French drains and land drainage for gardens that won't dry out.
French drains and land drainage in Doncaster from £1,150. Perforated pipe in a gravel trench, wrapped in geotextile, run to a soakaway, ditch or surface-water sewer. For lawns that stay wet until May.
A French drain is a trench with a perforated pipe in the bottom, filled with clean stone and wrapped in a fabric that lets water in and keeps silt out. Water in the ground finds the stone, drops into the pipe, and runs away to wherever you send it. It's simple, and it's the answer to most waterlogged lawns, wet patches at the bottom of a slope, and water running off a neighbour's garden into yours.
Round here the usual culprit is compacted clay or a garden that's been levelled with subsoil from somewhere else. Bentley, Toll Bar and Thorne have a high water table on top of that. In those places the question isn't whether you need a drain, it's where the water's going to go afterwards. It has to go somewhere lower than the pipe: a soakaway if the ground allows, a ditch, or the surface-water sewer via a gully. I'll find the outfall before I dig anything.
I also put land drains behind every retaining wall I build and under most new lawns on clay. It's cheaper to do it while the ground's already open.
from £1,150
Typically 1–3 days on site
What moves the price:
- Length of the run and how many branches: a single 10m run is the £1,150 starting point
- Where the water can go. A soakaway or ditch nearby is cheap; a long run to a gully isn't
- Ground: hand-digging through tree roots or old hardcore is slow
- Whether you want the lawn re-turfed afterwards or you'll let it grow back
Find the outfall
Where the water ends up. I'll lift the drain covers, check falls with a level and work out the route before quoting.
Trench
Excavator or by hand depending on access, typically 450–600mm deep, falling at least 1:100 toward the outfall. Herringbone pattern across a wide lawn.
Pipe, stone, fabric
Non-woven geotextile lining the trench, 80 or 100mm perforated pipe, 20mm clean gravel to within 100mm of the surface, fabric folded over the top.
Reinstate
Topsoil and turf back over. On a lawn the line disappears within a season.
How much is a French drain?
From £1,150 for a straightforward run of about ten metres, including the dig, pipe, stone, fabric and putting the ground back. A herringbone system across a whole lawn, or a long run to a distant outfall, will be more, and I'll price it by the metre once I've seen it.
What's the difference between a French drain and a soakaway?
A French drain collects water along a length of ground and moves it. A soakaway takes water from one point (usually a downpipe) and lets it soak into the ground. A lot of jobs use both: the drain collects, the soakaway disposes.
Will it fix a lawn that floods every winter?
If the water's coming from the ground or from higher ground next door, yes. If the whole area is sitting at the water table, as parts of Bentley and Thorne do, a drain can only take it down to the level of the outfall. I'll tell you honestly what it'll achieve before you spend anything.
Can you drain water away from a neighbour's garden?
You can intercept it on your side with a drain along the boundary. You can't send it back onto theirs, and you shouldn't send it onto the road either. It has to go to a soakaway, ditch or sewer.
One person accountable, start to finish.
I'm Jack. I price it, I'm on the tools for it, and it's my name on it. Twelve years on site, a first-class degree in construction management, SMSTS and First Aid, and I operate the excavator myself. Where a job wants more hands I bring in people I've worked with for years and I run them. I cover Doncaster and everywhere within about half an hour of it: Bessacarr, Bawtry, Tickhill, Armthorpe, Thorne, Sprotbrough, Mexborough and over into Rotherham. More about me.
- 5.0 stars on Google6 reviews from real customers
- Fully insuredPublic liability
- SMSTS and First AidLegally qualified to run a UK construction site under CDM
- BSc (Hons) Construction Project Management, First ClassSheffield Hallam University, degree apprenticeship
- CIOB Certificate of ExcellenceChartered Institute of Building
- Twelve years on siteUK and Australia, £10m+ delivered as project manager
- Three full back to brick house renovationsTwo in Scawsby, one in Sprotbrough
- All aspects of groundworksAnd I operate the plant myself
Want a price for french drains & land drainage?
Send a few photos and your postcode. I'll usually come back the same day.