My wife and I purchased 15 acres about a month ago with hopes of building a house and pond on. After talking with a few people who do dirt work I picked a man who was recommended by the local farmers for digging ponds for livestock. He told me he dig about an acre pond for 5k. As you will see in the pictures this didnt happen. I have since stopped him and will be going a different route. I want to ultimately end up with about a 2 acre pond with a small island. I would like a swimming area and will be stocking with fish over the next year or so. The area I selected for the pond seems to stay wet with rain. I started this project about a month ago so I will try to catch you up over the next few days. I would love to hear your feedback so hopefully it will save me some money in the long run.
Sorry had some problems adding the photos to one post. I have since purchased a Kubota 121-3 mini excavator and I think I will try to dig the rest on my own over time. I have a 36 inch bucket that should move dirt well.
Sounds like my experience. I stopped the first pond digger last week after the pond kept shrinking. I sprayed Roundup around the original flags he placed so I know where they started out. When the core trench was started 50 feet in from its original design, I asked him to stop and tell me what I owed him. I paid him and hired a new guy to continue. I shared my story with the new fellow and asked that he not take on the project unless he could complete it as designed. So far I am pleased. If the pond gets completed and holds water properly, I have a couple more projects for him. He brought in the proper size equipment whereas the previous fellow simply had a dozer that was too small and could not cut away the grey clay. We just got the first good rain since May, so I will be curious how the new hole looks. Best of luck to radman1420 on completion of his project.
Sorry had some problems adding the photos to one post. I have since purchased a Kubota 121-3 mini excavator and I think I will try to dig the rest on my own over time. I have a 36 inch bucket that should move dirt well.
I quickly learned on ponds that if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. I have heard that $10K per acre is a general rule. Those big machines in the pics will take alot of fuel to run, and eat up $5K fast. I would get another pond builder. It will take awhile with an excavator to dig this out.
"I have not failed, I have only found 10,000 ways that won't work" Thomas Edison
Well I had the mini ex delivered wednesday and havent had much time to play with it yet. I did dig some dirt to see what it would do and I think im going to be ok with this finishing my pond. It wont be quick but it will be enjoyable. I started pumping the water out of the pond today in hopes of getting back to digging by the weekend
I used one of these and a tractor with a box scrape to do some work last year. Over a long weekend I moved alot of dirt. Good luck, keep us posted on progress.
"I have not failed, I have only found 10,000 ways that won't work" Thomas Edison
I was only able to work for a couple hours today. I am real excited at how this thing is digging. I should be putting alot of seat time in this weekend so I will update on sunday. The thing that seems to be slowing me down is having to load my dump trailer and go dump it. Hopefully I can talk my wife into running it
You could rent a track loader or small dozer to push the dirt out of the way. Pile it up and move it this fall after the pond starts filling up. When the pond is dug are you going to keep the excavator?
"I have not failed, I have only found 10,000 ways that won't work" Thomas Edison
I think I will keep the mini x. It is real fun to run. I now have about 11 hours on the meter. I think its doing the job nicely. I can only imagine how much more I would have done if I had a dump truck LoL. My wife is still putting a nix on that one. I was going to dig yesterday before work for a few hours but rain put a stop to that.
Just wanted to update you on my new pond build. It has went slower than I expected it to take me. My mini X is doing a good job but the rain has been slowing me down. About the time it dries out enough to dig and I pump the water out it rains again LoL. Its been a vicious cycle. I gave up on the dump trailer way too slow. I purchased a old single axle dump truck and put my wife in it. She loved this idea LoL. It has really made my life easier. Im about 1/3 done with it now and Im considering leaving this part of the pond alone and digging from the other side to the hole I have now. I could then connect the two in the spring so I dont have to keep pumping water out. Either that or I go rent a big hoe for a weekend and finish it all. Just trying to save some money so I can afford to buy fish to put in it haha. Oh if anyone knows a good supplier in north Alabama let me know. I want to put FHM, CNBG and CC in it here soon. That way I can put some blue tilapia in it around April and the F1 LMB in next may.
Well it has been longer than I thought it would be before getting back to work on my pond. With the wet winter and spring its just now drying out enough to get back to work. The first part of the pond filled with water last fall and has been full ever since. Since I only had 1/3 of it dug last fall I think the plan will be to leave it full and dig the other section of the pond and once fall gets here then I will dig the wall out that separates the two bodies. I will post more pics once I get further along.
