How Much Does It Cost to Build a Pond in Texas?
- 2026 Pricing. Real Numbers. No Form to Fill Out First.
Short answer: most ranch ponds in Central Texas run $14,000 to $50,000 depending on how big you build, how deep you go, and whether we hit rock.
Below is our actual 2026 price list, a calculator you can run your own numbers through, and a plain explanation of what moves the price. Texas Grading digs ponds, stock tanks and lakes across Central Texas out of Johnson City.
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2026 Texas Pond Price List
| Pond Size | Starting Price | Build Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1/4 acre | from $14,000 | 2 to 3 days |
| 1/2 acre | from $23,000 | 3 to 4 days |
| 3/4 acre | from $28,500 | 4 to 5 days |
| 1 acre | from $33,500 | 5 to 6 days |
| 1 1/4 acre | from $38,000 | 6 to 7 days |
| 1 1/2 acre | from $42,500 | 7 to 8 days |
| 1 3/4 acre | from $46,500 | 8 to 9 days |
| 2 acre | from $50,000 | 9 to 10 days |
Prices and times above are based on 8 foot of depth in the center with a 4:1 bank. Build deeper and it takes longer and costs more. Use the calculator below to run your own numbers.
Rock is the big variable. If we hit granite or solid limestone we have to bring a hammer out, and that gets billed by the day. On a lot of places we can move the pond and miss the rock altogether. That is one of the main reasons we come walk your property before quoting instead of pricing off an aerial photo.
Expansions, cleanouts and rehab work get quoted on equipment day rates rather than by size. Give us a call and we will talk through what your pond needs.
Pond Cost Calculator
Slide in the size, depth and bank slope you have in mind and see roughly how much dirt has to move and what that runs. Works for anything up to 2 acres.
3:1 is the steepest bank and moves the least dirt. 5:1 is a gentle wade-in bank, easier on cattle and safer around kids, but it takes more digging to get the same water.
- Average depth0 ft
- Water it holds0
- Rate per yard$0
This is an estimator, not a quote. It figures the dirt you would move for a bowl shaped pond at the size, depth and bank slope you picked. What you actually pay depends on whether we hit rock, what shape the ground is in, how far we have to haul spoil, and whether the spot needs clearing first. Rock is the big one. If we run into granite or solid limestone we have to bring a hammer out and that gets billed by the day. Call us and we will come walk it.
The calculator treats your pond as a bowl. It takes the surface size you pick, figures the radius, pulls the banks in at the slope you chose, and works out the volume between the top edge and the bottom. That gives the cubic yards of dirt that have to come out, which is the biggest single thing driving what a pond costs.
Bigger ponds cost less per yard. Getting equipment out to your place, setting up and tearing down costs about the same whether we move 2,000 yards or 20,000. So the rate per cubic yard drops as the job gets bigger. A small pond runs toward the top of our rate, and a one acre job comes in around a third of that per yard. The calculator does that math for you and shows the rate it landed on.
Why bank slope changes the price. A 3:1 bank drops one foot for every three feet across. A 5:1 drops one foot for every five. The gentler you make it, the more dirt has to move to get the same depth, but you get a safer wade-in edge for cattle and a shoreline that will not slough off on you. Most ranch ponds around here end up 3:1 or 4:1.
Why depth matters more than it looks. A shallow pond warms up, turns green and can go dry in a bad Central Texas summer. We build to 8 foot in the center as a standard for that reason. Every extra foot of depth adds dirt across the whole footprint, not just the middle.
What the calculator cannot see. Rock is the big unknown. Granite and solid limestone need a hammer instead of a bucket and that gets billed by the day, so a rock site can run well past the estimate. Clearing, haul distance, equipment access and how wet the ground is all move the number too. Use this to get in the ballpark, then call us and we will come walk it and give you a real one.
More on pond building: Pond Repair and Leak Sealing · Pond Cleanout and Dredging · Stock Tank Construction · Lake Excavation · Pond Dam Construction and Repair · Pond Permits in Texas · How Deep Should a Pond Be? · Building a Pond in Rocky Ground
What Actually Moves the Price of a Pond
Every pond quote comes down to how many cubic yards of dirt have to move and how hard that dirt is to move. Everything else is detail.
Size. Surface acreage is the headline number, but it is not linear. Doubling the surface of a pond more than doubles the dirt, because you are widening it in two directions and the middle gets deeper relative to the banks.
Depth. We build to 8 foot in the center as a standard. That is deep enough that a Texas summer will not take it. Every extra foot adds dirt across the whole footprint, though the returns taper. Going from 8 to 16 foot on a one acre pond adds roughly 47 percent to the cost, not 100 percent, because past a point you are only deepening the middle.
Bank slope. A 3:1 bank drops one foot for every three feet across. A 5:1 drops one foot for every five. Gentler banks are safer for cattle and hold their shape better, but they move more dirt to reach the same depth.
Rock. This is the one that blows budgets. Granite and solid limestone cannot be dug with a bucket. We bring a hammer out and that gets billed by the day. A site with rock can run well past the estimate, and a site where we can shift the pond and miss the rock can come in under it. It is the single best reason to have somebody walk the property before quoting.
Access, haul and clearing. If we cannot get equipment in without cutting a road, that is time. If the spoil has to go somewhere other than a spread nearby, that is time. If the spot is grown up in cedar and has to be cleared first, that is a separate line.
Where You Are in Texas Changes What a Pond Costs
Texas is not one place, and pond cost tracks the ground underneath you more than anything else.
The Hill Country and the Llano Uplift. Out around Burnet, Marble Falls and Bertram you are in granite country, with solid limestone in places too. The soil itself holds water perfectly well. The problem is getting the hole dug. Hit granite and a bucket will not touch it, so we bring a hammer and bill by the day. Placement matters more here than anywhere else we work, because moving a pond a hundred feet can be the difference between a normal job and a rock job.
The western Hill Country. Johnson City, Dripping Springs, Wimberley, Lampasas, Leander and Liberty Hill are a similar story with less granite. There is enough clay in the ground to seal a pond on its own, and we very rarely run a liner. You still have to read the site to find depth without hitting limestone.
East of I-35. Bastrop, Elgin, Paige, Lockhart, Luling, Manor and Pflugerville sit in good clay. This is some of the best pond ground in the state. Rock is rarely an issue, the dirt seals itself when it is packed right, and the same pond that is a rock job west of Austin is a straightforward dig out here. It is measurably cheaper to build a pond on this side of the map.
North toward Belton, Whitney and Crawford the clay holds up well too, and we build there on the same basis.
The practical upshot: a quote that has not accounted for what is under your specific piece of ground is a guess. We walk every site before we put a number on paper.
What Is and Is Not in the Price
What our starting prices cover: site walk and layout, excavation, shaping the basin, building and compacting the dam in lifts, cutting the spillway, grading the banks, and leaving the site clean and ready to seed.
What gets quoted separately: land clearing if the site is grown up, hammer work if we hit rock, hauling spoil off the property if there is nowhere to spread it, road building for access, fencing, fish stocking, docks and aeration.
A note on sealing: we dig first, because the large majority of ponds in this part of Texas hold on their own without a liner. Nobody can promise a pond will hold before it is dug. If yours does not, bentonite sealing is the fix, and that work is quoted separately on equipment day rates.
Do You Need a Permit to Build a Pond in Texas?
For most landowners building a stock pond, no permit is needed. Texas Water Code lets you impound up to 200 acre feet for domestic and livestock use on your own property without a state water right, and a two acre pond at eight feet averages nowhere close to that.
You can move into permitting territory with a very large impoundment, a dam tall enough to fall under state dam safety review, work inside a floodplain, or a site in the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. Counties layer on their own floodplain and stormwater rules, and those vary. We will tell you which bucket your site falls in before we start, and if you are anywhere near a threshold we will tell you to confirm with the county rather than take our word for it.
What You Can Count On
What Our Customers Say
★★★★★
“This is the second time using this company. And always quick responses and follow through! Their quality of work is the best in the industry. I’ve reached out to other companies before and usually slow to respond and set a date to come look at the property for a project and no show. That is something you won’t have to worry about by going with Texas Grading.”
Sean Chandler
★★★★★
“Worked with me to get my pond exactly how I wanted it. Taylor communicated well and was willing to cut me a fair deal when things weren’t exactly as expected. Jonathon is an ace with the dozer. The man can move some dirt like icing on a cake. Well done gentlemen!”
Dennis Pacl
★★★★★
“What a great experience. This company was prompt, and right on budget. They made a pond/tank for me on my ranch. The owner and his team were very professional.”
Glenn Gonzales
★★★★★
“These guys are the best! Hands down, if you need any land clearing or ponds done on your property, do yourself a favor and call Taylor!”
David Williams
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to build a 1 acre pond in Texas?
Our one acre ponds start at $33,500 built to 8 foot of depth in the center on a 4:1 bank. That works out to roughly 9,700 cubic yards of dirt, or about $3.45 a yard. Build it deeper and it goes up. A one acre pond at 12 foot runs closer to $48,000. Hit granite or solid limestone and hammer work is billed by the day on top of that.
How much does it cost to dig a quarter acre pond?
A quarter acre stock tank starts at $14,000 at 8 foot center depth, which is about 1,800 cubic yards. Small ponds carry the highest cost per yard, around $7.80, because getting equipment out to the property and set up costs the same whether we move 2,000 yards or 20,000. That is also why we hold an $8,000 minimum on any pond job.
What does pond excavation cost per cubic yard?
Between about $2.35 and $7.80 a yard depending on how big the job is. Small ponds sit at the top of that range and two acre lakes at the bottom, because mobilization gets spread over more dirt. Note that bulk pond excavation is priced very differently from the per yard numbers you will see quoted for residential utility work or foundation digs, which are far higher and not comparable.
Why do pond prices vary so much across Texas?
Because the ground does. In the Hill Country around Burnet and Marble Falls you are in granite and limestone, and rock has to be hammered out by the day. East of I-35 around Bastrop, Elgin and Lockhart you are in clay that digs easily and seals itself. The same pond can differ by many thousands of dollars depending on which side of that line it sits on. Anyone quoting you without looking at your specific ground is guessing.
Does hitting rock really change the price that much?
Yes, more than anything else. A bucket will not move granite or solid limestone, so we bring a hammer and bill by the day. Hammering is dramatically slower than digging. The good news is it is often avoidable. On plenty of properties we can shift the pond a hundred feet and miss the rock entirely, which is exactly the kind of thing you only find by walking the site.
How deep should a pond be in Texas, and what does depth cost?
We build to 8 foot in the center as a standard. That is deep enough to survive a hot dry Texas summer without going stagnant or disappearing. Depth costs less than people expect at the margin. Going from 8 to 16 foot on a one acre pond adds roughly 47 percent, not double, because past a point you are only deepening the middle while the banks stay where they are.
Is it cheaper to expand an existing pond than build a new one?
Usually, yes. The dam is already there and the site is already shaped, so you are paying for dirt movement rather than starting from nothing. Expansions, cleanouts and rehab work get quoted on equipment day rates rather than by pond size, since what they need varies so much. Give us a call and describe what you have.
Do you need a permit to build a pond in Texas?
For most landowners, no. Texas Water Code allows impounding up to 200 acre feet for domestic and livestock use on your own property without a state water right, and ordinary ranch ponds are nowhere near that. Permitting can come into play with a very large impoundment, a dam tall enough for state dam safety review, work in a floodplain, or a site in the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone. County floodplain and stormwater rules can apply too. Confirm with your county before building on that assumption.
Get a Real Number for Your Property
We build ponds, stock tanks and lakes across Central Texas from our base in Johnson City. If you want a real number for your property rather than a range off the internet, call 512-746-7435 and we will come walk it. Quotes inside 24 hours.