PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
Ponds, stock tanks and dams built across Bastrop County. Published pricing from $12,300, dirt crews that build ponds every week, and an honest answer on whether your ground will hold water.
Rosanky is ranch country south of Bastrop where post oak sand rolls over pockets of tighter clay, and the two behave nothing alike once a machine opens the ground. We dig test pits before quoting for exactly that reason. A place that turns up clay at four feet is a straightforward build. A place that is sand all the way down needs a clay core, and often bentonite across the basin, before it will hold a pool through an August.
Post oak sand drains, which is exactly what you do not want under a pond. Water finds the coarse layer and leaves.
That is why we open test pits before quoting. Finding clay at four feet changes the price in your favour. Finding sand all the way down means a clay core and probably a sealed basin, and it is better to know that before a machine shows up.
A dam gets built with a clay core keyed into undisturbed ground, compacted in lifts. That is the part that holds water, not the outside of the dam.
If the basin itself will not hold, sodium bentonite gets worked into the bottom and compacted. It is an added cost and we quote it separately, but on sand it is the difference between a pond and a low spot.
A pond is a dirt job with a water problem attached. Here is how one actually runs from the first call to the day it holds a pool.
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 property with you and dig test pits where the pond is going. Around Rosanky that is the step that decides the price, because whether there is clay under the sand changes the whole build. We would rather find out standing on the spot than halfway through.
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.
Rain fills ponds, not machines. In Bastrop County a new pond usually catches its first real water the season after it is built and reaches full pool across one or two wet seasons. Anybody who promises you a filled pond on a date is telling you what you want to hear.
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 |
Sand is the variable around Rosanky. If test pits show the basin will not hold on its own, sealing is quoted separately and we will tell you before you commit, not after.
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.
Basin sealing with sodium bentonite, imported select fill if there is no clay on the place, and rock if a shelf turns up unexpectedly. All quoted separately and always before the work, never after.
Real ponds, real day counts, photographed on site.
Before and after of a pond site build near Elgin, TX
Third acre pond under construction near Elgin, TX
Full pond holding water near Bastrop, TXFull process, statewide services, and the build standard: our Texas pond construction page.
Everything that matters happens in the dam. It gets keyed into undisturbed ground so water cannot slide underneath it, built in compacted lifts rather than pushed up in one go, and given a bank shallow enough to mow and safe enough to walk. A pond that fails almost never fails in the middle. It fails at the dam.
A shallow pond grows algae, loses water to evaporation and warms up until nothing wants to live in it. Six feet at center is the baseline we build to and it is why our pricing is quoted that way. If you want fish, deeper is better than wider nearly every time.
Every pond needs somewhere for the overflow to go that is not across the dam. An emergency spillway cut into undisturbed ground at the right elevation is what keeps a wet spring from taking your dam out. It is the cheapest insurance on the whole build.
Very little, if it was built right. Watch the dam after heavy rain for seepage or slumping, keep trees off it because roots make channels, and expect it to want attention somewhere between year fifteen and year thirty depending on what drains into it.
Expect the water to be cloudy and the banks to look raw. Both fix themselves. Get grass established on the dam as fast as you can, because bare dirt on a new dam is the one thing that will cost you real money if a hard rain arrives before roots do.
Wait until the pond has held a stable pool through a season before you put fish in it. Around Rosanky most owners go bluegill and minnows first, then bass the following year once there is something for them to eat. Your county extension office will give you a stocking rate for the acreage.
Most green water is nutrient, not dirt. Keep fertiliser and livestock runoff out of the catchment where you can, leave a grass buffer above the waterline, and give it time. Aeration helps a pond that stratifies in summer, and it is worth doing before chemicals are.
Seepage on the downstream face of the dam, a spillway that is cutting deeper each year, or a tank that has lost noticeable depth to silt. All three are fixable and all three get worse and more expensive the longer they run.
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.
Grass on a new dam is not cosmetic, it is what stops the first hard rain taking material off it. We seed and mat the dam and the disturbed ground around the basin as part of finishing.
Aeration matters most on ponds deeper than they are wide, which is most of ours. It keeps the water from stratifying in an August and is far cheaper than treating a pond that has already gone bad.
Docks and access points get planned before the dirt work finishes, because it is much easier to shape a bank for a dock while the machines are still on site than to come back for it.
Stocking is worth doing properly. We will tell you when the pond is ready and point you at the county extension rates rather than guessing at a number for you.
I cannot tell you how pleased I am with the work these guys did on my place. I have some very steep slopes and a lot of oaks and cedars. They used great judgement, not turning it into a field, using heavy machinery at a very fair price.
Ivan Allen, Google review
I would highly recommend Pierce Land Clearing. I mentioned to Bobby, our operator, that he was an artist. He took an overgrown piece of land and turned it into a beautiful landscape. He saw my vision and made it happen.
Monica Walker, Google review
We are really happy with the work Pierce Land Clearing did for us! They were quick to respond to our initial inquiry, gave a free estimate on the work we wanted done, and completed the work quickly. All the machine operators were very nice.
Jennifer Burrough, Google review
Learn these six and you can grade any pond quote you are handed, including ours.
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 across Bastrop County and the country around it. Pick your town or call and tell us where the place is.
Published on this page rather than hidden behind a form. Pricing starts at $12,300 and is based on 6 feet of depth at center with a 4:1 bank. The number moves with size, how far the spoil has to travel, and whether the basin needs sealing. Send us the spot and the size you want and we will give you a real figure.
Out here, often yes. Post oak sand does not hold water on its own. Most ponds around Rosanky need a clay core in the dam, and on the sandiest tracts a sealed basin as well, usually sodium bentonite worked into the bottom. We dig test pits before quoting so you are not guessing.
Most quarter acre ponds are a two to four day build once machines are on site. Half acre runs longer. Weather is the variable nobody controls: we do not shape a basin in saturated ground because it will not compact, and a pond built on mud is a pond that seeps.
That is rain, not us. A pond in Bastrop County typically catches its first real water in the season after it is built and reaches full pool over one to two wet seasons. Anyone promising you a full pond on a schedule is guessing.
On private land you own, a stock pond generally needs no permit in Texas, and agricultural water use is broadly exempt. It changes if you are damming a defined watercourse, working in a floodplain, or impounding above certain volumes. We will tell you when a call to the county or the river authority is worth making before a machine moves.
Yes, and around Rosanky that is a good share of what we do. A pond that will not hold gets the basin sealed and the dam rebuilt with a proper key trench. If you want more water we can enlarge it while the machines are on site. Rehabilitating an existing tank is normally cheaper than cutting a new one in a new spot.
Where the water already wants to go. The best pond site is usually a natural draw with a catchment above it, not the flat spot nearest the house. We walk it with you before quoting, because moving a pond two hundred yards can be the difference between one that fills and one that never does.
It stays on the property unless you want it gone. Spoil from the basin normally builds the dam, and what is left gets spread and shaped so it reads as landform rather than a pile. Hauling it off is possible and it costs extra, so we would rather find somewhere useful for it on the place.
Tell us the spot and the size you have in mind and we will give you a real number, including whether the ground will hold it.