Residential stormwater drainage systems cost between $2,000 and $30,000, with most homeowners spending somewhere in the $3,000 to $10,000 range for a standard setup. The final price depends heavily on what type of system you need, how much of your yard is involved, and whether the project requires significant excavation.
That’s a wide range, so the most useful way to understand what you’ll actually pay is to break it down by the type of solution your property needs.
Basic Systems: $2,000 to $10,000
For most residential drainage problems, a basic system solves the issue. This category includes French drains, dry wells, rain gardens, and simple re-grading. If water pools in your yard after storms or collects near your foundation, one of these is likely what a contractor will recommend.
A French drain is the most common fix. It’s a gravel-filled trench with a perforated pipe that redirects water away from problem areas. Professional installation runs $10 to $65 per linear foot, meaning a 100-foot drain typically costs $1,000 to $6,500 including materials, labor, and excavation. Shorter runs along a foundation wall come in at the lower end, while longer drains that cross a yard or require deeper trenching push toward the higher end.
A dry well collects runoff and lets it slowly absorb into the surrounding soil. Installation averages about $3,100, with most projects falling between $1,300 and $5,200. The material matters: a simple gravel pit costs as little as $50 to $250 for materials, a plastic dry well runs $90 to $650, and a concrete one can reach $4,500 or more. Add in the labor to dig, run connecting pipes, and backfill, and you’re looking at a complete installed cost starting around $1,300 for a small gravel setup.
Medium-sized dry wells (250 to 500 gallons of capacity) hit the sweet spot for most residential properties, costing $1,200 to $4,400 installed.
Yard Grading and Surface Drainage
Sometimes the cheapest fix is reshaping the ground itself. If your yard slopes toward your house instead of away from it, re-grading can solve the problem without installing any pipes or drains at all.
Regrading around a foundation for drainage issues typically costs $835 to $3,000. A broader yard re-leveling project runs $650 to $3,600, depending on the area involved. Per square foot, expect to pay $0.08 to $2.00, with an average around $1.40. Fine grading (smoothing and finishing) sits at the lower end of that range, while rough grading that involves moving significant amounts of soil or reshaping slopes costs $1.00 to $2.00 per square foot.
More complex contouring, where a contractor reshapes multiple areas of your yard to direct water along a specific path, can run up to about $6,900.
Advanced Systems: $10,000 to $30,000+
Larger properties, severe drainage problems, or projects that combine multiple solutions push into the $10,000 to $30,000 range. This tier includes underground storage tanks, permeable paving, and whole-property drainage networks with multiple catch basins connected by buried pipe.
Permeable pavers, which let rainwater soak through your driveway or patio instead of running off, cost roughly $9 to $15 per square foot. That’s about double the price of traditional asphalt, though they tend to last twice as long. For a 500-square-foot driveway, you’re looking at $4,500 to $7,500 just for the surface, before any subsurface drainage work.
Catch basins, the grated boxes that collect water at low points in your yard, cost $50 to $500 each for the unit itself, with installed costs of $600 to $2,000 per basin once you factor in labor, excavation, and connecting pipes. A system with three or four catch basins tied into a main drainage line adds up quickly.
What Drives the Price Up
Three factors account for most of the price variation between projects.
- Excavation depth and difficulty. Digging is the most labor-intensive part of any drainage project. Equipment operators charge $100 to $300 per hour depending on the machinery involved. Rocky soil, tree roots, or limited access for equipment all increase costs. A shallow French drain in sandy soil is a very different job than a deep trench through clay next to a mature tree.
- Length of pipe runs. Labor for pipe and trench work runs $5 to $13 per linear foot on top of materials. A short 30-foot drain from a downspout to a dry well is far cheaper than a 150-foot system that crosses your entire backyard.
- Number of components. Each catch basin, connector, and fitting adds cost. Fittings run $2 to $10 each, but a complex system with multiple inlets, direction changes, and outlets can require dozens of them. The labor to connect everything adds up faster than the parts themselves.
Permits and Regulations
Many municipalities require permits for drainage work, especially if you’re altering how water flows off your property (since redirecting it can affect your neighbors). Permit fees for residential projects are generally modest. As a reference point, construction stormwater permits in Ohio run $200 to $500 depending on the area disturbed, and most residential jobs fall at the low end of that scale. Your local building department can tell you what’s required before you start.
Some areas also have stormwater utility fees, which are ongoing charges on your water bill based on how much impervious surface (rooftops, driveways, patios) your property has. Installing drainage improvements like permeable pavers or rain gardens can sometimes qualify you for credits that reduce these fees.
DIY vs. Professional Installation
A basic French drain is one of the more feasible DIY drainage projects. Materials alone (perforated pipe, gravel, geotextile fabric) run about $0.50 to $1.00 per linear foot for the fabric, plus $3 to $8 per foot for pipe and gravel. The real cost is the physical labor of digging a trench, which is significant. For a short run of 20 to 40 feet, a handy homeowner with a rented trencher can save hundreds to a few thousand dollars.
Anything involving re-grading near a foundation, connecting to municipal storm drains, or installing underground storage is best left to professionals. Mistakes with grading can direct water toward your house instead of away from it, turning a drainage problem into a foundation problem.
How to Get an Accurate Estimate
The wide cost ranges exist because every property is different. To narrow things down for your situation, get at least three quotes from drainage contractors. A good contractor will assess the slope of your yard, identify where water enters and exits, check your soil type (clay drains slowly, sand drains fast), and recommend a system sized for your typical rainfall.
Ask each contractor to itemize their quote so you can compare the cost of materials, labor, and equipment separately. A quote that simply says “$8,000 for drainage” gives you no way to evaluate whether the price is fair or compare it meaningfully to another bid. You want to see how many linear feet of drain, how many catch basins, and what depth of excavation they’re planning.