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.

Storm Water Drainage Solutions in Edwardsville, IL

Direct answer: Storm water drainage solutions are what you reach for when the problem is volume rather than a single low spot: sheet flow arriving from uphill, a culvert that has silted shut, or a driveway sending its whole surface at one corner of the lot. These jobs are about capturing water at the right point and giving it a legal, permanent place to go — which is where the permitting and the property line start to matter.

Catch basins, culverts and other storm water drainage solutions

A catch basin is a grated box set at the low point of a run, connected to solid pipe that carries water away. It handles concentrated surface flow that a French drain would be overwhelmed by, and its sump traps sediment so the outfall pipe stays clear. Basins fail almost exclusively because nobody ever cleans that sump.

A culvert carries a ditch or swale under a driveway or a drive approach. When one silts up or crushes, water backs up and finds a new route, which is usually across someone's yard. Replacing or re-sizing a culvert is excavation work and frequently touches a right-of-way, which brings the municipality in.

Storm water work and cost

Work	Cost range	Timeline
Catch basin with solid outfall pipe	$1,400 – $3,600	1 – 2 days
Culvert replacement or re-size	$2,200 – $6,500	2 – 4 days
Swale cut and stabilised	$1,800 – $5,000	2 – 3 days
Excavation and haul-off, general	$1,200 – $4,000	varies

Edwardsville and Madison County. Work in a right-of-way or near a property line adds review time before it adds cost.

Where the water is allowed to go

This is the constraint that separates storm water work from ordinary yard drainage. You cannot solve a volume problem by moving it onto a neighbouring lot, and changes to grade or flow near a property line can require municipal review before work starts. A contractor who raises that before quoting is not slowing the job down.

Illinois also requires a JULIE utility locate at least 48 hours before any digging. On this class of work — deeper trenches, larger machines, right-of-way proximity — that requirement is doing real work rather than ticking a box.

Sizing the fix to the actual volume

The usual mistake is treating a volume problem as a soil problem. A French drain infiltrates and conveys modest flow; it is not a storm sewer, and a run sized for a wet corner will simply surcharge when a whole driveway drains into it.

Work out where the water enters the property, how much surface is feeding it, and where it can legally leave. Those three answers determine whether you need a basin, a culvert, a swale, or a combination — and they are worth establishing before any of them appears on a quote.

Storm water drainage solutions questions

What are the main storm water drainage solutions for a residential lot?

Catch basins for concentrated surface flow, culverts where water crosses under a drive, graded swales to route sheet flow safely across a property, and solid conveyance pipe to carry captured water to a legal discharge point. French drains and grading handle the smaller-volume problems; these are the tools for when volume rather than soil is the issue.

How often does a catch basin need cleaning?

Once or twice a year for most residential basins, more where there are heavy leaf drops or bare soil upstream. The sump below the outlet pipe exists to trap sediment, and it only protects the outfall while there is room left in it. A basin that has stopped draining is far more often full of silt than genuinely broken.

Can I redirect storm water onto the neighbouring property?

No, and that is the constraint that shapes most of this work. Changing grade or flow in a way that sends water onto an adjoining lot can trigger municipal review and creates real liability. Any legitimate design ends at a discharge point the property is entitled to use, which is why the discharge is settled before the excavation is priced.

Do I need a permit for storm water or culvert work?

Often, particularly for culverts and anything within a right-of-way or near a property line, because the work affects drainage beyond your own lot. Separately, Illinois requires a JULIE utility locate at least 48 hours before any digging. A licensed contractor should be confirming both before scheduling rather than after.

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.