re: Pond Update

Doesn't matter how big it is, when it's full, you'll wish you had made it bigger. Human nature, I guess?

It looks good. My concerns would be the material of the Levee. If you don't have a clay core of some kind it will certainly leak. My recommendation would be to over excavate at the toe of the slope and have him roll that into the side bank of the berm. This would not only deepen the lowest part but help compact native soil onto that berm. Mark them use the dozer for the packing and not the grader. The grader is great for smoothing it but not for compacting the soil. Can run the grader over it when its done. I would recommend having at lest a portion of it at 10' deep to maintain good water conditions during low rainfall conditions.

Does he have a level? I would have him stake the surrounding area at the top of the levee elevation. That way you could see exactly the max water surface. It would be easy for him to do and would help you identify areas that could cause erosion or unwanted water in other areas.

youa re assuming a cap capped levee, could he have clay cored it?

We currently have a small pond that needs to be dig deeper to be able to hold fish..it’s roughly 2 acres and can be easily enlarged to close to 5 acres. I haven't priced it yet

Why should you have to finish the work you are paying him to do? Talk to him now before he finishes and reiterate what you want.


Sorry. Maybe I should just STFU.

its probably full of water by now

Me and little head will be there tomorrow with our five gallon buckets and cane poles

Update?

Update Day 7:

He's been MIA for about 4 days with the rains we've been getting, but he showed up today and agreed to continue work. He was saying he was done and since it was quicker than intended he was going to bill 20% under budget. We chose to keep digging.

I don't have any pics as no progress has been made since last week, but we reiterated again to shave the point and remove the 3 trees to give the pond a more round shape as opposed to the kidney bean we currently have. We also said to dig it deeper. His concern was about where to put the dirt and we told him just to make a pile and/or place it behind the levee to reinforce it.

We'll see...

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he showed up today and agreed to continue work. He was saying he was done

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That is very suspicious. A contractor finishes a job and doesn't tell you, for four days, that he's finished? Great looking pond as it was, but...it sure didn't look "done" to me. Keep us all posted, please!

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His concern was about where to put the dirt

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For starters, I'd have him continue building the levee through and beyond where your truck was parked in your earlier picture. That part still doesn't look right to me. The levee just stops and doesn't continue on to the equal elevation of higher ground.