Holding water in North Texas is a soil problem before it is a digging problem. We read the site, cut a compacted clay core, and size the spillway for the storm that actually shows up, so the tank you pay to dig stays a tank. Owner-operated equipment, one crew accountable from the test holes to the last pass, and we are Fully Insured.
Credibility comes from how it's done, not from promises. Here's the order of operations on every ponds & stock tanks job.
A pond needs two things the ground has to provide: enough catchment above it to fill it, and enough clay below it to keep it. We map the drainage area, dig test holes to see what the soil really is down at pond depth, and tell you plainly when a spot will not hold without help.
Before a single pass, we set the dam section, the pool depth, and the emergency spillway. The spillway is the piece that carries a flood around the dam instead of over it, so it gets designed up front, not patched in after the fact.
Topsoil, roots, and organics come off the dam footprint, because water follows anything soft left underneath. Then we cut a core trench down into tight clay and backfill it with compacted clay, so there is no seam for water to travel under the dam.
The embankment goes up in thin lifts of suitable clay, each one compacted before the next goes on, never shoved up loose and hoped over. Slopes are laid back to angles that stay put, and the crest is left wide enough to mow and inspect for years.
Banks get graded to stable slopes, the spillway is grassed or armored to the design, and we spread the saved topsoil back so grass roots in quickly and locks the ground down before the next heavy rain.
Most dirt-work outfits go quiet once the tractor leaves. We pick up the phone, show up when we say, and come back after the first hard rain if something needs a second pass. The follow-through is the difference.
An operator we know runs your job and a vetted crew does the work, managed by GradeWerx, one company accountable from the first walkthrough to the final grade check.
COI on file before the first machine unloads. The documentation that lets builders and commercial clients release payment and gives homeowners peace of mind.
Prepared subgrade, compaction in lifts, positive drainage away from every structure, and a laser-checked final grade. We earn trust through the process, not promises. On ponds & stock tanks, that starts with site it where water and soil agree.
A pond lives or dies on work that disappears the moment it is finished: the core trench keyed into clay, the compaction on every lift, and a spillway sized to the real catchment. We treat those as the job itself, not extras, and we say so straight when native soil needs a clay liner or bentonite to hold. We can't stop Texas clay from moving, so we build the dam and grade the banks so the water moves where we planned it to first.
There is a real range. Small stock tanks tend to start around $5,000, and most ponds land somewhere between $10,000 and $50,000 or more, driven mostly by size and by whether the native clay holds water or fill and a liner have to be trucked in. Access for the equipment, haul distance for the spoil, dam and spillway scope, and wet-season timing all move the figure. We put eyes on the land and price from what the dirt tells us, because a number tossed out over the phone before we have walked the site is not one we would want to stand behind.
Much of North Texas sits on heavy clay that seals up well once it is compacted, but sandier ground on the western side of the metroplex and thin, rocky soil over limestone will not hold on their own. We dig test holes on site and read the soil at depth. If it will not hold, we say so before you spend a dollar, and we walk you through what a compacted clay liner or a bentonite treatment would add to the job.
It comes down to the herd it waters, the catchment feeding it, and evaporation, which is brutal through a Texas summer. A deeper, more compact pool loses a smaller share to the sun than a wide shallow pan does, so depth usually earns its keep over surface area. We size the tank to how it will actually be used instead of pouring you into a default shape.
Small livestock and wildlife ponds on private property are often exempt under Texas water law, but floodplains, creek impoundments, and larger surface areas can change that answer quickly. We flag what looks like it applies to your parcel before we dig, and we point you to the right authority to confirm rather than guessing on your behalf.
Yes. Old tanks silt in over the years and quietly lose most of their depth. We dewater as far as the job needs, pull out the accumulated silt, reshape the banks to stable slopes, and rebuild the dam section anywhere it has thinned or started to seep.
Every pond we build gets both a primary outlet and an emergency spillway sized to the catchment above it, because a dam with nowhere to shed a flood is a dam waiting to fail. Where a drive or crossing sits below the pond, we size the culvert in the same design pass so the overflow has a path that does not cut the road.
We bring ponds & stock tanks to Burleson, Celina, Midlothian, Royse City, Weatherford, and more of the DFW metroplex. All service areas →
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Or call (817) 865-1077