PIERCE
LAND
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Ponds, stock tanks and dams built across Bosque County. Published pricing from $12,300, dirt crews that build ponds every week, and an honest answer on whether your ground will hold water.
Valley Mills sits on the Bosque in the middle of some of the oldest ranch country in this part of Texas, which means most places already have a tank on them. A good share of our work here is rehabilitation rather than new construction: a tank that silted in over forty years, a dam that has started to seep, a spillway that cut itself deeper than anybody intended. Rebuilding an existing tank is usually cheaper than cutting a new one.
The clay around Valley Mills generally holds water well once it is shaped and compacted, and the material for the dam core is usually already on the property.
What is not consistent is how deep it runs before rock. Two spots on the same place can be very different, which is why we dig test pits rather than price off a map.
Limestone under thin upland soil is the thing that turns a straightforward dig slow. It does not stop a pond, it changes the machine and the number of days.
Creek bottoms and draws are usually the better answer anyway: deeper soil, easier digging, and it is where the water already wants to collect.
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.
The first step costs nothing: photos, a rough size, your location. We come back same day with a range from the published list, and the site walk gets scheduled only if that range makes sense to you.
We walk the property with you and dig test pits where the pond is going. Around Valley Mills that is the step that decides the price, because how deep the clay runs before rock changes the machine and the day count. We would rather find out standing on the spot than halfway through.
We put the whole build on paper in machine days, dig, dam, and spillway, with rock or liner contingencies called out up front where you can see them. The number you sign is the number you pay.
Once the quote is signed we get you on the calendar, typically a few weeks out. The machines arrive together, stage near the site, and stay until the job is finished, no disappearing mid-build.
Count on two to five working days of iron time for a typical pond. Every build follows the same discipline: saved topsoil, a real core trench, a dam raised in compacted lifts, and slopes cut so they can be mowed, not just admired.
Last step: a slow lap around the pond together. You check the dam, the spillway cut, the slope finish, and the dressed topsoil against the quote. We load the machines only when you are satisfied.
Rain fills ponds, not machines. In Bosque 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 |
Rock is the variable around Valley Mills. If the basin hits limestone before it reaches depth, that changes the machine and the day count, and we will tell you at the site walk rather than mid build.
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.
The quote has two halves: what every build includes, and the site-specific items we flag before work starts.
One price, one finished pond: siting matched to the water the land actually sheds, staking, saved topsoil, core trench, a dam packed up in lifts, a proper spillway, slopes you can mow, and banks dressed to grass. Machine transport and the walkthrough are never extras.
Rock excavation if the basin hits limestone before depth, imported clay if the material on site will not core a dam, and long spoil hauls if there is nowhere sensible to put it. All quoted separately and always before the work, never after.
Real ponds, real day counts, photographed on site.
Aerial of a freshly shaped pond taking on water near Whitney, TX
Dozer shaping a pond basin at dusk near Whitney, TX
Basin shaping, GatesvilleFull 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 Valley Mills 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.
Most clients add at least one of these. Planned during the build, they cost less and land better than bolting them on a year later.
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.
My experience was the best hands down. I liked the direct upfront pricing and how it was stated clearly what would be done. The operator Jonathan went above and beyond to take care of our property and listened to what was important to us.
James Lout, Google review
Jonathon came out and did a great job. Had 8 to 10 large piles of brush that he was able to mulch in a couple of hours. He walked the property with me so I could point out more areas I wanted cleaned up.
Freddy Huser, Google review
My wife and I bought 3 acres that we needed cedars cleared from. A good friend of mine recommended Pierce so I decided to give them a try. Taylor was communicative and responded quickly from the first call.
Chad Womack, Google review
Dirt crews talk in shorthand. These are the six terms that matter most on a pond build.
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.
A keyway cut below grade under the dam and packed with clay, so water cannot travel beneath the structure.
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.
We build ponds across Bosque 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.
Usually not. The clay around Valley Mills is generally good enough to hold water once it is shaped and compacted properly, and the material for the dam core is normally right there on the place. We still dig test pits before quoting, because two spots on the same property can behave differently.
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 Bosque 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 Valley Mills 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.