Anyone hired a crew to dig their pond?

[Gemma]

I'm getting a bit frustrated with people posting ads and not responding to inquiries
We sent out requests for an estimate (for digging our pond and dispose of the dirt) to several contractors but we are't getting any response, does anyone have an idea what companies might charge to come dig a whole (and dispose of the dirt), less than 30'x30' by 4.5' ?

 

[MitchM]

I'm getting a bit frustrated with people posting ads and not responding to inquiries
We sent out requests for an estimate (for digging our pond and dispose of the dirt) to several contractors but we are't getting any response, does anyone have an idea what companies might charge to come dig a whole (and dispose of the dirt), less than 30'x30' by 4.5' ?

Yes Gemma.
I just had a "crew", well, one guy with a mini backhoe plus me with a transit for berm level.
The helper basically did some weeding around the garden....

The mini backhoe was $300 for the day from a local rental centre and the 2 guys were $700 for the day. I used my own transit.
The finished pond hole is about 35 x 35 x 5 feet deep.
I used any excavated dirt for berm buildup and to level out some other low spots in the yard.
It took one day.

 

[Gemma]

1000$ and a day work isn't bad at all!
Thank you, @MitchM this really helps!
....now I'm hoping to find someone willing to do business, not just talk about what they could do.

 

[Lisak1]

We did. Hired a local hardscape company - they also installed our pacer patio. My husband had to direct them as they weren’t experienced pond diggers but they knew how to work the machines! I think we paid about $1000 plus disposal for the dirt. That was for three guys for two days with equipment. They also moved some of our bigger rocks for us and set some stairs.

 

[MitchM]

Call Home Depot for a start and find out their rate for machine rental.
Home Depot here was about $450 for an 8 hour day compared to the local rental company that was $300 for 24 hours.
Maybe even rent for 2 days, dig it yourself, learn along the way and have some fun doing it!
The machine we rented came with a 12" bucket with teeth plus a 24" smoothing bucket.

 

[addy1]

I loved using my tractor digging the pond. Just took some seat time to figure it out.

 

[Tula]

We totally lucked out and met the nicest, most honest pond builder He did our whole thing, labor, materials, hard scaping....everything....I think it was about $3000, but this was about 14 years ago.

 

[Angel]

did my 16x18x4' and stream by hand only machine was a rototiller to break up clay. estimated cost. food, x beer, nagging the wife = priceless.

 

[MitchM]

Hopefully you got a new smoker out of it.

 

[GBBUDD]

Home depot here in ct rents a mini terex with a thumb for 370 a day including a trailer for towing. A lot of your rental stores now are charging for the use of a trailer. The whole unit is " legal for a 1/2 ton truck " so i'm told I have a 350 6.7 I didn't even know it was there. Then they also have a skid steer which was 350 a day same deal as above with a trailer. But to be honest with you 4'-6" deep you had better plan plenty of wide shelves for your depth but if your soil is weak you may need bond beams or even retaining walls. Another suggestion is look at your local building codes as i'm hearing over 3' deep has some higher rules then those 3' and under.. and I can attest the deeper creates bigger challenges to hold back the soils. I have very stable soils and I still had challenges . a 35' by 35' if it does not have sloping sides and it's shelved you have one shot at the center area of the pond most excavators can only reach out 12' and at 4-6" deep it creates chalanges and some good planning

 

[MitchM]

For my pond, I'm doing 35 degree slopes with bentonite incorporated into the top 6 inches. No liner.

 

[addy1]

My sides are pretty straight, but our soil is rock with a bit of clay. I did slope them a bit but not much.

 

[sissy]

here the guy charged my neighbor 150 dollars because he wanted the dirt .Dirt is gold here and they make good money off it

 

[Angel]

Hopefully you got a new smoker out of it.

i wish. i am capped at 6 for the time being.

 

[Mmathis]

We rented a mini-excavator and did the work ourselves. But we did have to pay someone to haul off the dirt (clay soil). We did amend some of the dirt and used it in the lawn, but adding clay soil to clay soil just wasn’t working for us. It did cost more to have the dirt hauled than it did to rent the excavator. We tried advertising on GRAIGSLIST, but people never got back with us once they found out that they’d have to load and haul the dirt themselves — really folks!