Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site East Texas Pond Builders

Hi everyone,

Long time browser, first time poster. Hopefully this is the right forum to ask this question...

I have some property near Nacogdoches, Texas that I would like to build a pond on. There are a couple of springs and drainages that I think would make a good site to build; however, the soil is very sandy...at least the top layer is. I would like to have a professional look at the area, get some bore samples, etc. to see if a pond is even a possibility or if the native soil is simply unsuited and clay would have to be brought in, making the potential project uneconomical to even consider. Does anyone have recommendations for professionals in the East Texas area (Nacogdoches, Henderson, Lufkin, etc.)?

Go to the County Offices and ask. Or drive around and look for ponds. Stop and ask who did it and whether they would use them again.

Our county Soil & Water Conservation office here would provide a list of local pond excavators, officially without any recommendations.

If you are checking out pond builders to pick one, ask them to give previous clients. They won't give you any failures, but if they have no successes for you to check with, that should eliminate them.

NOTE: Our first pond was built by an excavator we had a lot previous experience with. It was his first pond, but we knew we could work with him and that he would do all the right steps (#1 is a correctly built core trench in the dam). It was a success. Educate your self on what needs to be done to build a good pond. Your state or local offices should be able to provide guidance and literature. Our S&W office holds an all encompassing pond clinic a couple of times a year.

Thanks to you both. Those are good ideas.

It may be worth a phone call to these folks since they are so close to NAC.

They appear to NOT be primarily pond builders, but may offer some advice.

They definitely have some cool pond machinery.

https://www.bluegillaquatic.com/



ps: What size pond are you considering building?
You probably have a lot of pine trees on your property?

I would recommend locating your property on your favorite mapping website. Then switch to satellite view and start panning out for ponds on your neighbors' properties. (Around Nacogdoches I believe(?) you will find plenty.)

If your neighbors have ponds, then you can almost certainly build one also. If you use something like Google Earth where you can view the ponds on historical maps, then you can determine approximately when they were built. If they are all recent, then your area may require a pond liner. However, if you see lots of ponds built prior to the 80s, then they probably did it "old school" with compacted clay.

Good luck on your pond project!

Hi everyone,

These were great ideas. I ended up getting on Google Earth as suggested and saw that one of my neighbors apparently built their pond 8 years ago or so. I contacted them and got the information for their builder, so will be giving him a call soon. I will keep everyone updated!