Or the $200K guy didn't want to do it very much, unless you made it worth his time.

For digging a hole and pushing soil adjacent with a bulldozer on a hillside (cheap route) around here is about $18K per acre with ave depth of ~12 feet.
It would go up 2X cost if it were a hole on flat land and you had somewhere on-site nearby to put the soil by bulldozer only. Haul it away? If you could find someone that needs the fill you could save money and share the cost of hauling.

Damming a small ravine is cheapest if you don't include cost of emergency overflow and drain pipe installation. Not as much dirt to move.