French Drain Installation done right, the first time.

If water is pooling against your foundation before it ever reaches the basement, the fix is outside, not inside.

Why it happens

A lot of water problems start in the yard, not the basement. Flat lots, clay soil that doesn't absorb water quickly, and grading that's settled toward the house over the years all send rainwater straight toward the foundation instead of away from it — which is exactly the kind of terrain a lot of Central Indiana neighborhoods sit on. A French drain intercepts that water at the surface or just below it, before it ever has the chance to build pressure against your foundation wall. The system is straightforward in concept but matters a lot in the execution: a trench sloped consistently toward a discharge point, a perforated pipe wrapped in filter fabric to resist clogging, and gravel backfill that lets water reach the pipe quickly instead of pooling on the surface. Get the slope wrong by even a small margin and the whole system underperforms, which is the most common reason a French drain installed by someone unfamiliar with grading fails to solve the problem it was meant to fix.

Warning signs

Signs it's time to call, not wait.

Standing water in the yard near the foundation more than a day after rain

Soil that's visibly saturated or spongy along one side of the house

A downspout that empties right next to the foundation instead of away from it

Water pooling in a specific low spot in the yard every time it rains

A basement or crawl space that stays dry inside but the yard around it never does

Erosion or mulch washing away from garden beds along the foundation line

How we fix it

The right method for your specific situation.

We don't sell one product for every job. The inspection determines which of these applies — sometimes more than one.

Surface (Curtain) Drain

A shallower drain positioned to intercept surface runoff before it reaches the foundation — often the right call for yard-level pooling that hasn't yet become a basement issue.

Perimeter Footing-Level Drain

Installed deeper, along the foundation footing, to relieve hydrostatic pressure directly at the source — typically paired with exterior waterproofing work.

Downspout & Gutter Extension Tie-In

Routing roof runoff directly into the drain system rather than letting it discharge at the foundation, which is one of the single most common contributors to wet basements.

Daylight or Sump Discharge

Water is routed either to a daylight outlet well downhill from the house, or into the same sump system serving the basement, depending on the yard's grade.

What it costs

$1,200–$6,500 Typical range

French drains typically run $50–$100+ per linear foot installed depending on depth and yard access. A standard perimeter section runs $1,500–$4,500; larger whole-yard systems run higher. Every quote is written and specific to your home — not a phone estimate.

Questions

About french drains, answered honestly.

Regrading changes the slope of the soil surface; a French drain actively captures and redirects water below or at the surface. Often the best fix combines both — correcting grade near the house and adding a drain for the water that still needs somewhere to go.

It reduces the water reaching your foundation, which helps significantly, but if water is already getting into a finished or finishable basement, we'll usually recommend pairing it with interior drainage rather than relying on the exterior fix alone.

Either to a daylight discharge point well away from the house on a sloped lot, or tied into a sump pump system where the lot is flat — we determine which based on your yard's actual grade.

There's a trench involved, so yes, temporarily — but we backfill and restore the area, and most of the disruption is limited to a narrow line along the drain path rather than the whole yard.

Request Your Free French Drains Inspection

We'll call to confirm a time \u2014 usually within one business day.