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.