Willow Ridge in Clinton, TN installed a small pond, about six feet in diameter, and charged around $3000, four years ago. They dug the hole, installed all the pool stuff, pump, and rock. I supplied the rock from my woods. They did a good job.

The pond is not for fish, but frogs live in it.

HTH.

Wow! I had no idea it was so expensive. My husband and I did our own pond 20 years ago, probably simpler but bigger than yours. It didn't seem like that big a deal. I appreciate this info. I'll be prepared for sticker shock. However, if I have the hole dug while house is being built, maybe that will help a bit.

Something else that shocks me is that I got a bid from a very reputable dozer guy to build a dammed, 1/2 acre earthen pond for $6,000. I can't get over these costs for small lined ponds. I grew up with such ponds and never realized this about them.

I agree about sticker shock... You can build a pond somewhat cheaper.... depending. As I mentioned, we did 20+ years ago. But we also used minimal pond items. This pond is far, far easier to clean, will stay cleaner due to better filters and so forth.

Had we done ours ourselves from the beginning (cost as mentioned in above post), the purchased items included would have been: skimmer, backwash filter, pump, small UV light, electrical for outlets and outdoor rated outlets with switches (2) (and it's important to get these installed to code), housing/concrete pad for pump, uv light filter, backwash filter, heavy 45mil liner and liner underlayment, bottom drain, pvc piping and fittings with shutoff valves, Mortar, waterproof mortar behind falls, concrete colorant for mortars, falls and fountain tubing and fittings, rocks and river rocks (including 2 larger landscape rocks), 2 lights with electrical, one day rental for skid steer to dig pond hole, faux rock to cover skimmer. Proper drain-off is important too (as you know, we've had rain for the past 8 million years!).

I will still purchase a heater and small aerators for the winter. I will also make a small rock cave with underwater glue and large but thin rocks. DH cut and re-glued the fiberglass of the faux rock that covers the skimmer (he's worked with fiberglass before) so it's not so big. I'll fine-sculpt it and paint to match the real rocks this summer.

This does not include water plants or any landscaping. Then there are fish. Shubunkins are less costly than koi, and we've got eagles, coyotes, owls, hawks, skunks, raccoons, and cranes. So we expect to loose fish.

Go online, add this up, and the cost is there - most particularly with the proper sized pumps and filters - it starts adding up. Even the large falls/landscape rock prices are shocking - unless you can find them yourselves and dig them up, haul them. You can go simpler, but as we are an older couple with other hobbies, we wanted something fairly easy to care for.

2ManyDiversions - thanks so much for that breakdown! You're amazing. I see the difference now in your pond and the one we built. We had no filter and no moving water. We simply siphoned the water out and into our garden occasionally as fertilizer. We only had goldfish, so no need for heat. Dogs kept predators away. However, in my new home, I will have the features you mentioned. Rock is cheap here as is some labor. But I can see it will costs much more than I first anticipated. Doing it while building the house should help a bit, I'm hoping. I do think it's worth it, though, regardless. I love watching fish and hope to have an aquarium inside as well. I'm giving up cattle and big acreage to downsize in every way. LOL

Gracie, it's hard to move from acreage and privacy to downsize! We live in the 'burbs now, but both of us grew up in the country : ) A pond is definitely worth it if one can do it themselves and/or afford it. Even without fish, even this winter with no falls, our pond is our favorite backyard feature : )

The fellow who started our pond had the right ideas. Our pond is plumbed with 2 underwater inlets on each side directed to make the water slowly circle the pond, allowing leaves and debris to gently float into the skimmer. We had the bronze statue already, so no cost there. Also, we initially attempted to use black foam (as seen in first photo above, we stuck pea gravel into it) to direct the falls but it failed miserably and we had to laboriously scrape it away, apply mortar to any large holes, then apply sludge mortar, then apply waterproof mortar. Fixed that leaking!

I do intend to use the backwash filter water for our flowers and future garden as well. The drainage is for rains... we do fertilize our lawn so backflow from overflow is not good for the fish. After the pond was in place, with rocks inside and bordering, we filled until it got too high, then lowered only one area of the pond (about 3" wide) and created a mini french drain. It's works beautifully. Our hole was dug by the 'person'... who never used a level. DH and I worked far too hard correcting multiple mistakes. Be careful about 'inexperienced' labor. References and look-sees are you friend : )

Rock is cheap here too... but it adds up. I will also comment on this: We have a bottom drain, which is wonderful - but pea gravel was placed at the bottom of the pond... huge mistake as it clogged the bottom drain (even with screen over the bottom drain), getting into the pvc and clogging it. That was a huge fix for us. Slightly larger river rock worked better for us. Many do not bother with rock inside the pond... eventually it all gets a pretty coat of algae for the fish to munch on : )

Since koi get 2-3 feet long, and require a depth of at least 4 feet and 500-1000 gal per fish - cost for pond + equipment is going to be substantially more than for goldfish (which get only 10-12 inches)