The water comes back every storm. So does the guy who never finished.

Standing water and a wet basement are a grading and discharge problem before they are a French drain problem. We diagnose where the water actually goes, price the fix as one fixed number, and finish the scope we signed.

French Drain Installation in Edwardsville, IL

Direct answer: A French drain installation is bought on price and lost on trench width. Two crews can quote the same linear footage and build completely different systems — one a full-width trench of washed stone around rigid perforated pipe, the other a narrow slot with a pre-socked corrugated tube dropped in. Both look identical once backfilled. Only one is still moving water in ten years.

What a proper French drain installation includes

The trench is the product. It has to be wide enough to hold a real volume of washed, open-graded stone around the pipe, deep enough to intercept the water you are actually chasing, and pitched continuously to a discharge point that stays clear. The pipe is the cheapest component and the one homeowners ask about most.

Rigid perforated pipe is preferred over corrugated because it holds its shape under backfill and can be jetted for the life of the system. Contractors film narrow single-pipe trenches as cautionary examples for a reason: cutting the trench width is invisible on the quote and decisive on the outcome.

Where the drain discharges decides whether it works

Water has to leave somewhere lower than where it entered. A drain that runs to a discharge point at or above the water it collects is a buried holding tank. Daylighting to a lower grade is the cleanest answer; where the lot has no fall, the run has to terminate at a pit and a pump, which is a different job and a different price.

Anything that changes flow near a property line can bring the municipality into it, and in Illinois a JULIE utility locate is required at least 48 hours before digging. A contractor who folds both into scheduling is not padding the timeline, they are avoiding the two things that actually stop a job mid-trench.

French drain installation cost by scope

Scope	Cost range	Timeline
Yard run, daylight discharge	$40 – $75 per linear foot	1 – 3 days
Foundation perimeter run	$55 – $95 per linear foot	3 – 5 days
Run terminating at pit and pump	add $900 – $2,400	+1 day
Restoration: sod, beds, hardscape	quoted separately	varies

Edwardsville and Madison County. Clay adds labour hours; hand-digging around located utilities adds more.

Questions that separate two installation quotes

Ask for trench width, trench depth, stone type and volume, pipe type, and the exact discharge point, as separate lines. A quote that says only linear feet and a total is not comparable to anything, and it is the format that lets a cheaper build hide inside a similar-looking number.

Ask what happens if the drain does not move water after the first heavy rain. The answer to that question, in writing, is worth more than a percentage off the price.

French drain installation questions

How much does French drain installation cost?

In the Edwardsville area a yard run with a daylight discharge typically runs $40 to $75 per linear foot, and a foundation perimeter run $55 to $95 per linear foot. Terminating at a pit and pump instead of daylight adds roughly $900 to $2,400. Clay soil, tight access, and hand-digging around utilities push all of these upward.

How deep should a French drain be installed?

Deep enough to intercept the water you are targeting, which is a different depth for surface runoff than for water reaching a footing. Surface interception can work at 18 to 24 inches; foundation work generally goes to the footing. A drain a few inches under the sod is a decorative trench, and depth is one of the specifications worth having stated on the quote.

Rigid or corrugated pipe for a French drain?

Rigid perforated pipe is the more durable choice: it keeps its shape under backfill and can be jetted repeatedly over the life of the system. Corrugated pipe, especially pre-socked sections, is faster to install and harder to service once the sock silts up. The pipe is a small share of the cost, so saving on it rarely changes the quote much.

Do I need a permit or utility locate for a French drain?

Illinois requires a JULIE utility locate at least 48 hours before any digging, residential drainage included, and a licensed contractor normally handles it as part of scheduling. Municipal review can also apply when the work changes grade or flow near a property line, because that affects a neighbouring lot's drainage.

What we put in writing before anyone digs

Fixed-price written quote before we break ground. Trenching turns up surprises; the price does not move because of them unless you approve a change order in writing first.
Zero-obligation site visit. If the honest answer is that the water is doing what water should do and you do not need a drain, that is the answer you get, in writing, at no cost.
The diagnosis names where the water comes from before it names the product. Grading, downspout discharge, and the water table get checked first; a French drain is a conclusion, not an opening bid.
Full-width trench, wrapped stone, and rigid perforated pipe as standard. We do not install narrow single-pipe trenches or pre-socked corrugated sections, because those are the installs that fail in year three.
Itemized scope showing linear feet, trench depth, stone volume, and discharge point as separate lines. No lump-sum 'drainage work.'
A named discharge point on the plan, with the permit or easement dependency listed separately so you can see which clocks we do not control.
If the system does not move water after the first heavy rain, we come back and correct it at our cost, not yours.