Detention and retention pond construction that controls stormwater and meets site requirements.
Detention ponds across San Marcos, from Blanco Gardens to Willow Creek to the active-adult sections of Kissing Tree, do one job: hold stormwater back long enough that it does not overwhelm the creeks and the river system this town sits on. San Marcos is built on spring-fed ground, and that changes how seriously a board or property manager has to take a basin that is not draining the way it was designed to. When a pond here fails to do its job, the water has somewhere very specific and very sensitive to go.
The ground is the first issue. Thin upland soils erode fast once grass cover thins out on a slope, and we regularly find bare, rilled embankments on basins that are barely a few years old. The second issue is rainfall pattern: Hill Country storms tend to dump hard and fast rather than soak in steadily, which means forebays here silt in faster than a basin's original design probably assumed. We also see volunteer trees taking root in embankments at older properties, and outlet structures clogged with sediment and debris after a dry stretch lets everything collect before one big rain moves it all at once.
Working with Corral Bros on this starts with a straightforward site walk, not a sales pitch. We tell a property manager or board what we are seeing in plain terms, whether that is excavation and regrading, inlet or outlet repair, riprap and slope stabilization, or a full detention or retention basin rebuild. We do the work to the original site plan or alongside your engineer if the scope calls for it, and we schedule around tenants, residents, and active parking so the property keeps functioning while we work.
We're a local, family-built company that treats your San Marcos property like our own, tidy crews, clear pricing, and detention ponds that holds up to Hays County conditions. Available as a one-time project or part of an ongoing plan.
A detention pond temporarily holds stormwater runoff and releases it slowly, so a developed site doesn't flood downstream neighbors or overwhelm storm drains. Most Central Texas commercial sites, subdivisions and larger developments are required to have detention as part of their drainage permit.
A detention pond drains down to empty between storms and is dry most of the time, while a retention pond holds a permanent pool of water. We build and maintain both, choosing the right one based on your site's soils, drainage requirements and available space.
We walk the basin with whoever is responsible for the property, whether that is a board member, a property manager, or the GC closing out a site. We look at the inlet, the forebay, the outlet structure, and the slopes, and we note what is holding water that should not be, what has eroded, and what is growing where it should not be. Estimates are free and usually scheduled within 48 hours, and we will work off the original site plan or alongside your engineer if changes are needed.
It depends on the basin's age and what is upstream of it, but most ponds in developments around Willow Creek or Kissing Tree need real attention every few years, not just mowing. Thin upland soils here wash fine sediment into forebays fast, and a pond that looked fine at handover from the developer can silt in within a few seasons. If drawdown after a storm is visibly slower than it used to be, that is usually the trigger to call.
We schedule excavation and grading work to keep access lanes and resident or tenant parking open as much as the site allows, and we coordinate timing with property management ahead of equipment moving in. Most detention basins sit at the edge of a property away from units or storefronts, so the disruption is usually limited to noise and a staged area near the pond itself, not blocked entries.
Spring-fed riverland and thin upland soils mean two things show up constantly: slopes that erode fast once vegetation is gone, and forebays that silt in quicker than the original design probably accounted for. Add Hill Country rainfall that tends to come in hard, short bursts rather than steady soaking rain, and you get basins that either hold water too long or blow out an outlet structure that was undersized for how this area actually behaves.
The biggest factors are how much sediment has to come out of the basin, how much slope stabilization or riprap is needed, and whether outlet or spillway structures need rebuilding versus just clearing. A basin with volunteer trees rooted into an embankment or a blocked outlet pipe costs more to put right than one that just needs regrading and a liner check. We will walk you through what we find before any work starts.
Free, no-pressure estimate from a local crew. Call (737) 404-9343 or request a quote online.
