PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
Thorndale sits on Milam County blackland along the San Gabriel. Deep prairie clay, honest farm ground, and about the most straightforward pond country in Texas.
Yes, and with less fuss than almost anywhere we build. Milam County carries deep Blackland Prairie clay, which is exactly what a pond basin wants underneath it.
Milam County is deep Blackland Prairie, the soil that made this cotton and grain country. Cut and compacted as the basin is dug and the dam raised, that clay forms its own seal. No liner, no bentonite, and no line item for making the pond hold water.
That is the whole reason ponds are cheaper to build here than an hour west. On the limestone the same pond can need thousands in sealing and nobody knows until a machine is in the hole. On Thorndale ground the assumption is that it will hold, and the test pit confirms it.
The same clay that seals your pond is unworkable saturated. It sticks to tracks, refuses to compact, and tears ruts that outlast the job by years. A dam built out of greasy clay seeps, so this is not a corner anybody should cut.
We book pond work around the weather rather than through it. If your place is wet we will tell you to wait rather than take a deposit and make a mess of a good field. Late summer into autumn is usually the right window on Milam County ground.
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 the low spot the water already runs to, and dig a test pit to see what is under the topsoil. On Thorndale blackland that pit is normally good news and it is where the quote stops being a guess.
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. Blackland has to be worked dry to compact, so we book around the forecast. It is the part people find frustrating and it is exactly what decides whether the dam holds water or seeps 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 six feet of depth at centre with a 4:1 bank. On Thorndale blackland there is normally no sealing line item at all. Access and how far the spoil has to be carried are the usual variables, and both are small compared with what sealing costs on rocky ground.
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 Thorndale job: how far a lowboy can get in, whether the site needs clearing first, how far the spoil has to be carried, and whether you want the dirt spread across the field, stockpiled, or shaped into a pad or a berm.
Real ponds, real day counts, photographed on site.
Elgin pond dirt work
Pond build on Manor blackland
Prairie water, standing fullFull process, statewide services, and the build standard: our Texas pond construction page.
Already have a pond that will not hold water? Start with why a pond will not hold water, see what a rehab involves and what one cost, and if the soil is the problem the bentonite calculator gives you the load count before anyone comes out.
Milam County has not been swallowed by Austin the way Williamson has, and the ground around Thorndale is still worked. The tanks we build here are practical: stock water, a catchment that stops a field sheeting into the road, somewhere to draw from in a dry stretch. The chart prices suit that kind of job because they are day rate work rather than a landscaping budget.
The low ground where a tank wants to sit is normally the brushiest part of a blackland place: mesquite, elm and hackberry down the draw and greenbriar through the fence line. 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 country drains toward the San Gabriel and the Little River, and blackland sheds a downpour rather than absorbing it. That is good news for filling a tank and it means the spillway has to be built for the worst afternoon rather than the average one. A dam wide enough not to be overtopped is the difference between a tank that lasts thirty years and one that washes out.
The chart starts at six feet at centre and six holds on this clay. If the tank has to matter in a dry August, go deeper. Eight or nine keeps a cold layer at the bottom, slows evaporation and holds weed and algae back. On blackland that extra depth is straightforward digging and costs very little while the machine is already there.
A new tank looks raw. Bare banks, water the colour of the clay it came out of, and a season before it settles. Get grass on the banks 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, and a field catchment delivers plenty. Grass cover on the watershed, stock fenced off the approach and a small forebay 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 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, warm and green. Nine feet keeps a cold layer at the bottom and comes through it. Everyone we know who went deeper is glad they did.
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 blackland washes in sheets. 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 basin.
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.
I could not be more pleased after hiring them to clear cedars off my land. They did exactly what I needed, and my place now looks amazing. I learned having the right equipment is key, and Pierce Land Clearing has it.
chris tiroff, Google review
I think when people undergo such a large project, they have an unrealistic expectation of how it is going to turn out. This was not the case, it turned out to be exactly as I hoped it would. Everybody I have dealt with so far in this company has been great.
Richard Franco, Google review
Preston and all the folks at Pierce were absolutely great to work with. The job was done on schedule and as quoted, and done well. Price was very fair as well. Highly recommend Pierce Land Clearing.
David Madeksho, Google review
Learn these six and you can grade any pond quote you are handed, including ours.
The key cut through the dam footprint, backfilled with compacted clay, that stops water tracking under the dam instead of sitting behind it. On deep blackland it is the most important part of the whole build.
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.
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.
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 Milam County blackland those numbers hold up well because there is rarely any sealing to add. Access and clearing are the usual variables.
Almost always. This is deep prairie clay that compacts into its own seal as the basin is cut. Tanks here very rarely need a liner. We still dig a test pit before quoting, because the ground gives a better answer than a soil survey does.
Late summer into autumn, usually. Blackland has to be worked dry to compact properly, so a wet spring can push a job by weeks. Build in the dry and let the winter and spring rains fill it. Forcing a build through a wet stretch is how you get a dam that seeps.
Often. Tank sites sit in the low ground where mesquite, elm and greenbriar are thickest. Doing the clearing and the dig with one crew on one trip saves you a second mobilisation and a second transport charge.
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.
Six feet at centre is where the chart starts. Eight or more is what we recommend if the tank needs to survive a dry year looking like water. On this clay the extra depth is easy digging and far cheaper now than bringing machines back later.
Around 36 inches a year, mostly spring and autumn. Blackland sheds water rather than soaking it up, so a decent catchment fills a tank here faster than the same catchment would on sandy ground. Most chart sized tanks fill over one or two wet seasons.
Yes, and in this county there are plenty worth saving. Rebuilding the dam with a proper key trench and cutting a spillway sized for the catchment usually costs less than a new build, on ground that has already proved it holds.
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.