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Pond & Excavation Work
Real iron on real central-Illinois jobs.
Build a new fishing, swimming, or farm pond — plus pond cleanout, dredging, dam repair and restoration. An owner who's actually on the job, real iron, and a straight price. Mattoon, Charleston & the 60-mile radius.
📞 Call (217) 809-0779 Free EstimateA pond that holds water is earthwork plus a dam — and both have to be right, or the whole thing fails the first wet spring. We build new ponds, fix old ones, and pull the silt back out when they go shallow. One owner, one machine, one straight answer.
Brohez Trucking LLC is a Mattoon-based pond builder. We dig new fishing ponds, swimming ponds, and farm ponds from scratch — read the lay of the land and the watershed feeding it, shape the basin to real depth, and build the dam in compacted clay lifts so it holds. When an old pond silts in, weeds over, or starts losing water, we handle pond cleanout, dredging, dam repair, and full pond restoration to bring it back to the depth it was built for.
The difference here is simple: you get an owner who's actually on the job, not a salesman who hands it off to a crew you never met. Real local guy, real iron — a Komatsu excavator and a Cat D6N dozer — and a price you can read line by line. We move the earth for you, and we leave the dirt locked in so the next big rain doesn't undo the work.
Most folks who search for "pond dredging" actually need an excavator-based cleanout on a drawn-down pond, and that's exactly what we do. We do not do full-basin hydraulic dredging on a pond that stays full of water — if that's truly what you need, we'll point you to a dredging-specific contractor.
From a brand-new fishing pond to bringing an old farm pond back to life.
Build a pond from scratch — fishing, swimming, livestock, or irrigation. We size, shape, and key the dam in for real depth that lasts decades, not seasons.
Recreation ponds dug deep enough — at least 8 feet at the deepest point — so fish don't winterkill and the water stays clean instead of growing over with weeds.
Livestock water, irrigation source, and wildlife habitat. Sized to your land and your watershed, built to hold through a dry central-Illinois summer.
Silt and muck removal on a drawn-down pond to restore lost depth, plus fallen-tree and debris cleanout. The cleanout most folks mean when they say "dredging."
Leaking, slumping dams re-keyed and rebuilt in compacted clay. Failing spillways, clogged outlets, and worn inlet pipes reworked so water comes and goes the way it should.
Bring a silted-in, weedy, or shrinking pond back to life — depth restored, dam fixed, inlet and outlet reworked, shoreline reshaped. Old pond, new life.
Eroded or caved banks re-cut to a clean, stable edge. Slopes shaped, topsoil returned, and seeded so the pond looks finished, not like a job site.
Brush, trees, and timber cleared off the spot before the dig so the basin and dam go in clean. Land clearing and the pond, handled by one outfit.
Whether it's a new fishing pond or a farm-pond cleanout, the steps don't change much.
We look at the lay of the land, the watershed feeding it, the soil, and the access. Honest go/no-go and rough size before any paper comes out. Free estimate.
Stake the perimeter and the dam. Set elevations for the dam top, the spillway, and the deepest pool, and confirm overflow goes somewhere safe.
Topsoil and any brush or trees come off and get stockpiled. The good topsoil goes back on the slopes at the end.
The Komatsu excavator works the basin to real depth. Good clay goes into the dam; bad material gets hauled or stockpiled out of the way.
Compacted clay lifts, properly keyed in, with a pipe or vegetated spillway sized to the watershed. This is the load-bearing part — we don't shortcut it.
Smooth the basin, shape the shoreline, return the topsoil, place riprap where erosion is a risk, seed the slopes. From there it's between you and the next rain.
A pond is a real, custom earthmoving project — not an off-the-shelf number. What it takes to build yours comes down to your land, not a price list. Here's what actually moves the work up or down:
A small farm pond and a multi-acre rec pond are different jobs. More surface and more depth means more dirt to move and more dam to build.
Good clay holds water and keys a dam tight. Sandy stringers or a high water table mean test pits, extra work, and sometimes a liner to make it hold.
An open spot near the road is quick. A tight, wet, or far-back site — and how far spoil has to be hauled — adds equipment time.
Brush, trees, and timber on the spot have to come off before the dig. A clear field is less work than a wooded draw.
The dam is the load-bearing part. Compacted clay lifts, a keyed core, and a spillway sized to the watershed are where a pond is made or lost.
Shaping the shoreline, returning topsoil, riprap where erosion is a risk, grading and seeding the slopes so it looks finished, not like a job site.
Every pond is different — that's why we walk your land and give you a straight number, free. See what goes into the cost of a pond, or call (217) 809-0779.
Plenty of outfits will quote your pond. Here's what makes building one with Brohez Trucking different.
Levi runs the machine and answers the phone. The man who quotes your pond is the man who digs it — no handoff to a crew you never met.
Mattoon-based, family-owned, working a 60-mile radius. We know Coles County soils, the moraine, and where the clay turns to outwash sand.
A solid 5-star reputation across central Illinois — fair price, hard work, and no surprises. Read them at our reviews page.
A Komatsu excavator and a Cat D6N dozer that show up running. See the full equipment lineup.
Full liability and equipment coverage. Certificate of insurance available on request, before any work starts.
An itemized quote you can read line by line — equipment hours, volume moved, materials, permits. No mystery line items, no high-pressure close.
Real iron on real central-Illinois jobs.
It depends on size, depth, soil type, water source, and how easy the spot is to reach with equipment. A small half-acre farm pond is a different job than a multi-acre fishing or swimming pond. The only honest way to a real number is a walk on your land — that's what the free estimate is for. Call (217) 809-0779.
Most small farm and fishing ponds run one to three weeks of equipment time when the weather cooperates. Bigger ponds, wet ground, or a lot of land clearing add time. A pond cleanout on a drawn-down pond is usually quicker — a few days to a week. We give you a real timeline at the estimate.
Late spring through early fall is the sweet spot. The ground is drier, the clay compacts better in the dam, and we can shape and seed the slopes before winter. Winter is good for planning, layout, and permits so you're ready to dig the moment the ground firms up.
Most rural farm and residential ponds in Coles County and the surrounding counties don't trigger an IL DNR dam permit, and they usually fall under the Clean Water Act farm-pond exemption. If ground disturbance tops one acre, an IL EPA NPDES filing is required. We tell you exactly what your job needs before any dirt moves.
If the basin and dam are sound and the pond has just silted in or grown shallow, a cleanout or dredging job restores depth for far less than a new build. If the dam leaks badly, the spot was never right, or you want it bigger or in a better spot, a new pond makes more sense. We walk it and tell you straight which way pays off. See our pond cleanout & restoration page for more.
We're a Mattoon-based pond builder serving a 60-mile radius across central Illinois — Charleston, Mattoon, Effingham, Decatur, Champaign, Urbana, Sullivan, Tuscola, Shelbyville, Pana, and Terre Haute, plus everywhere in between. Call to confirm if you're near the edge of the radius.
Brohez Trucking LLC builds and restores ponds across a 60-mile radius from Mattoon, IL — into Coles, Cumberland, Douglas, Shelby, Moultrie, Effingham, Edgar, Clark, Champaign, and Macon counties, plus over the line into Vigo County, Indiana. Pick your town below for local details, or call (217) 809-0779 for a free estimate anywhere in the radius.
Walk it with us. We'll tell you what's reasonable for the spot and what it'll take — new pond or cleanout. We move the earth for you.
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