Pond Construction in Texas

Three things determine it. Soil, topography and water supply.

Soil comes first. The Extension people at Mississippi State will tell you a pond site needs at least 20% clay to hold water and they would recommend taking soil borings at a number of locations to check. You can do a fairly rough field test yourself. Take a handful of moist soil and squeeze it into a ball. If it holds its shape then the clay is looking good. If it crumbles then the ground is likely to leak.

Topography comes next. The actual topography of the land is the biggest factor in determining the cost of a pond as it dictates how much earth you have to move. A narrow valley where you can construct a short dam is going to be a lot cheaper than a broad flat field.

Water supply completes the list. The pond needs sufficient runoff to fill it and a safe route for the overflow.

Good pond excavation contractors do far more than dig a hole. A complete project usually covers:

Each step has an impact on the next. A poorly compacted dam will leak. A weak spillway will fail in the first proper storm. That’s why we plan the whole pond before we do the first pass.

Central Texas soil is all over the place from one parcel to the next. You can have limestone right at the surface which makes excavation and sealing a nightmare and you can have clay in one area and it can be completely different in the next acre. When you’re planning your pond construction in Whitney, TX you want a contractor who checks the ground prior to bidding rather than after the machine has already started running. We go out and walk the property, we look at the slope and the runoff and we tell you what the site will actually support. Sometimes the right answer is a different site than the one you originally thought of.

The dirt work gets the water in. The finishing work is what makes it a pond you want to be in. For pond construction in Hill County, TX, we do rock borders, landscaping, sod and grass seed to stabilize the banks and prevent erosion. One customer had a very ugly pond on her property and after we did the dirt work, liner, rock border, landscaping, seeding and a T spillway she called it beautiful in her Google review and is already planning on having a fountain.

Several things move the price:

Alabama Extension point out that excavated ponds are by far the most expensive to build on a per volume of water stored basis and that’s why we always look at whether a small earthen dam on a good site can do the job for less. See their guide to pond site selection.

If your site requires a very high dam, or if a failure could put people or property at risk, we’ll tell you to involve an engineer with experience in dam design. Safety is paramount.

Wright Construction have been doing the dirt work since 2016 and have over 35 years of experience in the team. Get in touch via phone on 254 417 9969 or through the contact page with your property details. We’ll start with the dirt, not the sales.