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Pond Contractors

mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
My wife are considering building a pond in our backyard, and hiring a contractor to do the work. I'm wondering if anyone here has experience with any the local pond building businesses.
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
I built my own for our house in California... used the largest pre-form from Home Depot (325g or so)...the hardest part is digging a big hole :)
 
JLW

JLW

CCA Members
I used to own a pond building and scaping company. And, yes, digging the hole is the hardest part. Depending on the size, you can generally find a general contractor or landscaper to do the digging (CALL before you dig), or if its fairly small, you can even hire some day labourers (CALL before they dig, too. :)
 
mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
CSnyder00 said:
Yup. I want to see how they do it. I'm a DIYer and will end up with one eventually.
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How they do it is dig a [big] hole, line the sides with cinderblock, put in a fabric liner, then put in the rubber liner. Throw big stones around the sides. Drop a big pump in some sort of enclosure, run a pipe/tube from it to the other side, where they've built a small waterfall.
 
Frank Cowherd

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
I have built a number of ponds. Start by finding a guy that has and uses a backhoe well. Have him dig the hole. You can use a hose to outline the pond the shape you want. Maybe spray paint the grass or ground to replace the hose. Use some string across the top to determine if the hole is dug deep enough and to make sure the sides are all level. YOu can use some of the dirt to raise the low sides and spread the rest out around the pond if you need to keep it versus paying to have it hauled away. When it looks right, and you can even have nearly vertical walls without cinder blocks or such in just dirt if it is not mainly sand. Then you must line the hole with something. I used old rugs which you can get for cheap or for nothing if you ash around. They prevent rocks and such from puncturing any holes in the liner. I use luan for vertical walls where needed. Luan is a plywood like wood product treated to make it stand up to outdoor and moist conditions. YOu do not need to make it stay in place or reinforce it.
Then use EPDM rubber, the same as is used for flat roofs of buildings. This EPDM can be bought from roofing companies in rolls of 25ft by 50ft and multiples of that length. You can buy contact cement from these same places to glue sections together to get any size or shape you need. They often put chemicals on this rubber which does need to be washed off before putting fish in the pond, but it is easy to do so. Then line the pond over the rugs and Luan with the EPDM rubber. The above ground portion of the EPDM rubber should be about a foot or more in excess. This excess can be run over a mound of dirt and then buried on the other side of the mound. The rubber exposed should be covered with rocks or decking. Pipes going in and out of the pond can go over the edge without going through the rubber lining but if you want the pipes can go through the rubber lining if it is reinforced at that point. It requires a lot of planning to get everything just right.
The ponds I built here when we moved here in 2004 have been in place since without failure. The biggest pond is 20ft by 8ft by 2.5 ft. Its sides are still mainly vertical although there is one section where i can see the side has bulged into the pond a bit. The main reason the walls stay vertical is that the water in the pond keeps the dirt from moving. It also means that if you need to drain the pond, which I do at least every spring to clean and every fall to collect fish, I have to do quickly, like within a day's time and when the ground is dry so it is less likely to move when someone is walking near the edge.
This construction also has an advantage if you need to fill in the pond. There is no concrete or cinder blocks. You just remove the liner and rugs and Luan to a dumpster and fill the hole back up.
 
Becca

Becca

Members
I've done ponds with EPDM roofing material and specialized liner. I prefer the specialized liners because they are more flexible and fall more naturally, particularly if you're going to go for a pond with some curves or you're digging in a place where some natural rock/boulders might hinder your ability to have a flat/smooth bottom. As Frank stated, it's important to rinse EPDM roofing material several times prior to using it in a pond.

Josh re-lined my parents' pond several years ago with a liner that, I believe, came from Lilypons. The pond is still going strong, although a giant yellow iris has taken over about 60% of it.

If you're just looking for someone to dig the hole and then you feel comfortable doing the rest of the work, I might know a guy... I'm not sure if he serves DC though (he's in Fredrick). He'd offered to dig a pond for us, but the equipment won't clear our fence-gate.
 
mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
Becca said:
I've done ponds with EPDM roofing material and specialized liner. I prefer the specialized liners because they are more flexible and fall more naturally, particularly if you're going to go for a pond with some curves or you're digging in a place where some natural rock/boulders might hinder your ability to have a flat/smooth bottom. As Frank stated, it's important to rinse EPDM roofing material several times prior to using it in a pond.

Josh re-lined my parents' pond several years ago with a liner that, I believe, came from Lilypons. The pond is still going strong, although a giant yellow iris has taken over about 60% of it.

If you're just looking for someone to dig the hole and then you feel comfortable doing the rest of the work, I might know a guy... I'm not sure if he serves DC though (he's in Fredrick). He'd offered to dig a pond for us, but the equipment won't clear our fence-gate.
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Thanks. For a variety of reasons, I think we're going to go with a pro. If I need a guy to dig a hole, though, I'll let you know.
 
Z

zendog

Active Member
So how big of a pond are you planning on and what shape/configuration? What kind of fish are you planning on adding? Just curious.

When I made my small pond I included a bog area as the main filtration with the water pumping into the bog from the main pond and then tumbling back into the pond via a small waterfall. I'm a huge fan of bogs - they seem sort of like the matten filter of ponds, plus they give you a great place for marginal plants - as in they grow along the margins of waterways, not that they're lame plants. My bog is full of pea gravel as the bio filter and planting media , with dwarf cattails, a blue iris, pickerel rush, a small variegated rush and pennywort.

I think one of the biggest faults I see with first ponds (mine included) are not enough planning to make sure to effectively hide the linter along the edge. Also, if you plan on having the pros do your maintenance, you may not have to worry too much, but dealing with leaves, etc. can be a pain if you don't put a net over it and it is too large to easily reach into. In other words, don't build it too wide or too deep unless you plan on taking a dip a few times a year.

When I made my pond I spent a lot of time on some pond forums and there are many horror stories from ponds built by the pros, so just be careful and make sure to do your research to double check whatever they suggest.
 
Frank Cowherd

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
EPDM rubber comes in a number of thicknesses. If you want it really flexible then get the thinner stuff. The thicker is harder to manipulate/fold but is more durable.
 
Frank Cowherd

Frank Cowherd

Global Moderators
Staff member
There is a pond building company in Downingtown, Pennsylvania that is far above the rest. That area has a pond tour every year where you pay like $20 a person to go on the tour. We been twice. there are about a hundred ponds on the list usually and hundreds of people on the tours following the map. The proceeds go to charity. Anyway, you've never seen such great ponds, clear water, beautiful landscapes, lovely fish. And most of the ponds are built by the same company. Most are on the order of 5,000 to 20,000 gallons. Most had waterfalls and or streams. They are doing it right and teaching the people how to maintain the ponds.
 
mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
zendog said:
So how big of a pond are you planning on and what shape/configuration? What kind of fish are you planning on adding? Just curious.

When I made my small pond I included a bog area as the main filtration with the water pumping into the bog from the main pond and then tumbling back into the pond via a small waterfall. I'm a huge fan of bogs - they seem sort of like the matten filter of ponds, plus they give you a great place for marginal plants - as in they grow along the margins of waterways, not that they're lame plants. My bog is full of pea gravel as the bio filter and planting media , with dwarf cattails, a blue iris, pickerel rush, a small variegated rush and pennywort.

I think one of the biggest faults I see with first ponds (mine included) are not enough planning to make sure to effectively hide the linter along the edge. Also, if you plan on having the pros do your maintenance, you may not have to worry too much, but dealing with leaves, etc. can be a pain if you don't put a net over it and it is too large to easily reach into. In other words, don't build it too wide or too deep unless you plan on taking a dip a few times a year.

When I made my pond I spent a lot of time on some pond forums and there are many horror stories from ponds built by the pros, so just be careful and make sure to do your research to double check whatever they suggest.
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We don't have a big yard, so it can't be huge. So far, the best proposal has been for an 8" x 10" pond, with an irregular shape, and a small waterfall at one end.

On the leaves, one contractor recommended putting a net over the pond in the fall, which makes sense to me. We need to have the pond be fairly deep, or else it will be a primary food source for the neighborhood raccoons. I'll be doing the maintenance, so I'll be wading in at least annually.

The bog is an interesting idea.

I hear what you are saying about contractors and horror stories. One contractor gave me a quote without seeing our lot, except for three pictures I sent him, which worried me (as did other things about that particular contractor, although he's been in business a long time, so maybe I am wrong about him).
 
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