Part of the problem is that building a pond is a rather specialized field. It involves WAY more than just owning a backhoe or bulldozer and knowing how to use them!
Soil conditions -- especially PI index & clay composition -- are a vital consideration to proper pond construction. The core trench must be built well, or nothing else matters. Potential leaks must be recognized and dealt with on the site. The emergency spillway must be carefully constructed to handle extreme rain events without causing erosion. And so much more...
There are tons of folks out there who can move dirt, but knowing the ins and outs of pond building is another matter altogether.
I'm only a wizened veteran of exactly one pond, but I've been incredibly blessed to interact with TWO awesome pond constructors: Mike Otto (who needs no introduction here) and Mike Smelley, a dirt guy who operates out of Marshall, TX.
Mike Otto clued me in to the fact that the property's major selling point, a red clay hill, was in fact full of sand and iron. Very low PI, totally unsuitable for pond construction. After looking for six years, this was not news I wanted to hear about a pond property I desperately wanted.
Mike O didn't quit there, though. He came back with a local backhoe operator and dug some test holes down near the creek bottom. Lo and behold, glorious gray/white clay!!!
Thanks to Otto, I went ahead and bought the property. Mike, I really appreciate your time & effort to help a stranger!
Otto's schedule was too full for me to hire him to actually build the pond, though. The realtor recommended someone he knew had a reputation for hard work, competence, and integrity: Mike Smelley. (Don't know why guys named Mike make such good dirtmovers...)
Now, Mike Smelley talks country. I mean REALLY country! But I quickly learned that he knew his business thoroughly. He came out to the raw land, looked at the soils, the topography, asked me some basic questions about what I wanted, and gave me a quote.
The quote, I found out later, was quite reasonable for what I wanted done. But I agreed more on the basis of a feeling that this guy, like Mike Otto, was a man of integrity who would do what he said he'd do. No cut corners here. And, remarkably, Mike S said that I wouldn't have to pay him a dime until after he was finished and I was happy. (I guess he felt I was a man of integrity as well.)
We had to wait six agonizing months because the ground was simply too wet for heavy machinery -- some of his spreaders run over 250,000 pounds when loaded. When it finally got hot & dry, though, Mike S and his sons/friend swung into action FAST. I came out to observe and was impressed by the rapid pace and Mike's knowledge of exactly what he was doing.
The job wasn't simple, as I desired an island at the end of a long peninsula. Mike pointed out that I was losing a lot of pond to the island, so we cut it in half lengthwise. He also explained about why he shifted the curvature of the dam so that the emergency spillway would dump extra water where it wouldn't create a problem. Bob Lusk, my pond adviser, came out and was impressed with Smelley's work. If Bob likes it, I like it!
Well, I could go on, but the long and short of it is that either of these Mikes will do good work with integrity. Smelley has never advertised and so is not as busy as Otto, but he loves pond construction. If I were advising a friend who wanted to build a pond in north or northeast Texas, I'd recommend calling either or both of these two gentlemen.
