Rent equipment for dealing with the brush, get something with a grapple. At least with that there is low risk of goofing it up and it is fun! Certainly costs less than $2500 and IMHO is one of the small pleasures in life... burning stuff.
A question for others: Is it OK to have a bunch of ash in your basin? Wont that promote algae?
The dirt work is risky IMHO, and I don't want you going into a fit of despair when things don't go well. Especially if you suffer a breakdown or unforeseen problems with the equipment.
I would make an attempt myself if I had time and rental costs were not chewing into my retirement while it sat there on rainy days. Would love to give it a go. In fact I may go into building ponds as one of my retirement options, but I would like to get some training from someone who knows what they are doing first.
