PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
Lee County is Yegua sand over claypan, and that combination decides everything about a pond here. Get the cut down to the clay and it holds. Stop short and it never fills.
The post oak country around Giddings runs deep sand over a dense claypan. Water goes straight down through the sand and stops at the clay. A pond that reaches that clay layer seals itself and holds for decades. One that does not is a hole that stays wet for a week after rain.
The claypan is the whole job in Lee County. On some tracts it sits three or four feet down and the cut reaches it easily. On others it is deeper than a basin wants to go, and the answer is bringing clay to the bowl and keying it in properly.
We have worked this ground and we know how it behaves county by county and draw by draw. What nobody can do is see through the sand from a phone call, and some sites only settle the question once the basin is open.
Where it needs help the answers are a compacted clay core, bentonite worked into the basin, or a liner. Each is priced the moment we can honestly price it and never appears quietly at the end.
Thirty eight inches a year is generous by Texas standards, and Lee County ponds that are built right fill readily and stay full. The rainfall does the work as long as the basin holds it.
It also means erosion is a live concern. Bare sand moves fast in a hard rain, so we seed and stabilize what we disturb and we do not leave a slope open.
A Lee County pond runs in a set order, and the clay question is the one that decides the rest.
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.
Your first number comes over the phone, from having dug in this sand 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 the draw, the catchment feeding it, what post oak and yaupon has to go and whether a loaded truck can reach the spot. Anything that moves the number gets said on that walk.
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 any 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.
Thirty eight inches a year is generous, and a Lee County pond that holds fills readily. We will not name a date, but we size the watershed feeding your basin so it collects real runoff rather than waiting on rain landing in the bowl.
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 Lee County the variable is sealing: whether the cut reaches the claypan or the basin needs a core. Priced the moment we can honestly price it. Post oak and yaupon 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.
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.
Sealing is the Lee County variable. If the cut reaches the claypan the basin seals itself and you run the published list. If it does not, the basin needs a compacted core or bentonite, priced as its own written line the moment we know. Clearing rides on the same quote at published day rates.
Real ponds, real day counts, photographed on site.
Full pond, Bastrop
Basin shaping, Gatesville
Pond site work, LeanderFull process, statewide services, and the build standard: our Texas pond construction page.
The most common failure on Lee County ground is a basin dug into sand and left to hope. It seeps from the first day. Every pond we build here is built for the sand, and the sealing plan is in writing either way.
The draw where your pond belongs is usually the thickest cover on the place. Clearing is often the larger half of a Lee County job and we do both halves, one mobilization and one bill.
Lee County runs cattle and it runs deer leases. A stock tank needs depth and bank grades cattle can use. Hunting water gets sited where game will actually come to it. We ask which you want first.
A dam built out of sand is not a dam. Ours are keyed into competent clay below grade, built from suitable material and compacted in lifts, with a spillway sized for what thirty eight inches of rain does when it arrives all at once.
Cattle ground here needs dependable water and sand country does not hand it to you. A tank that holds is what makes a pasture worth running.
Lee County runs a lot of hunting leases and water is the strongest single improvement on one. Sited well a pond concentrates game and supports a wildlife management valuation.
Water pulls people to the back of a tract. On post oak country that is often the prettiest part and the part nobody walks to.
Plenty of Lee County ponds do not hold. One that does is genuinely differentiating when a buyer walks the place in September.
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.
Bare sand moves the first time it storms, so we seed and stabilize what we disturb with a mix that will take on sandy ground rather than a generic blend.
Aeration keeps a sand country pond cooler and cleaner through August and cuts the algae that turns clear water green by July. Conduit roughed in while the basin is open costs a fraction of trenching later.
Docks and hardened access get planned before the basin closes so footings sit on competent material rather than loose sand.
Stocking waits until the pond is holding and settled. We will tell you what does well in this water and how long to leave a new basin alone.
I truly appreciate the integrity of this company and very competitive pricing. Very timely, and communication and payment options were great! I highly recommend this company and we will use them again.
David Scoggins, Google review
They did a phenomenal job cleaning up my 80 acres in Bellville of tree damage from the straight wind storm. Steve surveyed the property and gave me a quote that week, and Dustin worked diligently for 9 days to complete the project. Throughout, I got frequent updates. Outstanding team, outstanding job.
Doug Abbott, Google review
One word: FANTASTIC!! Thank you Pierce Land Clearing and special thanks to Dustin. We are so pleased!!
Dawn Buscho, Google review
Six terms you will hear on the site walk, and what they actually mean for your water.
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.
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.
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. Sealing is the Lee County variable and it is priced the moment we know.
If it is built for the sand, yes. The claypan is down there and when the cut reaches it the basin seals itself. When it does not, the basin gets a compacted core or bentonite as its own written line.
Nobody can tell you from the road, ourselves included. What we bring is experience on this exact ground and the ponds we have built around here. On a lot of Lee County tracts the clay is within reach; on some it is not, and the cut settles it.
Pricing starts at six feet at center and we recommend eight or more. Deeper water resists a Central Texas August and keeps a sand country pond from turning warm and weedy.
Yes, and it is usually the first real work here and often the bigger half. Same quote, same crew, published day rates.
Frequently, and it is a common Lee County call. We drain what is left, find where the water is going, and treat it with a keyed clay blanket, bentonite or a rebuilt dam. If a site is not worth saving we will say so.
Two to three days for a quarter acre and nine to ten for two acres. You get a day count with the quote.
Yes. Photos, an aerial or a pin get most Lee County quotes a real range the same day, from experience on this exact kind of ground.
Send photos or a pin on the draw you have in mind and we will come back with a range, usually the same day. If the ground turns out to need sealing you hear that number as soon as we have it rather than at the end.