PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
Parker County is horse country, and horse country runs on water. We build and rebuild the tanks that keep turnout usable through a North Texas August, priced off a published list.
This is Western Cross Timbers: sandy loam over sandstone with red clay in the draws, post oak on the ridges, mesquite anywhere that got cleared and left alone. Sand passes water, clay holds it, and which one sits under your tank site decides most of the job.
The sandy loam that makes this the cutting horse capital also drains freely. A basin cut only into that seeps away and never shows more than a puddle. What holds is the red clay beneath it, reached with the cut or brought to the bowl and keyed in.
We have dug this ground and know how it behaves, so you get a real range on the phone. What nobody can do is see through the loam from a call, and some sites only answer once the basin is open. Where it needs help, a compacted clay core, bentonite or a liner is priced the moment we can honestly price it.
Parker County splits between working horse and cattle places wanting dependable turnout water, and estate tracts where the pond is the view from the house. Bank grades, depth and finish differ completely and we ask which you want first.
On horse property the bank matters more than people expect. A flat safe access side keeps stock out of trouble and stops the edge breaking down and silting in the tank you just paid for.
A Parker County tank runs in a set order, and the first number reaches you on the phone.
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.
Your first number comes over the phone, from having dug on this kind of ground rather than from a form. Photos and a pin usually get you a real range the same day. Once you approve the estimate we come walk it, reading the draw, the catchment feeding it, stock access, spillway routing and what mesquite has to go first. Anything that moves the number gets said on that walk.
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.
Thirty four inches a year on a real catchment means a well sited Parker County tank fills over a wet stretch. We will not name a date, but we size the watershed feeding your basin so it collects runoff rather than waiting on rain landing in the bowl.
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 6 feet of depth at center with a 4:1 bank. In Parker County the variable is sealing: whether the cut reaches red clay or the basin needs a core, priced the moment we can honestly price it. Mesquite clearing rides on the same quote at published day rates.
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.
Sealing is the Parker County variable. If the cut reaches red clay the basin seals itself and you run the published list. If it does not, the basin needs a compacted core or bentonite, priced as its own written line the moment we know. Mesquite clearing rides on the same quote at published day rates.
Real ponds, real day counts, photographed on site.
Dam work, Gatesville
Pond dirt work, Bertram
Full pond, BastropFull process, statewide services, and the build standard: our Texas pond construction page.
The most common failure on Cross Timbers ground is a bowl dug into loam and left to hope. Every tank we build here reaches the clay or brings it, and the plan is written down either way.
Safe bank grades on the access side, depth where stock do not go, and a finish you can mow. Tell us there are horses on the place and the design changes accordingly.
Mesquite has taken most of the open ground in this county and the draws are the thickest of it. We clear it and dig it, one mobilization and one bill.
Parker County has generations of tanks silted in or leaking behind dams nobody keyed. Rebuilding one properly is frequently cheaper than digging new, and we will tell you when that is the honest answer.
Horse property without dependable water is horse property you are hauling to. A tank that holds keeps turnout usable through August.
On the working places east and north of town, water is the limit on what a pasture runs. Depth is the insurance and it is cheap to build in at the start.
The Cross Timbers draws hold deer and turkey, and surface water concentrates them. Sited well a tank supports a wildlife management valuation.
This is a county where people buy land to keep animals on it. Water that holds in September is the strongest thing a place here can show.
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 on sandy loam move the first time it storms, so we seed and stabilize what we disturb with a mix suited to turnout and grazing rather than a lawn.
Aeration keeps a tank cooler and cleaner through a North Texas August and cuts the algae that turns good water green by July. Conduit roughed in while the basin is open costs a fraction of trenching later.
Hardened access points keep horses and cattle from breaking the bank down and silting in the tank you just paid for.
Stocking waits until the tank is holding and settled. We will tell you what does well here and how long to leave a new basin alone.
I highly recommend Pierce Land Clearing. They have the right equipment and professionals with skills required to make your property look wonderful.
Reggie, Google review
We cannot say enough good about the incredible service we received. We have 30 acres we are preparing for our future home that has never been lived on or maintained. Bobby listened to our vision.
Stephanie Cantrell, Google review
I had such a great experience with this team. Not only did they do a marvelous job but they are good people. Taylor is very personable, honest, with an amazing work ethic. His team is hardworking.
Dean Volkman, Google review
The site walk comes with vocabulary. Here is what the crew means when they say it.
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.
We build ponds and tanks across the Cross Timbers and north Texas.
A quarter acre tank starts at $12,300, a half acre at $19,200, and a full acre at $27,000, based on six feet of depth at center with a 4:1 bank. Minimum job is $8,000. Sealing is the Parker County variable and it is priced the moment we know.
If it is built for the sand, yes. The red clay is usually below, and when the cut reaches it the basin seals itself. When it does not, the basin gets a compacted core or bentonite as its own written line.
Yes, and it is a different build. The access side gets a flatter grade so stock can water without breaking the bank down, the deep end sits away from where they go in, and the finish is something you can mow.
Pricing starts at six feet at center and we recommend eight or more. A shallow tank in a North Texas August turns warm and weedy and can go to mud in a dry year.
Yes, and it is usually the first real work here and often the bigger half. Same quote, same crew, published day rates.
Frequently, and it is often the better spend. We seal the basin, rebuild the dam with a proper key trench and compaction in lifts, and fix whatever was leaking. If it is not worth saving we say so.
Two to three days for a quarter acre and nine to ten for two acres. You get a day count with the quote rather than a vague range.
Yes. Photos, an aerial or a pin get most Parker County quotes a real range the same day, from experience on this exact kind of ground.
Send photos or a pin on the draw you have in mind and we will come back with a range, usually the same day. Tell us if there are horses on the place and we will design the banks for them.