Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Building a dam Rent/buy a dozer?

Has anyone here tried running their own / rented dozer to do the bulk of the pond digging? It seems that used dozers don't loose that much on value over the course of a year.

I think I could do most of the work myself,
than get someone who knows what they are doing to build the dam and line the edges with clay.

Ed
You might want to get the advice off a good pond carver in your area this will save you money in the long run. It is not a job to tackle for the first time without exp. You might work a deal with the carver to lower your cost by doing some of the work yourself. Before you start know where all the parts to the puzzle go.

Good Luck Scott

Ed:

We bought a few pieces of equipment for our pond construction project, which is now in its fourth and final year. The first three were purchased at auctions. We still have two of the auction items and made about 30% profit on the loader we sold. Make sure you have a good mechanic check out any piece you buy and be careful of the brand if you want to retain resale value (parts too). We later found that buying used equipment from a dealer has its benefits also. You'll be amazed at the free demos that you can get when you are shopping for equipment.

That being said, there is a learning curve and an element of danger in doing it yourself. I had friends to help me get going and also had some previous experience. After a few weeks you'll be dangerous (literally). You should also know that it may not be easy to sell equipment immediately when you finish. It took us a year to sell the loader. We also made the mistake of purchasing equipment that was too small to do the work we wanted to do and had to trade up. Since the equipment is 1980's vintage, we are constantly making repairs, which can nickel dime you to death (see brand name).

I have no idea what the scope of your project is, I've had a lot of fun with my ponds but make no mistake, its been four years of hard work that has taken all of my free time both evenings and weekends. It's doable if you are up to it, but get experienced people to help you get started.

One more thing. My ponds are gravel pit type ponds where one bucket of sand removed equals one bucket of water. If you have engineered structures such as a dam, a professional should be hired to complete the construction based on plans certified by a professional engineer. This will most likely be required by your permits. You may be able to help on the earthwork in less sensitive areas.

You're right that a bulldozer won't loose much value. However if you should have to do major repairs you will probably not bring up the value of the dozer much either.

I am renting a JD450 for a week (40 hrs) for $1260 sometime within the next 2 months. The quotes I am getting for clearing an acre range from $400 up. I should be able to clear 3 acres in 40 hrs. (leave the biguns standing) and I will get the experience to see how much I want to take on in the future. This should be fun.

Boy Ed, I tell you I really wanted to do what you are doing BADLY! I had the equipment pick out and everything!! Could only see the good side and how much I would save and how I could have this lake done, and have all this wonderfull equipment left over.
But now looking back? boy I was wrong! that stuff is very expensive to fix. I promise, you will have break downs. I am now looking at all the work my lake contractor is doing, and all the break downs he constantly has. Boy am I glad I did not sign up to do this. Also, if you do not have a break down, you want realize the amount of man power needed to do the work. Your constantly moveing stuff with the dozer, or tract hoe, that you would never think of. Like always clearing pathways and roads for the dump truck with the dozer. It is constantly situations that come up where you need 3 to 4 people.

I tell you this has been one heck of an experiance just being out ther every other day and watching what goes on.

Well it also could be that I am building a 9 acre lake as well. That could have a lot to do with it. Maybe on a 4 acre pond or something it would be alot eaiser..who knows.

Well, I am -renting- the dozer and I am not building the lake yet. I am only going to clear the land right now so we can shoot the elevations. The goal is to squeeze a 4ac lake in there. I have to make sure that if their equipment brakes down, they will be responsible for fixing it. If I like running the dozer, I would probably rent a bigger dozer next time and I would do some of the prep work, like scraping the topsoil. I wasn't happy with the way they did that when they built my first pond. Topsoil is a prescious comodity where I am. I would hire out the actual building of the lake itself, where a dozer, trackhoe and dumptrucks would be needed.

bigger is always better when moving lots of earth.

you could do as i did........i got a 92 dozer for less than 13 k.....it had 1904 hours on her....she has a 8 way blade [ not a 6 like most]this thing is sweet........she will push about 1& 1/2 yards of wet clay.......i have not be able to use it much as it stayed rented to buddy's alot of the time.....i can build at my own pace.....just remember in texas to get a controller # so you can get red diesel without any road tax........i love the area your from....it's super nice......good luck

Stroker,

what brand and model dozer do you have? My contractor had old D6, but when I look at the D6's they use for road construction, they are completely different beasts.

Either way, renting is a good way to start getting into it.

How much maintenance is there on something like that? It seems like my guys were threw a track at least once a week.

You guys might laugh, but we bought a 1950 John Deere 440 with a 7' blade to put in our pond. That little 2 cylider gas beast will push a good bit of dirt.We used a small backhoe for a weekend to put in a couple of shelves. I have some pics on my webpage. It took about 5 months to push out the hole to around 12' and about 1/4 acre surface area with a swimming pool grade to the shallow end. We recently bought a 63' backhoe and single axle dumper and along with the old 440 we will put a nice addition on the pond after the rainy season. I think we have about $7,500 in equipment, dumper, hoe, dozer and tri-axle trailer. Maintenance hasn't been bad either, replace some hoses and cylinder seals every 2-3 years depending on use.

That sounds like fun. So the 3-4 ac pond that I want to build would only take me 5 yrs
How often did you work on it?

Mainly weekends when it wasn't raining, I should have logged the hours. It was fun, I was single then and loved to push dirt around. This time I don't think it will take as long. My buddy will be manning the hoe and I will truck it out of the hole and run the dozer. If it wasn't raining so much here I would start this weekend and keep a trash pump on hand. The new hoe, well old hoe, has a 32" bucket that brings up a lot of dirt. I dug a 7'x7'x7' hole in a few minutes, it filled with water in 2 rains in 1 week. I'm working on some shape and dimensions from an arial map right now.

You guys are nuts ! (unless you're really good) I ran a dozer in between college semesters years ago, and it was really HARD ! Sure it was a blast to operate...so were the front end loaders, trucks, etc. But, we're talking about a POND here ! It takes some guts to pull off the manouvers a pro makes...cuts, inclines, yards per trip. Don't kid ourself, it's dangerous, and an experienced operator will do it with 1/2 the gas (as if it's not high right now) and cover the costs of a breakdown. But, I guess those really good operators started "green" too ! Good Luck Guys, post pics when you can ! E

Thanks guys, you're giving me some motivation which is badly needed. I've been at it for over three years excavating about five acres total. One Cat 235B excavator, John Deere 750 dozer and a DJB 35C six wheel dump. It's simple, excavate the sand, allow to dry 2-3 days, load it in the truck, dump it at the end of the road. Doze it out and make more roads. All by myself. Every spare minute week nights and weekends. Use vacation to get more done. What a great time! Eastland, you are right, the dozer is the hardest to operate but also the most fun. Practice makes perfect.

My wife says I'm nuts too! That won't stop me though.. The equipment is owned by a really good long time friend who actually called me one day and asked if he bought a dozer would I dig a pond in the back , I said sure as hell I will. I had a lot of fun doing it, even when the track came off in the hole and a sudden rain storm drenched me at 4 in the morning. I had to wait a few days for it to dry and a fully loaded tri-axle to come over and jerk it out. We do a lot more than just the pond work, driveways, level fence rows, grading and even plow the drive in the winter with the 440. I have several hundred hours on the dozer and do pretty good work with it, especially for the size it is. I am new to the backhoe, but I learn quick. I have been out digging some practice holes and filling them back in to get a feel for her and I might say for her age I am impressed. The gas thing isn't a problem for me, my buddy pays for it and he actually owns all the land. I told him the other day I wanted to get a 200 gallon gas tank and he told me to get a price on it, I get tired of lugging 6 gallon gas cans around. I operate and maintain all the equipment and have lifetime fishing rights and make many of the desicions regarding the pond. He's been like a father to me for over 15 years. We're eyeballing a trac-hoe right now, then I could get to around 3 acres! I have some pics of the equipment and pond in my profile.

I just added some more pond pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/bandtrichardson@sbcglobal.net

hey ed...........i got a dozer from japan it's made right at the cat factory.......most item will fix with the cat .......it's a 40 hp 8 way blade with triple grouser pads......[ swamp pads]......i gave 13 k for her.......i did reverse the blade [ cutting angle] i have worked the dog snot out of her.......no trouble.......just had to clean filter some...it is a lot of work but i'm doing mine in around 6 pm after the sun sets .......some on the weekend...i got this mainly so i could build it as i wanted to....[cuts ...bluffs....points....stairtsteps...lots of slefts.......it's working out good.....of yea she is a misobishe.....

Thanks for your encouragment and pictures. I~ll try to get the dozer for 4th of July weekend.