Going for it! phase one 12,000 gallon pond.
- Thread starter GBBUDD
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j.w
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Patience makes the pond builders heart grow fonder. Those boulders aren't going anywhere 
j.w
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I didn't want to post this in another thread on someones showcase so posting it here @GBBUDD . You were talking about throwing dirt up from the bottom of your 8ft pond.
My friend up the road has an 8ft deep pond and boy is that sucker deep and huge. They had to do some drain repairs and empty the pond and that was a heck of a job for them.
Slippery for her also,lol!
Nice tho when all done.
My friend up the road has an 8ft deep pond and boy is that sucker deep and huge. They had to do some drain repairs and empty the pond and that was a heck of a job for them.
Slippery for her also,lol!
Nice tho when all done.
j.w
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If you look around at other than your landscape companies and specialized quarry store you can find some deals on local rock. I have stopped at some places and had the salesman tell me there boulders were $400 a ton. I'll immediately turn around and start walking out. Most of the rock these guys have come from a local heavy equipment operators. Often they will have a job that they have to level an area for development and they don't have time to look for the little guy in sales. Places like a stump dump recycler or a smaller out of the way stone yard you can get deals if you know how to bargain. I will not spend more than $50 for a boulder about 6'x 3' x3' foot. and for those that don't know how much a boulder can weigh the above will weigh around 3 to 4,000 pounds or as the landscaper would have liked about $600 at 400 a ton I paid $50. Again it's local granite not weathered limestone. Like I said earlier I can see the pond coming together then I open my eyes and I see a tarp covered in snow. in total thus far for ALL the rock I have spent $320.00 dollars on big boulders. And when I am done, I will be having a rock sale I know I will have ALOT left over.
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Wow, that's a lot less money than I thought. You've been finding some really good deals! Hopefully the weather starts to clear up since spring is officially here and you'll be able to commence work on the pond.
That is a good price on granite, if you are spending $50 for a 3-4000lb. boulder. Contractors aren’t even buying it for that where I live in Maryland. Of course, if they sold a bunch of those rocks for $400 / ton, then they don’t mind selling the occasional boulder for $50.
I’ve seen customers spend $1,000 dollars per boulder to have a them stuck in their yard. I am not a landscaper, but that is a lot of money to charge for a rock that costs the contractor under $100, when they are landscaping an entire yard.
It costs roughly $39-40/ton my cost to get R8 (2-3000lb) granite delivered by the dump truck load (20-21 tons).
I’ve seen customers spend $1,000 dollars per boulder to have a them stuck in their yard. I am not a landscaper, but that is a lot of money to charge for a rock that costs the contractor under $100, when they are landscaping an entire yard.
It costs roughly $39-40/ton my cost to get R8 (2-3000lb) granite delivered by the dump truck load (20-21 tons).
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You keep coming across awesome huge rocks I am really looking forward to seeing this come together.
Got to remember I am talking cash and carry. And the other thing to keep in mind is this time of the year there's not a lot of demand for anything landscaping Cash goes a long way at the end of the month. The very first item I bought for this project was a 6 ton dump trailer. I had an opportunity to get between base ball sized river rock to fractured granite in just about every size and shape up about 300 to 400 pounds. But I had to hand load most of it . One slab that has got to be 2500 pounds is going to have a very special spot in the build it's basically a 2 foot wide piece of granite with lots iron and mica that's 6-6" long that's like a naturally shaped rounded one piece of copping. It is a large piece I decided to place on a bond beam. Don't want it sliding into the pond because the soils gave way and pin someone. I also decided to build a cinder block wall in front and under the length of the patio. This is being done to insure there is no runoff/washout from rains from the patio as it meets the pond. It will sit on the bond beam that was poured about 4 feet down in the pond along the patio. I believe I will also make a couple openings/ shelves in the wall toward the surface for planters.
An other place to get rock is a processing plant. There you can get what ever local stone that has come in to there yard. They may not be willing to spend too much time selecting stones spending a lot of time pulling out rock. but at 18- 20 dollars a yard it could be a reasonable expense to complete a liner cover up. After all an erratic design looking natural with some soft plants and a hardscape like logs or even limbs can out shine someone who spends a ton of money but has no taste or imagination.