or more where the budget reaches. Shallow water on a south facing limestone slope turns warm and green fast, and in a dry year it goes to mud. Depth is what makes it dependable.
Every dam gets keyed into competent material, compacted in lifts rather than pushed into place, and given an emergency spillway sized for what this drainage actually does. Above a river that floods like the Guadalupe, that is the minimum defensible way to hold water.
The Corps decides what the lake does. You decide what your pond does. In a drought year that difference is the difference between having water and watching it recede a quarter mile from your dock.
Water is scarce on these limestone shoulders, so a pond concentrates game hard. Sited well it supports a wildlife management valuation and keeps animals on your place rather than moving them to whoever has water.
A great many ponds out here exist because somebody wanted water in the frame from the porch. That is a legitimate reason and we design for it, and the decisions that make it beautiful cost nothing extra when they are made before the machines start.
Reliable surface water on Comal County limestone is scarce and buyers know it. A pond that holds is a permanent improvement in a market where a lake view is common and private water is not.
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 limestone soil and a steep slope wash the first time it storms, so we seed and stabilize what we disturb with a mix matched to shallow ground.
Aeration earns its keep in Comal County heat. Moving water stays cooler, holds oxygen through August, and resists the 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. On limestone ground there is often good rock exactly 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.
Absolutely outstanding quality work by Pierce Land Clearing. Two days into the clearing the operator became ill and with no delays a new operator was dispatched to complete the job on schedule. Without a doubt, would use them again.
Sheila Mills, Google review
I called them after having bad service with another company. Preston explained the cost of everything up front. He answered all my questions and concerns. I emailed a Google map of the area and he got back with me within hours.
Dustin Crumbliss, Google review
These guys are the rockstars of the land clearing business. Arrived early, carefully listened to my wishes, and then went to town. So fast, efficient, and professional.
tim pham, Google review
Dirt crews talk in shorthand. These are the six terms that matter most on a pond build.
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.
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.
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 Comal County number, and each is priced the moment we can honestly price it.
Because the lake is not yours. It is a Corps reservoir, it gets drawn down, and in a dry year the water walks away from the shoreline. A pond on your own ground holds when the lake does not, and nobody upstream decides when you get to use it.
Some sites hold on their own clay and some need help, and anyone who tells you which over the phone is guessing. What we have is experience on this exact ground and the ponds we have already built around here. If yours needs sealing you hear the number as soon as we have it, not at the end.
On these slopes we often do. Excavation in competent limestone is slower and harder on equipment than moving soil, so the day count rises. We tell you what we found and what it changes while we are standing on it.
Yes, and above the lake it is usually the first real work. Cedar has to come off the basin and the dam footprint before a track hoe is any use. One company doing both means one mobilization and a schedule somebody owns.
Steeper than people expect is still buildable, but siting decides everything. Often the right answer is moving the basin fifty yards downslope into a draw, which costs less and holds better. We will tell you that even though the smaller job is the cheaper quote.
Two to three days for a quarter acre and nine to ten for two acres, with rock adding days we name up front. Filling depends on rain, and this terrain sheds hard, so a well sited pond here fills faster than flat country does.
Often. We drain what is left, find where the water 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 properly. If a site is not worth saving we will say so.
Send photos or a pin on the spot you have in mind and we will come back with a range, usually the same day, from having built water in this county before. If the ground turns out to need sealing, you hear the number as soon as we have it rather than at the end.