Marvel-Works

Standing water has somewhere to go. We build the path.

French drains, catch basins, and regrading designed for flat Houston clay — so water leaves your yard instead of pooling against your slab.

Get a free on-site estimate

Houston is one of the hardest places in the country to keep a yard dry. The soil is flat, heavy clay that barely absorbs water and swells when it’s wet. Most lots are graded nearly level, so runoff has no slope to follow. And the rain comes in volume. Put those together and water pools against the foundation, drowns the grass, and erodes your beds.

Drainage isn’t a product you buy — it’s a path you build. Every lot moves water differently, and the only way to solve it is to find where the water goes, establish a continuous slope, and pipe it to an outlet that can actually take it. That’s the work: not selling you a drain, but moving the water.

We’re an NDS Certified Contractor, trained and credentialed by the manufacturer of the drainage systems we install — so the French drains, channel drains, and catch basins on your lot are spec’d and installed to the manufacturer’s standard, not improvised.

On Houston’s expansive clay, keeping water off the slab is also foundation protection. If you’re already seeing movement, drainage pairs with the structural work we do on additions and foundation repair.

What drainage work involves

Every line below shows up as a discrete item in your scope and quote — we don’t bundle. You see what’s surface drainage, what’s subsurface, and what’s regrading.

French drains
perforated pipe in washed gravel and filter fabric — pulls water out of saturated soil
Area & channel drains
surface inlets at patios, driveways, and low spots, piped to a catch basin
Catch basins
collection boxes that trap silt and debris before it reaches the pipe
Surface regrading
re-establishing slope so water runs away from the house, not toward it
Downspout extensions
gutters tied into buried pipe and carried clear of the foundation
Sump pumps
for low spots with no gravity outlet — basin and pump sized to the flow
Foundation perimeter drainage
keeping water off the slab on Houston's expansive clay
Outlet & daylight tie-ins
a legal, safe discharge point — never dumped on a neighbor

Most lots that flood need a combination — surface drains for the visible puddles, a French drain for the water you can’t see, and regrading to give all of it a reason to move.

Process

  1. 1

    On-site visit (about 45 minutes, free)

    We walk the lot, find the low spots, check the grade away from the house, look at where your downspouts dump, and — most important — confirm where the water can legally go. Drainage design is all about the outlet; everything else follows from it.
  2. 2

    Design & scope

    We map the drain runs, slopes, catch-basin locations, and the outlet. You get a written scope that shows what's surface drainage, what's subsurface (French drain), and what's regrading, each as its own line item.
  3. 3

    Layout & trenching

    Drain lines are laid out and trenched to a consistent fall — pipe has to slope continuously to the outlet or it silts up and stops working. We locate utilities before any digging starts.
  4. 4

    Drain installation

    French drains built with washed gravel and filter fabric so fines don't clog the pipe; catch basins and channel drains set to grade; downspouts tied in and extended away from the slab.
  5. 5

    Regrading & outlet

    Surface regraded to pitch water away from the foundation and toward the drains, and the system daylighted or tied into its outlet. Sump basin and pump added only where the grade leaves no gravity option.
  6. 6

    Backfill, restore & test

    Trenches backfilled and compacted, sod or beds restored, and the whole system flow-tested with a hose so you see the water move before we leave. You sign off on a working system, not a hopeful one.

Timeline & Investment

  • Targeted drainage (area drains, catch basins, downspouts)
    2 to 4 days
    $2,500 to $8,000
  • French drain system
    3 to 6 days
    $4,500 to $15,000
  • Full-yard drainage + regrading
    1 to 2 weeks
    $12,000 to $30,000+

Drainage pricing depends entirely on the lot — length of runs, depth, and whether a sump pump is needed where there’s no gravity outlet. We give you a real number after we walk the property. No “from $9,999!” pricing on work this site-specific.

For the technical homeowner

The standards our crews work to on every drainage job — grounded in our NDS certification and the details that decide whether a system keeps working five years from now or silts up and quits.

Standards we hold our crews to on drainage

Grading & slope

  • Minimum fall maintained continuously to the outlet — pipe that runs flat silts up and stops draining
  • Surface graded to pitch water away from the foundation, a minimum drop over the first several feet from the slab
  • Finished grade re-established so the lot sheds toward the drains, not toward the house

French drains

  • Perforated pipe bedded in washed, angular gravel — not pea gravel, which packs and clogs
  • Trench and gravel fully wrapped in non-woven filter fabric so soil fines can’t migrate into the stone and blind the drain
  • Cleanouts placed so the line can be flushed without excavation

Surface collection

  • Catch basins set true to grade and sized to trap silt and debris before the pipe
  • Solid (non-perforated) pipe on collection runs so collected water stays in the pipe to the outlet
  • Downspouts tied in and carried well clear of the foundation, not just splash-blocked

Outlet

  • A legal, viable outlet confirmed before design — daylight, curb/street, or storm tie-in where allowed
  • No discharge directed onto a neighboring property
  • Sump basin and pump specified only where grade leaves no gravity option, sized to the expected flow

Sign-off

  • System flow-tested with water before backfill is closed out — you watch it work before we leave

Frequently asked questions

How much does drainage work cost in Houston?
Targeted fixes — area drains, channel drains, catch basins, and downspout extensions — run $2,500 to $8,000. A French drain system runs $4,500 to $15,000 depending on length and depth. A full-yard solution that combines regrading with French drains and catch basins runs $12,000 to $30,000 and up. We give you a real number after we walk the lot and see where the water actually goes.
Why does my Houston yard hold water?
Two reasons, usually both at once. Houston sits on flat, heavy clay that drains slowly and swells when it's wet, so water has nowhere to go and the ground can't absorb it. And most lots are graded close to flat, so there's no slope to carry runoff away from the house. Add the rainfall totals we get and water pools against the slab, kills grass, and erodes beds. The fix is almost always a combination of regrading to establish slope and piped drainage to move water to a safe outlet.
What's the difference between a French drain and a surface drain?
A surface drain (an area drain or channel drain feeding a catch basin) collects water that's already pooling on top of the ground — low spots, patios, driveways. A French drain is a perforated pipe in a gravel-filled trench wrapped in filter fabric; it pulls water out of saturated soil before it surfaces, which is what you want along a foundation or in a chronically soggy yard. Most lots that flood need both: surface drains for the obvious puddles, a French drain for the water you can't see.
Will drainage work protect my foundation?
That's the main reason to do it. Houston's expansive clay shrinks in drought and swells when it's saturated, and that movement is what cracks slabs and shifts piers. Keeping water from pooling against the foundation — through regrading, downspout extensions, and a perimeter French drain — keeps the soil moisture more stable and takes a major stress off the slab. If you're already dealing with foundation movement, it pairs with the structural work we do on room additions and repairs.
Where does the water actually go?
To a legal, safe outlet — never just dumped at the property line onto a neighbor. Depending on the lot, that's daylight to a downhill area, a tie-in to the street or a curb, or a storm system where one's available. Part of the on-site visit is confirming a viable outlet exists before we design anything; a drain with nowhere to drain is just a buried pipe.
Do I need a sump pump?
Only when gravity can't do the job — a low backyard with no downhill outlet, or a spot that sits below the drainage point. In those cases a sump basin collects the water and a pump lifts it to where it can drain. Most Houston lots can be solved with gravity-fed pipe and proper slope, which is always cheaper and lower-maintenance, so we only spec a pump when the grade genuinely requires it.

Service areas

We solve drainage across The Woodlands, Spring, Magnolia, Conroe, Montgomery, Tomball, Cypress, Sugar Land, Pearland, and the rest of greater Houston.

  • The Woodlands, TX
  • Magnolia, TX
  • Spring, TX
  • Conroe, TX
  • Montgomery, TX
  • Tomball, TX
  • Cypress, TX
  • Sugar Land, TX
  • Pearland, TX
  • Houston, TX

Related work

Concrete Patios

Slabs built with proper sub-base, reinforcement, and a drainage slope — so the new patio sheds water instead of trapping it.

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Covered Patios

Patio covers and pergolas with footings and roof runoff planned into your yard's drainage.

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Room Additions

Engineered foundations and foundation repair on Houston's expansive clay — where drainage and structure meet.

Learn more →

Schedule an on-site visit.

We'll walk the lot, find where the water goes, and give you a written scope and a real number — no pressure, no upsell.

Get a free estimateCall 832-390-8685

Free in-home estimates in The Woodlands area. For projects outside that area, a travel fee applies.