Pond Construction Costs??

[Blackout]

Anyone who is familiar with the construction business know how to determine the time required to bulldoze a pond? What is a typical hourly rate? I want to get an idea on cost before I go to local contractors. The current planned pond size is 250 ft. x 650 ft. x 10 feet deep, with 30 degree sloped walls. There should be plenty of low areas around the pond to grade the removed dirt to.

Thanks.

 

[BrianH]

Anyone who is familiar with the construction business know how to determine the time required to bulldoze a pond? What is a typical hourly rate? I want to get an idea on cost before I go to local contractors. The current planned pond size is 250 ft. x 650 ft. x 10 feet deep, with 30 degree sloped walls. There should be plenty of low areas around the pond to grade the removed dirt to.
Thanks.

That size is quite a feat! roughly 60,000 cubic yards of fill need to be moved. That equates to around 6000 max sized dump truck loads!! That is That size project is more than a simple bulldozer job. I am willing to bet you will not be able to doze it all to begin with. You can rent a dozer for around 400.00 per day plus fuel and operator. So that is about 1,000.00 per day and Id bet if you have everything go smooth you would have 20 days minimum to do the work. probably more like 25. It would be much faster to use a larger rubber tired loader and several dump trucks to do the work. I can keep 3 trucks moving constantly on a project this size. Im betting you will be in the $45,000 to $55,000 range if you bid this out (if lucky)

To do this correctly you will need to do more than push dirt around. The dirt that is moved from one site to another needs to be wetted and compacted in 6" lifts to keep it from sliding away and shifting. The area needs to be surveyed many times during the cutting filling. I Have done this size job myself and its a major feat

I see you are in a Union state instead of a right to work state you can plan to add an additional $30,000 to those numbers

So somewhere around $75,000 and up for contracted

 

[Scott Wadlow]

Anyone who is familiar with the construction business know how to determine the time required to bulldoze a pond? What is a typical hourly rate? I want to get an idea on cost before I go to local contractors. The current planned pond size is 250 ft. x 650 ft. x 10 feet deep, with 30 degree sloped walls. There should be plenty of low areas around the pond to grade the removed dirt to.
Thanks.

Brian is not to far off with the numbers he is talking about. a few other things to consider,

is there enough acreage for drainage feeding this pond. you can get this info from you local DNR office. if there is not you will have nothing but a big rain gauge that will dry up in the dry seasons. Are you just digging a hole or are you damming up a valley of some sort? If so you will need to dig a key way in the bottom of the **** and take good compact able soil and run this back in and compact it in 8" to 10" lifts so the **** does not leak. You should also make sure that you will hit good soil at 10'. I have work all over the country and at 10 feet you are more that likely going to be in the water table. this is not good soil and will eventually leak. Again a little local research will give this info. If you are keeping the spoils (extra dirt) on your property I would use several tractor/scraper combos. These can move up to 2000 yards of dirt in a day and will cost you around $225 per hour with a operator. If you live in a agricultural area talk to some of the local farmers they will ususaly have the equipment to move this kind of dirt and will do it much cheaper. I have built many lakes of all sizes if there is anything else I can help you with let me know.

S

 

[dave roach]

Blackout

I worked with a guy that had a pond put in a little bigger than that and it didn;t cost him one penny.They did it for the fill dirt so you mite check with some people in your area.

Dave Roach

 

[Blackout]

All good information, thanks.

This is on my 86 acre farm. The soil is clay and there are several other ponds on neighboring farms, but I would do a soil test for sure. There is a creek that would feed this pond, it is at pretty much the lowest spot of the property. The creek overflows and floods this low spot in the spring.

With the poor economy, I was hoping to find a local contractor that was desperate to put his equipment to work....

 

[NAMBA860]

BlackoutI worked with a guy that had a pond put in a little bigger than that and it didn;t cost him one penny.They did it for the fill dirt so you mite check with some people in your area.

Dave Roach

not to change the subject but what kind of sport hydro is that in your avitar?

 

[dave roach]

That is a Bob Tuttle Sport 20 wood hull.

Dave Roach

 

[Ron Olson]

Seeing how it's on farm property you might be eligible for a big break on building the pond. I had a boss who grew corn and asparagus on his farm who basically made 2 ponds free including a dozer so check with your DNR, farm co-op's and such before digging. I wouldn't mention your ulterior motive for making a pond that size though. Your neighboring farmers may be of some help if they made their ponds.

 

[Bill-SOCAL]

In New York it is the Department of Environmental Conservation.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/

You will find this page helpful: http://www.dec.ny.gov/permits/6321.html

I suspect that you will at the very least need a grading permit from your city or county in addition to any State required permits. For that much soil you will almost certainly have to have a plan for what to do with the excavated pile.

I would strongly suggest getting in touch with a local engineering or geotechnical firm to get some guidance on how to go about this. Trust me, it is no trivial undertaking.

 

[Joe Warren]

BlackoutI worked with a guy that had a pond put in a little bigger than that and it didn;t cost him one penny.They did it for the fill dirt so you mite check with some people in your area.

Dave Roach

Dave is Correct many Road building contractors will do the digging for free. If you have the dirt they want. They do the testing also. Clay soil is better than a sandy soil for their futher use. Your Chamber of Commerce in local area Might have some business in your area that are in the line of work & looking for Free Dirt. This is something they are willing to do..... DIRT CHEAP or free. jw

 

[robertpicerno]

What ever way your going, make sure you dont get stuck with the liability. I would do all my due diligence and dont cut any corners on this one this is a good size pond.

If you do a search " google" you find a local millionare here in Hawaii/Kauai who is going to jail on 7 manslaughter charges because he manipulated a small creek on his property only to have other parts of the natural water way change. Ultimatley a small river/dam failed off his property and killed seven people while they were sleeping in there homes during a big storm. They traced the failure back to him and his modifications of the waterway. Good luck

 

[Blackout]

What ever way your going, make sure you dont get stuck with the liability. I would do all my due diligence and dont cut any corners on this one this is a good size pond. If you do a search " google" you find a local millionare here in Hawaii/Kauai who is going to jail on 7 manslaughter charges because he manipulated a small creek on his property only to have other parts of the natural water way change. Ultimatley a small river/dam failed off his property and killed seven people while they were sleeping in there homes during a big storm. They traced the failure back to him and his modifications of the waterway. Good luck

Good advise. I will not need to make a dam for this pond, so there will be no issues there. It will be close to the road, so I plan to keep it 93 feet from the road, which is the minimum for buildings in my town. There are no restrictions for ponds, but making it any closer would be a liability if someone drove into the pond and drowned.