Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations I was screwed

Long story short. Guy said he would dig me a 1 acre plus pond, minimum of 11'. Its mayde 1/3 toal and maybe 5 feet at the deepest. with an average of about 2 feet. That would be if it held water. Its been a year and a half and it wont hold water. I am now going to try and fix this. It is clay soil. It is next to a creek and higher up. When it rains I see water coming from the side of the creek, so I know its leaking into it. It will only hold it for a few days. There are large boulders on some spots of the bottom. Would a layer of soil 6 inches deep mixed with bentonite compacted over the boulders work as a first plan of attack? I have bought an electric fence and plan to put that up with some pigs also. Any help would be appreciated. I will try to find a supplier of bentonite in large quantities in Missouri and do the whole pond as a last resort.That guy really ruined my and my childrens dream of a pond. The rural America I remember as a kid is gone. So much for a hand shake and a mans word. Please help with any suggestions

Sorry to hear that. And, there isn’t much you can do about it.

That's a bad situation. Maybe you can get a more experienced builder out there for some onsite advice?

I know the area I live in has a lot of rock and clay. My pond takes on water for days after a heavy rain as it seeps in one of the sides from water traveling down an underground shelf and gravely soil. Luckily that is happening to help my water level, but it could of been the other way around.

I feel for your bad luck. Try to focus on your good luck, friends, family, and good health.

Did u get a kiss? I prefer to get a kiss when getting screwed? Sorry, it's not funny but you have to take what has been learned and don't repeat the process. Hope u get what u want soon!

Again and again and again and again and again we hear of this.
I'm convinced there may be one (or less than one) person who can build a non-leaking pond in every state. This forum is the place people come to get help and do research, why not create a list of reputable pond builders by state?

It would be like an Angie's List but it wouldn't be advertised, just if you found this site and are poking around looking for information you can at least get a list of people who don't screw their customers and move on.

Or if it is easier, lets start a Hall of Shame thread and name names. If the dirt mover doesn't like it he or she can fix it and the name can be removed from the Hall of Shame and on to the recommended list.

I think it may be harder than one thinks to locate a reputable pond builder. For me, I did not know of Mr Otto or I would have used him when building my pond. My builder made a couple of mistakes, I think, by not advising me to take the pond in a different direction, east to west instead of north to south, I would have a much larger watershead. Or maybe because I said build it here, either way it could have been better. I wished he would have said something. I ran out of clay the direction I went where if I would have taken the other direction I might not have. And due to that, my pond is smaller than I planned with a smaller water shed. So, who's fault was it? Mine or his? That is one problem I see when commenting about pond builders. Other comments might lead to lawsuits. I'm no lawyer, but might need one when making or slurring ones lively hood. I don't know? in my business, I depend on my reputation and customer service, that is really all I have. Recommendations from others have brought me in a lot of work over the years. So who is to fault, the guy who did not research for a better company with good reputation or the builder who did not do a good job?

I think some type of list of pond builders with satisfied customers would be helpful without calling out the bad ones. I once suggested a paid certification process with a test at the end. Things as simple as knowing what types of soil will seal, how to compact soil, core trench building, watershed sizing, etc. would weed out most dirt movers from pond builders. The course could have a cost, and a high complaint to compliment ratio might be grounds for removal from the list/certification (objective criteria and non-anonymous reviews). Its much easier to suggest a plan than to execute it though:)

Besides leaking, it's too shallow. I would have it dug deeper, lined with clay without any large rocks, and everything compacted with a sheepsfoot roller as you go. I too have been through the dirt mover thing, and have one leaky pond out of two. Mine is only leaking about 3/4 to 1/2 inch a day, so I think it might eventually be fixable, but it is MIGHTY frustrating. Most dirt movers who build ponds make no guarantees about leaks. There is NO one in this entire area of the state who specializes in ponds. I guess there are not enough ponds built here to keep even one small company busy.

As a followup to John's comment on how shallow it is, do you have a way to dry out the pond enough to dig a test hole (or a few) down to the depth you want? If so, you may hit "good" clay that could be used to fill a core trench and line the pond. If you have the topography to install a bottom drain, that may give you the time and conditions to get the shallow hole turned into a proper-depth pond. My last contracted pond took 4 contractors and went over 50% higher in costs than budgeted. I built my last pond myself with old equipment because I could not communicate with operators, even when they were being paid by the hour to operate my equipment. They were much better operators than me, but I got more accomplished per hour doing things once the correct way, and not moving dirt multiple times. What seems obvious to me now that I understand basic pond building principles, was foreign to them.

Based on my past-life experiences building online DB lists, reviews, questionnaires, and surveys, I'm comfortable saying that the data pool for pond related dirt guys wouldn't be big enough to warrant the $$$, and if done, could easily result in skewed results.

3 potential problems with any rating system is a low number of responses which greatly skews the percentages, the ability to insure only one response per person, and the ability to determine the location of the device used by a person to submit his/her input. These may seem extreme for something this simple, but correct and adequate data volume only helps when determining results. Database admins used to say it all the time, if you don't control the data that's entered, then it's trash in, trash out.

Posting positive vendor experiences by regular members of the forum is the way to go. We do it all the time with pond related products, so why not with regional vendors too?

What about a "Pond Boss Excellence, 2018" award given to dirt movers who build a respectable pond? That can be used by the contractor to sell work, and help both parties out and direct new pond owners here.

Just don't give the award to lousy service. Perhaps the builder can send a small fee and complete a test with photos of recent pond work to get the initial award.