PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
Luling sits on the San Marcos River where the blackland runs out into post oak country. Good pond ground, but which kind you have depends on where you are standing.
Usually yes, and often very well. Caldwell County carries prairie clay across a lot of its ground, with sandier post oak soils mixed through it as you head east.
Most of the country around Luling carries prairie clay, the same soil that runs north through Lockhart and Dale. Cut and compacted as the basin is dug, that clay seals itself. No liner, no bentonite, and the chart prices stand with very little added.
The river terrace ground along the San Marcos behaves similarly. Alluvial soil over clay is forgiving to work and forgiving to seal, which is why a lot of the older tanks in this county have been holding water for generations without anybody doing anything clever to them.
As you move east toward the post oak country the soils lighten and sand comes into the profile. Sand drains, so a basin cut only into that layer will not hold. The clay is normally still there underneath, and the question becomes how deep it sits.
That is exactly what the test pit answers. Where the clay is shallow the job is straightforward. Where the sand runs deep, sealing becomes a real line item and you will see it in writing rather than discover it after the machines have gone.
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.
It starts with photos of the site and a rough idea of size. We answer with a same-day ballpark off the published price list, and if the number works for you, we schedule the site walk. No sales funnel, just a conversation.
We walk the ground with you, find where water already collects, and dig a test pit. Around Luling that pit is mostly confirming which soil you have and how deep the clay sits under it.
The quote reads like a plan, not a mystery: dig, dam, spillway, and any contingency for rock, each priced in machine days. If clearing is needed first, it is on the same sheet at our published day rates. What is written is what you pay.
Within a few weeks of signing, the lowboy delivers the iron. All we need from you is gate access wide enough for the machines and somewhere to drop the trailer. Everything else is on us.
Most ponds take two to five working days. The sequence never changes: strip and save the topsoil, cut the core trench, raise the dam in thin compacted lifts, shape the basin. Watch as much of it as you like from outside the swing radius.
The build ends with a walkthrough, not an invoice. Dam, spillway, slopes, and dressed banks, checked against the quote with you standing there. Anything off gets fixed before the lowboy is loaded.
Then you wait on weather. Clay has to be worked dry to compact properly, so we book around the forecast rather than through it. That is what decides whether the dam holds or seeps.
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 Luling the test pit is mostly confirming which soil you have. On the clay a sealing line item is rarely needed; on the sandier ground we are looking for how deep the clay sits beneath it. Either way you get the number 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.
Every quote we write splits the same honest way. Here is what is inside the number and what gets flagged separately.
Every quote covers the complete pond: watershed-matched siting, staking, saved topsoil, a true core trench, a dam raised in compacted lifts, a shaped spillway, mowable slope finishes, and banks dressed with the topsoil we saved. Transport of the machines is included, as is the final walkthrough.
What moves the number on a Luling job: how deep the clay sits under any sand, how far a lowboy can get down the ranch road, whether the site needs clearing first, how far the spoil has to travel, and whether you are near enough to the river to want extra freeboard.
Real ponds, real day counts, photographed on site.
Blackland pond work, Paige
Stock tank holding water, Marion
Pond filling, CrawfordFull process, statewide services, and the build standard: our Texas pond construction page.
Caldwell County is cattle and hay ground with the San Marcos running through the middle of it. Most of the ponds we build here are working water: tanks that keep stock out of the river bottom, that hold when the creeks quit, and that catch runoff which was otherwise cutting a gully across a hay meadow.
Mesquite and huisache take any pasture that stops being grazed around here, and the low ground where a pond wants to sit is always the thickest of it. 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.
This county has a lot of generational tanks that have silted from eight feet down to three. Rebuilding the dam properly, sealing the basin and cutting a real spillway usually costs less than a new build, and you get a pond on a site that has already proved it holds water. If you have got one, it is worth asking about before you site a new one.
Six feet at centre is where the chart starts and it holds on this ground. But a hard Caldwell County summer will draw a shallow tank right down. Eight or nine feet keeps a cold layer at the bottom and keeps water available when the creeks have stopped. It is cheap while the machine is already in the hole.
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 silt back into itself.
Every tank starts filling in the day it is finished. Grass cover on the watershed, stock fenced off the approach and a small forebay to catch sediment ahead of the main basin will buy you decades.
Hoof traffic on a dam face is the commonest way a sound tank becomes a leaking one. A fenced tank with a gravity trough below it costs a little more up front and outlasts an open one by years.
You find out what a tank is worth in the third hot August. Six feet gets low and warm. Nine feet keeps a cold layer at the bottom and keeps water in front of stock. Everyone we know who went deeper is glad they did.
A pond is dirt work first, but it does not have to end there. One call covers everything from grass on the dam to fish in the water.
Bare banks wash. We seed and mat the disturbed ground with a mix suited to Central Texas 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.
They did a fantastic job clearing fence lines, opening up pastures and breaking trail in dense overgrowth. Taylor does a great job recommending the proper equipment for the job and being transparent.
Taylor Small, Google review
Just had a fence line for a 50 acre tract cleared. Some ravines, trees, trash trees. It is amazing! Will with his magic machine cleared that path and much more. Stumps, dead trees, things that the pioneers could have only dreamed of.
Jeannie Thurmond, Google review
Highly recommend Pierce Land Clearing! Fair price. Showed up on time and work was as promised. 4.5 acres of solid cedar, oak, mesquite etc. taken care of in less than 3 days. I will not shop around on the next project.
Aaron P, Google review
The site walk comes with vocabulary. Here is what the crew means when they say it.
The armored low route storm water takes around the dam instead of over it. The difference between a rain event and a rebuild.
Four feet of run for every foot of drop. Gentler banks are safer and easier to mow; steeper banks get more depth from less dirt.
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.
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. On Caldwell County clay those numbers usually stand. On the sandier ground east of town, sealing can be a line item, and you will see it before you commit.
Usually. Most of this county carries prairie clay that seals as it is compacted. East of town the soils lighten and the question becomes how deep the clay sits under the sand. We dig a test pit before quoting so the answer comes from your ground rather than a map.
It affects siting more than price. River terrace soil is good pond ground, but a basin built in the flow path silts up fast and takes a beating when the river comes up. We walk it and usually site the pond just off the main path so it still catches runoff.
Usually some of it. Mesquite and huisache close in on any ungrazed ground and the pond site is always in the middle of it. Clearing land is our main trade, so the brush and the basin happen on one trip with one crew 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 pond dams a defined watercourse or sits in a floodplain, which near the river is a fair question. We will tell you what applies before anything starts.
Ask us to look at the old one first. An old tank on a proven site is often the better buy: rebuilt dam, sealed basin and a proper spillway, it usually costs less than a new build and you already know the ground holds.
Around 35 inches a year, mostly spring and autumn. On the clay a chart sized pond fills over one or two wet seasons. On sandier ground more of the rain soaks in rather than running off, so it can take longer. We size the catchment on the walk.
Six feet at centre is the chart minimum and it holds here. Eight or nine is what we recommend if the tank has to keep water in front of stock through a dry summer. The extra depth is straightforward digging on this ground.
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 and give you a written number with the transport already in it.