Pond (large) construction
Discussion
Great thread.
Do you know the approximate size of the pond and how long did it take them to dig it out?
I've been looking to do something very similar and been getting costs recently, dimensions would be approx 75m x 40m x 1.5m deep, so 4500 cubic metres of earth to be moved to the other side of the field and built up to offer privacy from the road, approx 60 metres away form the pond.
Option 1 - do it myself!
£480 per week for a 7.5 ton digger (plus delivery and fuel) and can get a small dumper truck from a mate. Not sure how long that would take.
Option 2 - 7.5 ton digger, tractor and trailer and two men
£73.80 per hour including VAT, (but not fuel, another £30 a day) reckons 40 hours to complete the job so £2952
How does that compare?
Do you know the approximate size of the pond and how long did it take them to dig it out?
I've been looking to do something very similar and been getting costs recently, dimensions would be approx 75m x 40m x 1.5m deep, so 4500 cubic metres of earth to be moved to the other side of the field and built up to offer privacy from the road, approx 60 metres away form the pond.
Option 1 - do it myself!
£480 per week for a 7.5 ton digger (plus delivery and fuel) and can get a small dumper truck from a mate. Not sure how long that would take.
Option 2 - 7.5 ton digger, tractor and trailer and two men
£73.80 per hour including VAT, (but not fuel, another £30 a day) reckons 40 hours to complete the job so £2952
How does that compare?
cerbfan said:
Apologies I have been utterly useless with updating this thread and the house build one so here are a few photos of the pond as it is now.
These photos are from a couple of weeks ago and this is also when the latest visitors arrived a pair of swans, they are still here and seem to have made themselves rights at home.
About a month ago we have the guy with the digger back again and he has now landscaped the whole place and made the new small wildlife pond hence all the bare soil but it does look a million times better than it did, all I need now is for the drive to be finished and for me to get my finger out and get the decking done.
Here is one of the Carp caught a couple of years ago, they would be 5lb now if it was not for the otter having a field day 2 winters ago and eating most of the them!!
Also a photo from last summer, looks a lot nicer when everything has grown.
A couple of frisky frogs from a couple of weeks ago, frog spawn now all transferred into the new wildlife pond to save the tadpoles being eaten by the fish.
I'm actually opening the pond up for coarse fishing next month (I've suffered due to the oil industry downturn so need to bring some cash in) so you can find the Facebook page if anyone is interested at St Annes Fishery if anyone wants a look or even to come up fishing at some point!
Right I need to go back and continue planting the rest of the 200+ hedge plants..
Wow, wish Id seen your build thread!These photos are from a couple of weeks ago and this is also when the latest visitors arrived a pair of swans, they are still here and seem to have made themselves rights at home.
About a month ago we have the guy with the digger back again and he has now landscaped the whole place and made the new small wildlife pond hence all the bare soil but it does look a million times better than it did, all I need now is for the drive to be finished and for me to get my finger out and get the decking done.
Here is one of the Carp caught a couple of years ago, they would be 5lb now if it was not for the otter having a field day 2 winters ago and eating most of the them!!
Also a photo from last summer, looks a lot nicer when everything has grown.
A couple of frisky frogs from a couple of weeks ago, frog spawn now all transferred into the new wildlife pond to save the tadpoles being eaten by the fish.
I'm actually opening the pond up for coarse fishing next month (I've suffered due to the oil industry downturn so need to bring some cash in) so you can find the Facebook page if anyone is interested at St Annes Fishery if anyone wants a look or even to come up fishing at some point!
Right I need to go back and continue planting the rest of the 200+ hedge plants..
I think the guys who are offering to do it are under estimating it. My pond is around 80m x 30m x 2m so very similar volume and the guy who did mine used a 15Te slew along with a 10Te dumper truck and from memory it took about 6 x 10 hour days with a 3 month break half way through after the weather turned horrendous and filled the half finished pond overnight. The person that I used is fantastic in a digger, the best I've seen and does not stop so I'd be amazed if someone could do it in less time using a smaller digger.
Also unless you can actually drive a digger I'd not attempt it yourself, its not as easy as they make it look and to get a tidy finish, with nicely graded sides and an even bottom and bank it could take you ages and you'd not get the finish that someone good in a digger could do in half the time.
I take it your field is clay to be able to hold the water? Do you know if there are any field drains running through the field?
Also unless you can actually drive a digger I'd not attempt it yourself, its not as easy as they make it look and to get a tidy finish, with nicely graded sides and an even bottom and bank it could take you ages and you'd not get the finish that someone good in a digger could do in half the time.
I take it your field is clay to be able to hold the water? Do you know if there are any field drains running through the field?
scz4 said:
Great thread.
Do you know the approximate size of the pond and how long did it take them to dig it out?
I've been looking to do something very similar and been getting costs recently, dimensions would be approx 75m x 40m x 1.5m deep, so 4500 cubic metres of earth to be moved to the other side of the field and built up to offer privacy from the road, approx 60 metres away form the pond.
Option 1 - do it myself!
£480 per week for a 7.5 ton digger (plus delivery and fuel) and can get a small dumper truck from a mate. Not sure how long that would take.
Option 2 - 7.5 ton digger, tractor and trailer and two men
£73.80 per hour including VAT, (but not fuel, another £30 a day) reckons 40 hours to complete the job so £2952
How does that compare?
Do you know the approximate size of the pond and how long did it take them to dig it out?
I've been looking to do something very similar and been getting costs recently, dimensions would be approx 75m x 40m x 1.5m deep, so 4500 cubic metres of earth to be moved to the other side of the field and built up to offer privacy from the road, approx 60 metres away form the pond.
Option 1 - do it myself!
£480 per week for a 7.5 ton digger (plus delivery and fuel) and can get a small dumper truck from a mate. Not sure how long that would take.
Option 2 - 7.5 ton digger, tractor and trailer and two men
£73.80 per hour including VAT, (but not fuel, another £30 a day) reckons 40 hours to complete the job so £2952
How does that compare?
cerbfan said:
I think the guys who are offering to do it are under estimating it. My pond is around 80m x 30m x 2m so very similar volume and the guy who did mine used a 15Te slew along with a 10Te dumper truck and from memory it took about 6 x 10 hour days with a 3 month break half way through after the weather turned horrendous and filled the half finished pond overnight. The person that I used is fantastic in a digger, the best I've seen and does not stop so I'd be amazed if someone could do it in less time using a smaller digger.
Also unless you can actually drive a digger I'd not attempt it yourself, its not as easy as they make it look and to get a tidy finish, with nicely graded sides and an even bottom and bank it could take you ages and you'd not get the finish that someone good in a digger could do in half the time.
I take it your field is clay to be able to hold the water? Do you know if there are any field drains running through the field?
Thank for replying. Hmmmm, sound like I best agree a fixed price for the job Also unless you can actually drive a digger I'd not attempt it yourself, its not as easy as they make it look and to get a tidy finish, with nicely graded sides and an even bottom and bank it could take you ages and you'd not get the finish that someone good in a digger could do in half the time.
I take it your field is clay to be able to hold the water? Do you know if there are any field drains running through the field?
They did mention tidying up the banks etc, so must have done it before. No the field isn't clay, it's just a standard agricultural field. The particular part of the field is quote boggy and we have a burn running just approx 5 metres away so my intention was to dig down to the same depth as the bottom of the burn and run an inlet pipe in with a valve and then an over flow pipe.
I've already spoken to SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) and they're quite happy with this as long as I don't take more than 10,000 litres a day and it's not an "online pond" i.e digging into the existing burn. My only concern is if the bank being 5 metres away from the burn will be enough to contain the water and stop the bank collapsing. SEPA seemed to think it would be ok.
I've used a 3.5ton digger before for landscaping, but yeah sounds like this might be a bit much for me.
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