Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Planning 3/4ac TN pond for a Fall build...

My BIL and I (I'm paying. Lol.) are having a 3/4ac pond built at their 62ac property in Bradford, TN. As more details emerge, I'll share them.
Any top 2 or 3 things I need to watch/look out for? I'm an utter newbie here.

Hire a pond builder, not a dirt mover. Go look at ponds that he's built. Talk to the owners without him within earshot and ask them if they are happy and if they'd do anything different. Make sure that there is enough (and not too much) watershed to keep the pond full, or as a last resort, dig a well to fill it and keep it full.

Make a plan. Make a plan, Make a plan. Go over the plan and try to make the pond according to the fish that you want in the pond and how you want to use the pond. Want a beach to have people swim? That takes a different slope than if a pond won't be used to swim. That small of a pond, don't even think of having an island in it, it will chew up too much of the area needed for water.

Get all the cover that will go into the pond BEFORE the pond is completed, get it assembled, and place in the pond prior to water filling the pond.

If it was my pond or property there, I'd see if https://www.grayconstruction.net/ was close enough and had time in their schedule to build it...........

They just started the pond yesterday and will finish Monday. Yee hah! Tomorrow I'll order the 1/2 Acre Package of habitat (along with a few extras) from Pond King. Then later in the week I'll roadtrip there. And my Energizer Bunny engineer wife will fly there for Thanksgiving. So there'll be no problem getting those things put together. She loves that kind of stuff. I'll also put more forage in the two existing ponds.

Sorry to hear your ground is too wet for construction.

I have advocated for many years on Pond Boss for the creation of a program where land owners fighting too much water can send it to the pond owners suffering during a drought. As of right now, I just have one tiny engineering hurdle that needs to be overcome!

Unfortunately for many, building a pond outside of late summer/early fall happens to hit a wet time of the year.

When I re-furbished my personal pond, it was in July/August. Due to it being a ground water pond (sand) I had to run a dewatering pump 24/7 to keep the pond basin dry enough so we could see what we were doing.

On another pond project that we consulted on, the dirt contractor proposed digging a french drain all around the pond excavation area, and hooked dewatering pumps to that to keep any ground water from seeping into the construction area. That would allow him to get the pond bottom properly compacted and sealed.

All right! We have a pond!

The builder took advantage of a small window of dry days, it has been raining a lot there; and built the pond. It will be about 3/4ac with a max depth of 8ft. That will work.

My SIL says it already has a couple of feet of water in it.

Yee hah!