Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Moving forward with the cleanup

We have meetings sceduled with 2 contractors concerning silt removal from our 50 year old pond. We have met with the district conservationist and the farmer that owns the watershed that feeds the pond they have agreed to put back the grass water ways and possibly put in a dry dam and sediment basin (we are very lucky to have great neighbors). The plan is to lower the water level and use a 60 foot excavator to clean out as much as he can reach. We will be concentrating mostly close to the dam with some work on the sides where space for the machine permits. The back side of the pond where the water flows in will not be cleaned due to tree cover. We realize there will be a fish kill during this process and would like your input on how to keep this at a minimum and any other suggestions we may not have thought of would be great. Details of our project can be found in a former post called " the old pond" I would put in a link but my computor skills are poor at best so if someone could do this for me it would be greatly appreciated. We value all your opinions here and just want to do this the best way possible with all options considered.

Kathy, where are you in Illinois? Contact Dave Sefton about your work planned. his experience and/or supervision of your proposed work could prove to be invaluable. Dave is a pond builder and not simply a dirt mover---there is a HUGE difference in the two! Here is a link to Dave's information here on the forum. Dave is known here as Mongo .

Kathy:

When I renovated my pond, I was lucky in that I needed to work on the shallow area. I drained the pond, so all the fish were concentrated in the deep area, then piled dirt so it held a bit more water. I aerated that area while the renovation was going on, and I also tossed in 20 or 30 pounds of FatHead Minnows. The renovation lasted for a couple of months, and I only lost 1 BG during the renovation. During that time, the fish that were in my 1/3 to 1/4 ac pond were concentrated in a pond that was at the most 4' deep and 1/10 of an acre if I was lucky.

Rainman the pond is located about 30 miles south/east of Moline. I would love to have more direction on this project and we are considering hiring a consultant but we thought we should get a ball park estimate on the costs first. If the excavations blows our whole budget we may have to do this over a few years time. If Mr.Sefton is close by I would like to talk to him. Most of the pond builders I have found so far are in southern Il or up by Chicago. The 2 I found locally have done pond work before and have a good name in the area but they don't do it exclusivly. I say the more estimates the better so we can get this done the best way possible.
esshup we have read posts here, and it may have been yours, about what you have done. It may work here to, there is a 8 1/2' deep area towards the back of the pond.

Dave Sefton is in Brownstown, the other side of the state but I would at least give him a call.

Kathy:

If you want to read about it and see pictures, look here

WOW... esshup that is a beautiful piece of land if my pond turns out half as nice as yours I will be happy.

Thanks. It was a lot of work but it turned out fairly well for not finding out about PondBoss until it was finished. There is still more work to do around it, but it's 90% done.

We are getting pretty discouraged. So far we have called 3 contractors for bids, one never called back and the other two said they would call when they could come out and take a look...nothing happining. We dident give them much info just that we wanted to hire them to work on our pond. We realize that this is the busy season but feel that its kind of rude to tell someone something then not follow thru or at least call. We found a local business that rents the excavator we need we just need someone that knows how to run it. If possible we would like to get some work done this year. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to go from here? the pond is located in west central Illinois.

Don't get discouraged Kathy. Dirt movers stay busy when the weather is good, repair things when it rains and usually take the next job that is closest to where the equipment is (moving the machinery is expensive).

Often times, if a dirt mover has time to bid a job right away, you don't want him...it can mean he has a bad rep and doesn't have any work.

Call Dave Sefton if you are renting the equipment. Tell him he was suggested to you by PondBoss members.

I thought about calling him but he is several hours away and I would be afraid of paying all the travel time. I agree about the guys being busy but I still think a month is a long time to wait for a bid.

Rainman can you send me a PM with his phone number?

Kathy, try calling Nate Herman (Herman Brothers Pond Management) n8ly here on the forum. He's in Peoria and might know of someone.

I can run heavy equipment, but I'm a bit far away......

Thanks esshup, I will try that.

Hi Kathy, I don't have much help for you but I wanted to let you know your not alone. I'm in Michigan and I had similar problems getting a bid on a re-dig. I waisted a month waiting for a contractor that I was going to hire only to have him not return my calls. My pond was already pumped out and he told me to contact him at the end of August so it could dry some more. The fall rains will be coming soon so I had to scramble to find someone else.

I expanded my search area and called close to a dozen contractors, anyone with an excavator really and ended up with a total of 3 bids to choose from. The poor economy has put many out of business and I feel those that are still working are being selective with their jobs, a re-dig might not be something they prefer to do.

I also thought because building is so slow right now that I would get a good deal, not really. People aren't having ponds dug right now either so getting a recent reference or seeing someone's work was scarce. In the end I finally picked someone with pond experience and was able to see his work but it was a trying and stressful process. My project is supposed to start in a day or so and I'm hoping I picked wisely but it's a shame that I didn't have too many choices.

I don't know if Illinois is having similar problems but I was advised to not pay too much up front as many have had contractors not return or complete the job. Good luck with your project, I hope you find someone soon!

Thank you Loretta, I think we may have to wait until next year. We had one come out last week but he is so busy that he is working 7 days a week and all the rest we have called say the same. One of the problems here is we have had alot of rain this year and they have all gotten behind on the jobs. also the crops are coming out and the farmers want work done. another thing that limits us is we need a 60 foot reach excavator to do what we need and most contractors dont have them so we would have to rent it which is ok if we could just find someone qualified to run it. good luck with your pond I hope it all works out and we can look back in a few years and be happy with the outcome.

Good news possibly. Our contractor will be here on thursday to get a plan together. We had very little rain lately, he was able to get caught up and wants to help us out. We need to drop the water level and would love to hear ideas on pumps or siphoning. also any tips with using silt fence would be helpful. The only way we can afford to do this is to have him run the machine and we do everything else. Starting to get a little excited, I sure hope it all goes well.

Congrats on seeing this project ready to move ahead, Kathy! That's exciting - remember that you are contractually obligated to provide us with pictures of the entire process!

Here are some threads for ideas on draining your pond:

How to drain a farm pond

Draining a small pond

Good luck and keep us posted!

Good deal Kathy! So glad to hear your getting your pond done this year after all! I just finished my pond project today, it was a lot of work for me too, I'm exhausted and glad it's done. I pumped my pond out with a submersible electric trash pump that I picked up at a yard sale for $10. It ran 24 hrs each day for 7 days to get it empty but my pond was quite small, about 110' x 70' x 9' deep (at the time). I didn't notice much of an increase on my electric bill either.

I hope the weather is good for you, good luck!

Just a word of advice from my recent mucking out of my pond. CHECK for dam leakage. While its empty alil bentonite on your dam cant hurt. My pond is older then yours after mucking it out and a BIG rainfall I sprung a leak. Less depressing to reseal the dam then have to drain it twice.