Compare Scopes
Compare Six Yard Drainage Scopes
“Yard drainage” covers different physical decisions; the right scope depends on the water source, surface versus subsurface movement, elevations, and a lawful, workable outlet.
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The six scopes below are not interchangeable. Each one addresses a different physical question: whether the problem water moves across the surface or below it, how it is collected, and — the decision that usually governs everything — where the collected water can lawfully and workably go. Reading the comparison against your own symptoms narrows the field quickly, and a third-party provider confirms scope, availability, pricing, and terms for the specific property.
The six scopes at a glance
| Scope | What it moves | Typical symptom | How it collects | Needs an outlet? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| French drain | Subsurface water | Soggy strips that stay wet days after rain; seepage along a slope | Perforated pipe in aggregate, wrapped against soil | Yes — daylight, a drainage feature, or a pump |
| Grading & swales | Surface water | Water runs the wrong way or ponds in a low spot with bad grade | Reshaped ground and open shallow channels | Sometimes — a swale still needs somewhere to lead |
| Downspout drainage | Concentrated roof runoff | A downspout dumping a roof's worth of water at one corner | Solid (non-perforated) buried pipe from the downspout | Yes — a discharge point away from the house |
| Catch basins & channel drains | Surface water at a point or line | Pooling on a driveway, patio, or one persistent low spot | A grated box (point) or a slotted trench (line) | Yes — a buried line carrying it onward |
| Drainage repair | Whatever the failed system moved | An existing drain, basin, pipe, or pump no longer works | Restores or replaces the failed component | Depends on the original design |
| Pumped yard drainage | Collected water with no gravity route | Nowhere downhill to send water; a low lot or a walk-out below grade | A basin plus a pump that lifts water to a discharge line | Yes — power and a lawful discharge point |
One theme runs through the whole table: collection is only half a system. A trench, a swale, a basin, or a buried line all still have to deliver water somewhere it is allowed to go. The City of Huntsville treats runoff disputes between private properties as civil matters between owners, so a design that solves your yard by flooding a neighbor is a liability rather than a fix.[source]
Surface water: grading, swales, catch basins, downspouts
Grading and swales reshape the ground itself so surface water leaves instead of pooling. This is the first answer when elevations — not a buried problem — send water the wrong way.
Catch basins and channel drains collect surface water where it concentrates — a grated basin at a single low point, or a slotted channel across the mouth of a driveway — and hand it to a buried line.
Downspout drainage takes concentrated roof runoff and carries it underground in a solid pipe to a discharge point away from the foundation, rather than letting it spill at the corner of the house.
Subsurface water: French drains
French drain installation intercepts water that is in the ground — a perforated pipe in washed aggregate that gathers subsurface flow and routes it to an outlet. It is the wrong first answer for water sitting on top of the ground.
When gravity or the existing system runs out
Pumped yard drainage is the honest option when no viable gravity route to a lawful outlet exists. A basin collects the water and a pump lifts it to a discharge line — a design that depends on power and a maintenance plan.
Drainage system repair applies when a drain, basin, pipe, or exterior pump once worked and no longer does — a clog, a crushed line, a separated joint, or an outlet that has silted shut.
Which scope fits your symptoms
Match what you actually see to a starting point:
- Water pools on top of the ground in a low spot, and the grade is clearly bad — start with grading and swales. A buried pipe underneath a low spot with the wrong slope rarely fixes it.
- Water pools at a hard point — a driveway apron, a patio, one stubborn dip — look at catch basins and channel drains to collect it, then a line to carry it off.
- A downspout blasts water at the house corner and it sheets across the yard — a buried downspout line moves that concentrated roof water away before it spreads.
- The ground stays soggy days after rain, or a slope seeps — that is subsurface water, the territory of a French drain.
- There is nowhere downhill to send the water — the conversation turns to pumped drainage, not a longer trench.
- Something already installed stopped working — that is drainage repair, which starts by finding why the original design failed.
Most real yards are a combination — a downspout line feeding a swale, a catch basin tied to a buried outlet, regrading paired with a French drain along one wet edge. Describing what the ground does during and after rain, and where the water starts, travels, and collects, is worth more than naming a product. A provider designs from those observations.
Call to describe your symptoms and talk through the fit
For source-dated national cost figures by system type, see the Yard Drainage Cost by System Type reference; to request service, use the contact page, or go straight to any scope above.