Houston is flat and it rains hard. That combination is why yard drainage here is rarely about digging one trench — gravity is free, but when a site is too flat to carry water to an outfall on its own, a lift station and pump become part of the job, and that is a different scope than a gravity-fed system.
Open swales, a swale-and-pipe combination, an underground system, or an underground system with a lift station are four different jobs with four different costs on the same size lot. Which one a property needs is decided by where the water actually goes, not by the size of the yard.
On established Houston lots the constraint is usually access and the property line. Tight side yards, a neighbour who has to sign off on where water leaves, and how much disturbed ground needs seed or sod afterward all move the number beyond the pipe and dirt itself.
What this covers in Houston
- French drains and channel drains, priced by the linear foot
- Catch basins, area drains, and inlet boxes where water collects
- Regrading and swales to move water without pipe where the fall allows
- Underground systems with lift stations on sites too flat for gravity
- Downspout tie-ins and foundation perimeter drainage
How the work runs in Houston
Find where the water actually goes
We watch the fall across the property and locate the outfall — a ditch, a storm inlet, or daylight at a low corner. Everything upstream depends on where water is allowed to leave.
Choose the method the site allows
Open swale, swale and pipe, a full underground system, or an underground system with a lift station are four different jobs at four different costs on the same size lot.
Install at real slope
Pipe is bedded and laid to a working fall with clean-outs. Flexible hose buried shallow crushes and blocks within a season, which is why we do not use it.
Test it with water, then restore
The system is run before the trench is closed, and disturbed ground gets seed or sod so it does not become the next erosion problem.
Yard & Property Drainage in Houston — common questions
- Why does water stand in my Houston yard?
- Almost always one of three things: the ground has no fall toward an outfall, the soil is heavy clay that will not take water quickly, or the water arriving from uphill is more than the yard can move. The fix is different for each, which is why we look at where the water actually goes before quoting a solution.
- What does a French drain actually do?
- It intercepts water moving through the soil, not just water standing on top of it. A perforated pipe in a gravel-filled trench collects that water and carries it to a discharge point. It only works if it is bedded at a real slope and tied to an outfall that is legally and physically able to take the flow.
- How much does yard drainage cost?
- Pipe, French drains, and channel drains price by the linear foot; catch basins, area drains, and inlet boxes price by the structure. The bigger factor is which method the site needs: an open swale, swale-and-pipe, a full underground system, or an underground system with a lift station are four different costs on the same size lot.
- Will this fix water against my foundation?
- That is usually the priority, and it is normally two jobs together: regrading so the surface falls away from the slab, and perimeter drainage so water in the soil is intercepted before it reaches it. Ground that stays saturated against a foundation is what turns a drainage nuisance into a much more expensive problem.
Areas we serve around Houston
Bellaire · Memorial · Spring Branch · Katy · Cypress · Humble · Pearland · Sugar Land
