Honest Hill Country ranges for bioswales, French drains, and regrading — and the reason about a third of properties need less than they were quoted. The first Site Read is free.
Drainage is the one landscape problem people are scared to price, because the number swings wildly and nobody will commit to one. Here's the honest version.
Cost is driven by three things: linear feet, dig depth, and access. A small bioswale on a flat lot near street access is a different project than a 60-foot French drain through a side yard with no machine access. But the ranges below hold for most Hill Country residential work.
By the linear foot: a planted bioswale runs about $30–$60 per foot; a French drain runs about $50–$120 per foot. That gap is most of why we don't default to French drains.
About a third of the properties we read don't need trenching at all. The fix turns out to be a regrade of one corner, downspout extensions, or a mulched depression nobody had called a rain garden. Most contractors quote a French drain by default because it's the answer they know — but it's overbuilt for roughly 70% of the residential drainage problems we see in the Hill Country.
That's the whole reason the Site Read is free and read-first: you find out you need less before you spend on more.
We walk the storm path on your property and write the diagnosis and price range in 48 hours. No charge — the first Site Read is free.
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