PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
Lee County is deep post oak sand. That is easy country to dig and hard country to hold water in, and the whole job is finding the clay underneath it.
Only if the basin gets down into the clay. Lexington sits in Post Oak Savannah country where sandy soil runs deep in places, and sand does not seal.
Lee County has some of the deepest sandy soils in this part of Texas. It is lovely ground for post oaks and for cattle and it is the worst possible thing to cut a pond basin into. Sand lets water straight through, and no amount of shaping or compacting changes that.
Which is why a quote given without digging is worthless around Lexington. On one property the clay is four feet down. On the next it is ten, or the sand is layered through the clay in a way that only a pit will show you.
Where the clay is within reach we cut the basin down into it and use that same clay to build the dam. That gives you a tank that seals itself, at chart prices, on ground people assume will not hold water at all.
Where the sand is too deep to dig through economically, the honest answer is to haul clay from a better part of the property and cap the basin with it, or to line it. Both are real numbers we put in writing. What we will not do is cut a pretty hole in sand and take your money.
Most people have never had a tank built and do not know what the week looks like. Here is the whole thing, from the first call to the day it starts holding water.
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.
We walk the ground with you, find where water already collects, and dig a test pit. On Lee County sand that pit is the entire quote: how deep the sand runs and whether there is clay we can reach.
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.
Then you wait on weather. Clay has to be worked dry to compact into a proper seal, and when you are winning clay out of a subsoil that discipline matters even more than usual.
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 six feet of depth at centre with a 4:1 bank. Around Lexington the test pit is the most important hour of the job. Where the clay is within reach the chart prices stand. Where the sand runs deep, sealing is a genuine line item and you will see it costed before anything starts.
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.
What moves the number on a Lexington job: how deep the sand runs before clay, whether clay has to be hauled from elsewhere on the property, how far a lowboy can get down the road, how much yaupon and cedar has to come out, and how far the spoil travels.
Real ponds, real day counts, photographed on site.
Stock tank holding water, Marion
A new pond taking on water
Pond build on Manor blacklandFull process, statewide services, and the build standard: our Texas pond construction page.
Lee County has not been swallowed by anything, and the ground around Lexington is still working land: pasture, hay, cattle, and post oak woods in between. The tanks we build here earn their keep. They water stock, they let a paddock be used in a dry month, and they are usually the difference between running a place and hauling water to it.
Yaupon and cedar fill the post oak understory and the low draws grow it thickest, which is exactly where a tank wants to sit. We clear land as our main trade and build ponds with the same crew, so the brush comes out and the basin gets cut on one mobilisation with one bill.
On deep sand the surface tells you nothing about whether a pond will hold. The pit tells us the depth to clay, the quality of that clay, and whether there is enough of it to seal the floor and build the dam from. On Lee County ground that hour is not a formality, it is the entire difference between a tank and a soak away.
Lexington gets around 37 inches a year, more than most of the country we work. That helps, but sandy ground absorbs rather than sheds, so the catchment above a tank matters more here than it does on blackland. We work out what your watershed actually delivers rather than assuming the rainfall figure does the job.
A new tank looks raw. Bare banks, cloudy water, a season before it settles. Get grass established before the first big rain and it clears faster and stops feeding sand and silt back into itself.
On sandy country the first dry stretch tells you the truth. A steady drop beyond normal evaporation is worth a call. Caught early it is usually a small repair; left a season it becomes draining and starting again.
Hoof traffic on a dam face is the commonest way a sound tank becomes a leaking one, and on sandy ground it happens faster. A fenced tank with a gravity trough below outlasts an open one by years.
A shallow tank on sand is the first thing to go in a hard year. Six feet gets low and warm. Nine feet keeps a cold layer at the bottom and keeps water in front of stock. That is the whole argument for going deeper.
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 wash, and sandy banks wash fastest of all. We seed and mat the disturbed ground with a mix suited to post oak country so the first storm does not put your dam back into the tank.
Moving water stays cleaner. An aerator keeps oxygen through the whole column and holds algae back through a hot summer, which matters on water stock are drinking.
A hardened approach keeps stock watering without breaking the banks down, and gives you somewhere to back a trailer. We shape and compact it while the machines are still on site.
Fish want structure and depth before stocking. We leave brush piles, a drop off and a shelf while the basin is open, so the tank is built to hold fish before you put any in.
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.
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.
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.
Pricing starts at $12,300 for a quarter acre at six feet with a 4:1 bank and runs to $39,500 for two acres, with an $8,000 minimum. Where we can cut the basin into clay those numbers stand. Where the sand is deep, sealing is a real added cost and you will see it itemised first.
Not if the basin sits in the sand. It will if we get it down into the clay beneath, or cap it with clay hauled from a better part of your place. Which of those applies is what the test pit tells us, and we dig it before quoting rather than after.
It varies a lot, which is the point. On one Lexington property the clay is four feet down and on the next it is well past digging depth. There is no way to know from the surface, and anybody who quotes you without putting a machine in the ground is guessing.
Then we say so and price the honest options: haul clay from elsewhere on the property and cap the basin, move the tank to where the clay is shallower, or line it. We will not cut a basin into sand and let you find out in the first dry month.
Usually. Yaupon and cedar fill the post oak understory and the low ground where a tank wants to go is always the thickest. Clearing is our main trade, so the brush and the basin are one trip and one bill.
On your own rural land, generally no, and agricultural water storage is exempt from most regulation in Texas. It changes if the tank dams a defined watercourse or sits in a floodplain. We will tell you which applies before anything starts.
Lexington gets around 37 inches a year, which is generous by our standards. But sandy ground soaks up more of it than blackland does, so what fills your tank is the catchment above it rather than the rainfall figure. We size that on the walk.
Yes, and in this county it is a regular call, usually about a basin cut into sand years ago. We drain it, find where it is going, and either cap it with clay or line it. Often that costs less than the original build should have.
Tell us roughly how big you want the water and where you are thinking of putting it. We will walk the ground, dig a test pit to find how deep the sand runs, and give you a written number.