French Drain Cost Estimator
Cost data last checked September 29, 2026.
A 60 ft French drain around the house typically costs $3,000 to $6,000 installed.
Typical installed cost$3,000 - $6,000From published national cost guides, checked on the date above the calculator. Sources are listed below it.
1. Where and how long
Measure the run, or pace it off. 10 to 500 ft.
For a 60 ft run, plan on about 7.5 in. of fall (ideal) and at least 7.2 in. (1% minimum) from inlet to outlet (Fixr).
Where does the water go?
- Around the house (exterior foundation perimeter), 60 ft at $50-$100/ft$3,000 - $6,000
Both guides list around-the-house drains at $50 to $80 per foot. Fixr prices deep footing drains, which run around the perimeter, at $80 to $100 per foot, so this tool uses $50 to $100.
Upkeep to plan for: Bob Vila says drains in rocky or hard soil can clog over time and may need cleaning. Clearing a clog with snaking runs $75 - $500, versus $1,000 - $2,500 to dig up and replace a damaged section (both Fixr).
Estimate only, based on published national cost guides (see sources below). Local labor rates, soil and permit rules change the final price. Always get a written quote.
How we got this
- Published installed price for a drain around the house, labor and materials, from the two guides' per-foot prices for this kind of drain (see the table under How this is calculated): $50 to $100 per ft. (Fixr, Bob Vila)
- Length times that rate: 60 ft × $50 to $100 per ft = $3,000 to $6,000
- Out to daylight: neither guide gives a separate price for a gravity outlet, so nothing is added. The guides price dry wells and sump pumps on their own.
- Total: $3,000 to $6,000
The idea behind it: Most of a French drain's price is digging the trench and filling it with gravel and perforated pipe, so contractors and cost guides price it by the running foot for each kind of location. A dry well or a sump pit is a separate piece of equipment at the outlet, so it is added on top of the per-foot total.
2. Have a quote already? Check it
3. Doing it yourself: materials list
What the pipe and gravel alone would cost if you bought them. Compare it with the installed cost above to see roughly what labor, equipment and a warranty add.
Bob Vila says the trench should be a minimum of about 18 to 24 inches below the area you are protecting. Depth changes the gravel amount only, not the installed cost.
Fixr's price table covers 2 to 8 inch pipe.
- Perforated pipe, 4 in, 60 ft (Fixr)$60 - $90
- Gravel, 4.2-5.0 tons at bulk price (Inch Calculator)$146 - $250
- Materials total (DIY)$206 - $340
Doing it yourself instead of hiring a pro could save roughly $2,660 - $5,794, most of it labor and equipment (Fixr: $35 - $75/hr, Bob Vila: $50 - $100/hr).
Gravel needed: about 3.3 cubic yards (4.2-5.0 tons, using Inch Calculator's 2,500 to 3,000 lbs per cubic yard for pea gravel) for a 18-inch-deep trench along the full length. The 12-inch trench width is this tool's assumption; none of the cited guides give one. Inch Calculator says an average pickup truck carries 1 cubic yard. The price uses Inch Calculator's $35 to $50 a ton for gravel bought by the dump-truck load, not a pea-gravel quote. Bob Vila puts the pea gravel for a French drain at $500 - $1,000 overall, so get a supplier's delivered price before you budget.
Bob Vila: renting a walk-behind trencher runs $100 - $200 a day, many communities require a permit ($50 - $100), and a shallow curtain drain is the kind of job that may suit DIY. Professional installation is the better choice when concrete has to be broken out or the soil is dense or rocky. DIY work comes with no guarantee, while a contractor will likely warranty the work for a year or so. If the drain needs an inspection, Fixr puts it at $150 - $250. Bob Vila gives the same figure for a private inspector and says the community sometimes covers the inspector instead. Call 811 before you dig.
Pick where the drain goes and how long it runs to see the typical installed cost, check a quote you already have, and see what the pipe and gravel would cost if you did it yourself.
How this is calculated
The installed cost is a per-foot rate for where the drain goes, times the length you enter. Fixr and Bob Vila each publish a table of rates by location, and they match on every row except the yard. Where either guide gives another per-foot figure for the same kind of drain, the calculator widens the band to cover it rather than picking one. Both are national guides, last updated in January 2025 (Fixr) and June 2024 (Bob Vila), so these are national rates from those years, not local quotes:
| Where the drain goes | Fixr, per ft | Bob Vila, per ft | Calculator uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shallow curtain drain | $10 - $50 (shallow exterior) | $10 - $25 (curtain) | $10 - $50 |
| Yard | $20 - $30 | $20 - $40 | $20 - $40 |
| Crawl space | $25 - $35 | $25 - $35 | $25 - $35 |
| Around a patio | $25 - $40 | $25 - $40 | $25 - $40 |
| Along a retaining wall | $25 - $50 | $25 - $50 | $25 - $50 |
| Under a sidewalk | $30 - $50 | $30 - $50 | $30 - $50 |
| Under a deck | $35 - $45 | $35 - $45 | $35 - $45 |
| Driveway | $45 - $55 | $45 - $55 | $45 - $55 |
| Garage | $50 - $60 | $50 - $60 | $50 - $60 |
| Around the house | $50 - $80; footing drains $80 - $100 | $50 - $80 | $50 - $100 |
| Basement | $60 - $70; interior drains $40 - $100 | $60 - $70; basement drains $40 - $100 | $40 - $100 |
A dry well or a sump pit and pump is added as its own line, because both guides price those separately. Two limits keep the result honest. Both guides give $500 as the low end for any French drain job, so when the per-foot math comes in under that, the calculator shows "from $500" and does not pretend to know a typical range for a run that short. And both guides top out at $18,000 (Bob Vila adds "or more" for large basement jobs), so when even the low end of the math passes that, the calculator stops giving a typical range and points you to on-site estimates. When only the high end passes $18,000, the range is shown with a warning, and the quote checker will not call a quote above $18,000 typical.
Trench depth does not change the installed cost, because neither guide prices by depth in its location table. Depth only feeds the gravel amount in the materials list.
Worked example
Water pools against the back wall of a house after heavy rain. The owner wants a 60-foot drain along that side of the foundation, running out to daylight downhill, with no dry well or sump pump, installed by a pro.
| Line item | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Around the house, 60 ft at $50 - $100/ft | $3,000 - $6,000 |
| Discharge to daylight | No extra line |
| Installed total | $3,000 - $6,000 |
| DIY materials: 4-inch pipe, 60 ft at $1.00 - $1.50/ft (Fixr) | $60 - $90 |
| DIY materials: 4.2 - 5.0 tons of gravel for a 12 in x 18 in trench at $35 - $50/ton (Inch Calculator) | $146 - $250 |
| DIY materials total | $206 - $340 |
A quote of $5,400 for this job lands inside the $3,000 to $6,000 range. Priced on the $50 to $80 around-the-house row alone, the top would be $4,800 and the same quote would look high. The calculator includes Fixr's $80 to $100 rate because Fixr prices deep footing drains, which run around the foundation perimeter, at that level. Most of the gap between the materials and the installed price is labor and equipment, which Bob Vila says make up most of the cost. Fixr puts hourly labor at $35 to $75, and Bob Vila at $50 to $100.
What this estimate leaves out
- Your yard: soil, slope, access and the real length of the run can only be judged on site, and a hard-to-dig site costs more.
- Local prices: every rate is a national figure from the cited guides (Fixr, January 2025; Bob Vila, June 2024), so labor and permit fees in your area can differ.
- Whether a French drain is the right fix: the cheaper options below can solve some wet-yard problems for less.
- Trench drains, which the guides price as a separate system.
For a final price, get a written quote after the contractor has seen the site.
What goes in the trench
Per Fixr, the trench is lined with gravel, covered with a fabric weed blocker, and the perforated pipe is laid in and covered with more gravel. Fixr's pipe prices, materials only, run from $0.70 to $1.00 a foot for 2-inch pipe up to $2.30 to $3.00 a foot for 8-inch pipe, and Fixr says diameter matters much less to the total than length. Bob Vila gives $0.50 to $3 a foot for pipe, depending on quality and whether it comes with a "sock", a nylon fabric cover that keeps sediment out of the pipe.
Gravel is the bigger materials cost. The calculator works out the volume from length, depth and a 12-inch trench width (its own assumption; neither cost guide gives a width) and converts it to tons with Inch Calculator's pea gravel weight of 2,500 to 3,000 lbs per cubic yard. It prices that at Inch Calculator's $35 to $50 a ton, a bulk dump-truck-load price for gravel in general. Bob Vila's overall figure for the pea gravel in a French drain is $500 to $1,000, so ask a local supplier for a delivered price before you order.
Cheaper fixes to rule out first
Bob Vila says grading and gutters can work alongside a French drain, and both guides price other drainage fixes that can take care of some or all of the water. Where the guides price the same fix differently, the table shows the combined range.
| Fix | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Gutter and downspout | $150 - $350 (Bob Vila) | Handles water coming off the roof |
| Grading | $500 - $3,000 (Bob Vila) | Reshapes the yard so water drains away from the house |
| Catch basin | $20 - $5,000 | A surface-level drain that collects water in a box or basin and carries it away. Bob Vila lists catch basins at $20 - $130; Fixr prices a complete catch-basin project at $2,500 - $5,000 |
| Dry well | $50 - $5,000 | Collects water and releases it back into the soil. Bob Vila puts gravel and plastic-tank dry wells at $50 - $700 and concrete at up to $3,000; Fixr puts installation at $1,500 - $5,000 |
| French drain | $500 - $18,000 (both guides) | Collects water along a whole run and carries it away underground |
Why another estimate might look different
Cost guides answer slightly different questions, so their numbers do not always line up with the location rates above.
- Fixr's size table prices exterior drains at $1,250 - $2,000 for 50 feet, $3,500 - $4,000 for 100 feet and $4,250 - $5,000 for 150 feet. That works out to $25 to $40 a foot, below Fixr's $50 to $80 around-the-house rate, and a short exterior drain can price well under Fixr's $2,800 to $6,500 headline range.
- Bob Vila quotes an exterior drain system around an existing home at $1,000 to $10,000 depending on depth and length, and interior drains for basement flooding at $5,000 to $9,000 on average.
- Bob Vila lists "yard trench" drains at $30 to $90 a foot and describes them as a type of surface drain. Fixr treats trench drains as a separate system that removes surface water quickly, at $30 to $150 a foot. If a quote is for a trench drain, compare it with those figures rather than this calculator.
Questions people ask
How much does a French drain cost?
Fixr and Bob Vila both put the national range at $500 to $18,000, with a $5,000 national average. Fixr headlines a $2,800 to $6,500 range and says most homeowners installing one in a basement spend around $5,000 for 100 linear feet. The two ends of the range are very different jobs. Fixr ties the $500 low end to a 50-foot exterior drain and the $18,000 high end to an extensive 100-foot perimeter drain to stop basement flooding. Bob Vila ties $500 to a shallow exterior drain and says an interior drain for basement flooding can run $18,000 or more.
What is a French drain and how does it work?
Fixr describes the build this way: a trench is dug, lined with gravel and covered with fabric, then a perforated pipe (usually PVC, sometimes flexible tubing) is laid in and covered with more gravel, with soil backfilled on top if you want it. Water soaks into the gravel, enters the pipe and flows by gravity to somewhere it can go. Fixr says the ideal slope is one inch for every eight feet and never less than 1%. Where it can discharge depends on local rules; Bob Vila lists a storm drain, an irrigation ditch or a dry well, and Bob Vila says a sump pump may be required when the water cannot drain away by gravity.
How much does a French drain cost per linear foot?
For exterior drains, Fixr gives $10 to $100 per foot (about $25 on average) and Bob Vila gives $10 to $50. For interior drains, both give $40 to $100 per foot, and Fixr puts the average at $50. Fixr prices deep exterior footing drains at $80 to $100 per foot. Location matters too: in both guides a yard drain starts at $20 a foot, while a driveway or garage drain runs $45 to $60. Fixr puts the higher cost down to tearing up the concrete and replacing it.
Can I install a French drain myself?
Bob Vila says a shallow curtain drain may be a DIY job, but most French drains are best left to a pro because of the excavation, especially when concrete has to be broken out or the soil is dense or rocky. For DIY, Bob Vila gives overall averages of $50 to $200 for perforated pipe and $500 to $1,000 for pea gravel, plus $100 to $200 a day to rent a walk-behind trencher. Those are overall averages with no project size attached; the calculator above prices gravel by your trench length instead, so a short run can come in well under Bob Vila's figure. You may still need a permit ($50 to $100, per both guides), DIY work comes with no guarantee where a contractor will likely warranty the work for a year or so, and Bob Vila says to call 811 before digging.
Does homeowners insurance cover a French drain?
Usually not. Bob Vila says most homeowners insurance policies do not cover the cost of installing a French drain, though it may be possible to add a French drain rider to an existing policy for an extra fee. Fixr says most policies will not cover them unless they are added under a special provision. Ask your agent what your own policy allows.
When is a French drain the wrong fix, and what's cheaper?
If water only shows up where a downspout empties or where the ground slopes toward the house, look at gutters and grading first. Bob Vila prices gutters and downspouts at $150 to $350 and grading at $500 to $3,000, both below the $5,000 national average for a French drain, and notes these can work alongside a drain. Fixr says French drains are most useful for slow-moving or slow-collecting water: a yard that stays soggy, water that seeps slowly into a basement or crawl space, or water that collects in a driveway.
How much does it cost to repair an existing French drain?
Fixr puts replacing a damaged pipe section at $1,000 to $2,500, a job of three to six hours. Retrenching and replacing the whole run can take up to ten hours and costs $2,000 to $8,000, almost the same as a new drain. If the pipe is only clogged, Fixr puts snaking at $75 to $500, which is worth trying before paying for a section to be dug up.
How long does a French drain last?
Bob Vila says a correctly installed French drain should last at least 30 to 40 years. Bob Vila also notes drains in rocky or hard soil can clog over time and may need cleaning, which is where the snaking cost above comes in.
How much gravel do I need?
It depends on the trench size. A trench 12 inches wide and 18 inches deep holds 1.5 cubic feet per foot of length, so it takes one cubic yard (27 cubic feet) for every 18 feet. Pea gravel weighs 2,500 to 3,000 lbs per cubic yard (Inch Calculator), or 1.25 to 1.5 tons, so a 60-foot run at that size takes roughly 4 to 5 tons. The materials section of the calculator does this math for your own length and depth.
Where these numbers come from
- Fixr: French Drain Installation Cost (location, type, size and pipe tables; repair, dry well, catch basin, permit, inspection and labor figures; checked Sep 29, 2026)
- Bob Vila: How Much Does a French Drain Cost? (national range, location and type tables, materials, drainage alternatives, DIY and insurance guidance; checked Sep 29, 2026)
- Inch Calculator: Gravel Calculator (pea gravel weight per cubic yard, bulk price per ton, pickup load; checked Sep 29, 2026)
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