If your yard holds water for days after a storm, your side yard is a swamp, or water sits against the foundation, the fix is grading and drainage — not more sod. Mobile and Baldwin County get a lot of rain on ground that is often flat or clay-heavy, and a lot of lots were never graded to move it.
We start with where the water comes from and where it can go. Sometimes that is regrading so the lawn falls away from the house. Sometimes it is a French drain — a gravel trench with perforated pipe wrapped in fabric — running to daylight or a dry well. Downspouts that dump next to the foundation get piped away. Low spots get a catch basin.
Because we also lay sod and build beds, the yard is put back properly after the digging instead of being left as a trench line.
What’s included
A site visit after rain if possible, to see where the water actually sits
Utility locates through Alabama 811 before any digging
Regrading so the ground falls away from the house
French drains: trench, fabric, gravel, and perforated pipe to an outlet
Downspout extensions piped underground to daylight or a dry well
Catch basins in low spots that cannot be graded out
Sod and beds repaired or replaced after the work
What the price depends on
We do not publish a rate for this, because a number with no yard attached to it is a guess. These are the things that actually move it:
How much water there is, where it comes from, and where it can legally be sent
Trench length and depth
Whether it is a French drain, downspout lines, catch basins, regrading, or several together
What the pipe has to cross on the way out: lawn, driveway, or existing hardscape
Whether the lawn gets rebuilt over the top afterwards
We measure all of it on site. The written quote comes back with the scope, the materials and one price for the whole job, so you are comparing a number to a number rather than one guess to another.
After
Questions about this work
Will a French drain fix water against my foundation?
Often, but the first fix is usually grading and downspouts: if the ground slopes toward the house or the gutters dump right beside it, no drain will keep up. We look at all three and quote what the yard actually needs.
Where does the water go?
To the lowest point we can legally and practically reach: the street, a ditch, a swale, or a dry well on the property. The outlet is decided at the site visit, because a drain with nowhere to empty is just a long puddle.
Do I have to redo the whole lawn afterward?
No. A French drain is a trench, not a field. We backfill, top with soil, and patch the sod over the line, so within a season you cannot see where it went.
Free site visit, written quote
Thinking about french drains & yard grading?
A sentence or two is enough. We come out, walk the property with you, and follow up with one written quote for the whole job.
Call or send the form. Tell us what you are picturing and where the property is. We come back to you within one business day.
We walk the property. We look at the ground, the drainage, the sun and shade, and what is already there, and talk through options and budget.
One written quote. One scope and one price for the whole job — lawn, hardscape, drainage, fence — in the order it should be built.
We build it. One crew from the first dig to the last light, with a call if anything changes along the way.
