Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Demolishing Old Pond

Just had a contractor out to bid on draining my old 1/8 acre pond and expanding it to a 1/2 acre pond. I'm in Central Missouri in Montgomery county. The bid includes digging a hole in the old dam to drain, clearing about 1/4 acre of trees, adding to the old dam (which is about 90 ft long) to make it a total of 200 ft. He would also be raising the old dam about 4 ft. We have good clay, the old pond never leaked, and the bid does not include installing a drain pipe. I was quoted approximately $10,000. Doesn't that seem high considering I already have a 1/8 acre hole, any left over dirt and trees will be deposited right behind the dam and no new dirt will need to be trucked in. I was expecting something half that or less. Hope to get some expert opinions or for that matter a reference for someone that could do a good job for less. Thanks!

Consider the price of fuel, and the hours at about $100 an hour to run large machines. Sounds about right.

$100/hour for big machines can be cheap. Clearing trees takes a lot of time.

The tree clearing part of the quote was only $1,000and $9,000 for the dirt work. There's not that many trees to clear.

If you think the bid is high, call a couple more contractors but the "low" price isnt always the best option.

Get a total on your yardage. Ive gotten quotes from 2.00 a yard to $2.50 a yard in East Texas for my first pond and now the lake we are fixing to start. Your local NRCS office should do this for you free of charge.