Soakaways in Doncaster, dug and built properly.
Soakaway installation in Doncaster from £950. Percolation tested, crated, wrapped and backfilled to Building Regs Part H. Dug by me, usually in a day.
A real soakaway, hand dug on a job in Sprotbrough/img/hand-dug-soakaway-sprotbrough.jpg · 1800×1012
If water sits against your house after rain, or a downpipe just empties onto the path, a soakaway is usually the fix. It's a hole, a crate and some gravel, and it's about the easiest job to do badly.
The ground matters more than anything. Bessacarr, Cantley and Finningley sit on sand and drain beautifully. Bentley, Thorne, Hatfield and Stainforth are low, wet and next to the Don, and a soakaway there can be a hole that fills up and stays full. Sprotbrough and Tickhill are clay over limestone and sit somewhere in between. Before I price a soakaway I dig a test pit and time how fast a bucket of water disappears. If it doesn't, I'll tell you, and we'll talk about a land drain to a ditch or the surface-water sewer instead.
Building Regulations want a soakaway at least 5 metres from the house and 2.5 metres from a boundary, sized to the roof area draining into it. I size mine to BRE 365 and I keep the calculation, because the day you sell the house someone will ask for it.
from £950
Typically 1–2 days on site
What moves the price:
- Ground: sand is quick, clay needs a bigger pit and sometimes a different answer
- Roof area draining into it: one downpipe is £950; a whole roof or several downpipes is from £1,500
- Access for the machine. Through a side gate is fine; through the house is not
- Distance from downpipe to soakaway, and what's in the way (patio, drive, tree roots)
Percolation test
A test pit at the proposed spot, filled and timed. Takes an hour and tells me whether the job will work and how big the crate needs to be.
Dig
Excavator on site, trench from the downpipe at 1:80 fall, pit for the crates. Spoil to a grab lorry or spread on site if you'd rather.
Crate, wrap, connect
Modular crates wrapped in non-woven geotextile so silt can't get in, 110mm pipe with a silt trap at the downpipe, rodding point where it's sensible.
Backfill and finish
Pea gravel around the crates, then topsoil and turf or paving put back. You shouldn't be able to tell it's there.
Day one of the same dig, hand dug from the roof line down to install a soakaway/img/sprotbrough-soakaway-hand-dug-day-1.jpg · 1600×1067
How much does a soakaway cost in Doncaster?
A single-downpipe soakaway is from £950 and takes a day or two. A larger system taking a full roof, or several downpipes, is from £1,500 and takes two to three days. Those prices include the dig, crates, pipe, gravel, muck away and reinstating the ground.
Will a soakaway work in clay?
Sometimes, with a bigger crate and a deeper pit, and sometimes not at all. That's what the percolation test is for. If the ground won't take the water I won't sell you a soakaway; I'll suggest a land drain or a connection to the surface-water sewer instead.
Do I need planning permission or Building Regs for a soakaway?
Not planning. A new soakaway does fall under Building Regulations Part H, and if it's part of an extension the building inspector will want to see it. On a stand-alone job I build it to the same standard regardless.
Can you fix a soakaway that's stopped working?
Usually. Old rubble soakaways silt up after twenty or thirty years. I dig it out, replace it with crates and geotextile, and put in a silt trap so it doesn't happen again.
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 soakaways?
Send a few photos and your postcode. I'll usually come back the same day.