Pond Boss
Posted By: savannah412 Is this a good deal? - 08/29/13 08:15 PM
Im in the western NY area. A few years ago we had our septic and driveway done by a guy and his brother that own their own excavating company. They did an excellent job. I paid him some extra $$ when he was done and he smoothed this entire field out for me, just really nice work.. He came over the other day to look at the field area for me. There is already a 3/4 acre pond on the property by my place. My parents have a trailer down the way and I want a 2nd, smaller pond put in. I asked him what he could do in a one day job. He said to do it right he would bring both his machines, a CAT D3C Dozer and a CAT 312C excavator. He said in a full 10-12hr day he and his brother could do roughly a 1/4 acre pond, 8-12 ft. The field is wide open and on a slope so there is no need to transport material. All material(clay) can be used for the Dyke and topsoil can be spread anywhere so theres no time needed for transporting it anywhere. He said when he was done it would be graded, topsoil re-spread and would be ready for seeding of grass. Cost of $2,500 cash. He has built many ponds and like I said does excellent work with the machines. What do you guys think?
Posted By: esshup Re: Is this a good deal? - 08/29/13 10:17 PM
That doesn't sound bad at all, but do the ponds that he digs hold water? Without having anything to pack the clay into the dam, (tracked equipment doesn't have enough ground pressure psi) will it hold water?

Different areas of the country have different costs associated with them, so what may be a great price here might be a high (or very low) price in your area.

Is the 8-12 ft. depth figured down from existing soil level, or from where the soil is built up around the pond?

What will you be using as a primiary and secondary spillway if the pond is to be filled from the field run-off?
Posted By: savannah412 Re: Is this a good deal? - 08/29/13 11:15 PM
Esshup,

I'm guessing a lot of the depth will come from the back damn build up as the field is in a pretty decent downward slope. The clay is pretty hard here, the 3/4 pond I mention in the post is right next to where I want this one. My friend built that with one machine, a rented jd 450 for one week. What I learned are a few things, getting a friend to do something means more saving, but little ability to critique when he is late the first day, doesn't show the 3rd day, et. Etc...love the guy but he has way too much going on. 2) the dozer was not good at diggging, it took a week because it was sooo slow to push the clay all over. 3) I may have saved money upfront, but it took almost 200hrs on my little tractor to finish putting all the topsoil back and leveling the ground long after the dozer was gone. So I thi.k in the long run I may have spent more than just having pros come in and do it initially.. all that being said it has been here for 3 yrs now and has never leaked. The damn is pretty pretty tall too.. the run off will be the same as the bigger one, its a 12" x 20' culvert pipe out of the side of the pond, the lowest point. So this time I figured I would have a pro do it w the right eq. You can see videos of my first pond under my posts. I think they r there.
Posted By: savannah412 Re: Is this a good deal? - 09/03/13 08:34 PM
Anyone else?
Posted By: rmedgar Re: Is this a good deal? - 09/03/13 09:40 PM
Without knowing anymore than I do, it sounds like a very good price. Since you know this person, I'm sure he will take care of you if any problems arise. Good luck.
PS - I didn't see the video that you mentioned...
Posted By: Tums Re: Is this a good deal? - 09/03/13 11:59 PM
A 312 weights in at about 14 tons. The tracks will not pack well with a ground pressure of less than 5 psi. I have seen good operators use the bucket to pack a core that would not leak. Psi is alot greater under the bucket when it is used to support the weight of the 312. However it would take longer to build doing that to build a core. Price sounds real good if the quality of work measures up.
Posted By: catmandoo Re: Is this a good deal? - 09/04/13 02:15 AM
As our good friend Mr. Cody always says, it all depends...

The clay in our area is great for ponds. A rubber-track 40-50 HP excavator, at about 5-tons, will make a pretty waterproof hole in our area. I have several small ponds done with my small backhoe, at about 4500 lbs., or a 45 HP excavator at 9500 lbs. The holes were not compacted. The dams were compacted with my small tractor or small excavator. All hold water year around.

Our last "real" pond, about 1/3 acre and 7-feet deep, was done in a heavily wooded area with about 10 machine hours per machine using a Cat D6 dozer and a Cat 320 trackhoe. It started with a keyway trenched with the trackhoe, and filled/compacted with the dozer in about six inch increments. The final compaction of the dam and bowl were done with a road roller, but I'm not sure it was needed.

We've had a lot of rain in the last two years. All of my ponds have been over full pool for the last several years.

So, it all depends ...
Posted By: poppy65 Re: Is this a good deal? - 09/05/13 01:09 AM
Originally Posted By: savannah412
Im in the western NY area. A few years ago we had our septic and driveway done by a guy and his brother that own their own excavating company. They did an excellent job. I paid him some extra $$ when he was done and he smoothed this entire field out for me, just really nice work.. He came over the other day to look at the field area for me. There is already a 3/4 acre pond on the property by my place. My parents have a trailer down the way and I want a 2nd, smaller pond put in. I asked him what he could do in a one day job. He said to do it right he would bring both his machines, a CAT D3C Dozer and a CAT 312C excavator. He said in a full 10-12hr day he and his brother could do roughly a 1/4 acre pond, 8-12 ft. The field is wide open and on a slope so there is no need to transport material. All material(clay) can be used for the Dyke and topsoil can be spread anywhere so theres no time needed for transporting it anywhere. He said when he was done it would be graded, topsoil re-spread and would be ready for seeding of grass. Cost of $2,500 cash. He has built many ponds and like I said does excellent work with the machines. What do you guys think?


Good price and about what they charge here. We are on heavy yellow clay so few ponds have leak problems. They charge $125 per hour for a trackhoe or dozer, so 20 total hours would be $2500.
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