French Drain Installation Cost per Foot: Contractor and DIY Prices

National cost guides put a yard French drain at $10–$35 per linear foot installed^[1], with the widest estimates running to $10–$100 per foot^[3][6]. An interior basement drain costs more, about $40–$100 per foot^[3][4][5], because the floor has to be cut out. Materials for a DIY yard drain come to roughly $6–$9 per foot in our worked example below.

Cost per linear foot: national guides

Guide	Yard / exterior, per ft	Interior (basement), per ft	Typical job
HomeGuide, Feb 2026[1]	$10–$35	$40–$85	$500–$8,800 for a yard drain
LawnStarter, Oct 2026[4]	$10–$65	$40–$100	$1,650–$12,250, average $5,000
Fixr, Jan 2025[3]	$10–$100	$40–$100	$2,800–$6,500, average $5,000
Bob Vila, Jun 2024[5]	$10–$50	$40–$100	$500–$18,000, average $5,000
This Old House, Jun 2026 (Angi data, 2024)[6]	$10–$100		about $9,000; DIY under $1,000

The spread comes from depth and access. A shallow drain in a lawn is a trench, gravel and pipe; a drain at footing depth next to a foundation is typically 6–8 feet deep^[6], and an interior drain means breaking and replacing a concrete floor.

By length

Length	Yard drain, HomeGuide[1]	Exterior drain, Fixr[3]	Interior drain, Fixr[3]
50 ft	$500–$1,800	$1,250–$2,000	$2,500–$3,000
100 ft	$1,000–$3,500	$3,500–$4,000	$5,000–$6,000
150 ft	$1,500–$5,300	$4,250–$5,000	$7,500–$9,000

What contractors publish, by region

A few contractors post their own price ranges. These are their figures, not quotes for your yard:

Area	Exterior / yard, per ft	Interior, per ft	Contractor
Indianapolis, IN	$20–$50 shallow (12–18 in deep)	$70–$120	Homeward Environmental, Apr 2026[11]
Chicagoland, IL	$25–$50 shallow	$80–$120	Suburban Plumbing Experts, Apr 2026[10]
Atlanta, GA	$25–$70 shallow	$45–$110	Atlanta Concrete Solutions, 2026[12]
Naperville, IL	packages: $3,995 for 30 ft, $9,995 for 90 ft, $14,995 for 150 ft		Ware Landscaping, 2026[9]
San Francisco Bay Area, CA	$65–$1,320; their average project is about $20,000		Cardona Construction, Jun 2026[8]

Labor alone: HomeGuide puts trench digging at $5–$12 per foot and landscapers at $50–$100 an hour^[1]; homewyse estimates $11.55–$27.48 per linear foot to dig a trench (May 2026)^[7].

Materials at retail

Prices read online on October 24, 2026. Lowe's showed its Presque Isle, Maine store; Menards had no store selected.

Item	Size	Price	Per foot*	Where
Corrugated perforated pipe (ADS)	4 in × 100 ft	$154.00	$1.54	Lowe's[14]
Corrugated perforated pipe (ADS)	4 in × 10 ft	$17.98	$1.80	Lowe's[14]
Corrugated pipe with filter sock (FLEX Drain)	4 in × 25 ft	$34.98	$1.40	Lowe's[15]
Filter sock only	4 in × 100 ft	$25.74–$33.48	$0.26–$0.33	Lowe's[15]
Rigid perforated PVC, SDR 35 (Charlotte Pipe)	4 in × 10 ft	$23.96	$2.40	Menards[17]
Pre-wrapped French drain pipe, no gravel needed (NDS)	4 in × 10 ft	$75.98	$7.60	Lowe's[16]
Drainage fabric (NDS Sediment Shield)	3 ft × 100 ft	$24.98	$0.25	Lowe's[19]
Landscape fabric (Hanes Professional)	4 ft × 100 ft	$69.98	$0.70	Lowe's[20]

* Our arithmetic: price ÷ length. We did not find perforated rigid PVC at Lowe's on that day. The NDS pipe is sold with its own wrapping; the store page did not load the product description, so we list it by its title.

Gravel

Stone	Price	Where
Drainage rock, bagged	$6.28 per 0.5 cu ft bag	Lowe's[18]
#57 limestone	$55 per ton	The Rock Pile, Avon, OH[26]
#57 washed stone	$99 per ton for 1 ton, $75 per ton for 10–12 tons, before tax and delivery	Maryland Landscape Supply, MD[25]
3/4 in drain rock	$104 per cubic yard	South Bay Materials, San Jose, CA[27]
3/4 in drain rock	$68.95 per cubic yard	Eden Garden Supply, Lathrop, CA[28]
1 in crushed limestone	$50–$55 per cubic yard	Cheaper Than Dirt, Belton and Waco, TX[29]

A cubic yard of 3/4 in drain rock weighs about 2,500 lb^[27], so a ton (2,000 lb) is about 0.8 cubic yard. Bagged stone costs far more per yard: 54 bags of 0.5 cu ft make a cubic yard, $339 at $6.28 a bag.

Worked example: materials for a 50 ft DIY drain

Our arithmetic for one trench 50 ft long, 12 in wide and 18 in deep, filled with gravel around a 4 in pipe. These dimensions sit within the ranges below; your drain may need a different size.

• Gravel: 50 × 1 × 1.5 = 75 cu ft = 2.78 cubic yards (a little less once the pipe is in). At $68.95–$104 a yard, $192–$289 plus delivery. In 0.5 cu ft bags it would be 150 bags, $942.
• Pipe: two 25 ft lengths with sock, $69.96, or five 10 ft lengths of bare pipe, $89.90.
• Fabric: lining the trench and folding over the top takes a strip about 5 ft wide (1.5 + 1 + 1.5 ft plus overlap), so two runs of a 3 ft roll: one 100 ft roll, $24.98–$69.98.
• Total: about $290–$450 before delivery and tax, or $6–$9 per foot. A trencher rents for $100–$200 a day^[1].

For comparison, a contractor-installed 50 ft yard drain is $500–$1,800 by HomeGuide's figures^[1].

Typical dimensions

What	Figure	Source
Depth	8 in to 2 ft for many yard jobs	NDS[30]
Width	5–6 in for small problems; about 18 in wide by 24 in deep in This Old House's example	NDS[30], This Old House[6]
Pipe	4 in perforated is adequate for most homes	NDS[30]
Slope	at least 1% (about 1/8 in per foot); 2% suggested for corrugated pipe. This Old House gives both 1/8 in and 1/4 in per foot	NDS[30], This Old House[6]
Gravel	2–3 in under the pipe and 3–4 in over it (HomeGuide); at least 12 in over the pipe (This Old House)	HomeGuide[1], This Old House[6]

On a 50 ft run, a 1% slope is a 6 in drop from end to end and 2% is 12 in. The water also needs somewhere to go: Oklahoma State Extension lists daylighting the pipe downslope, a dry well or a sump as outlets^[32].

Dry well cost

A dry well is a gravel pit or a perforated tank buried in the ground. It takes water from a downspout or the end of a French drain and lets it soak into the soil, so it is often the outlet when there is no lower ground to drain to.

• Kit: NDS Flo-Well 50 gallon dry well, $139 at Lowe's^[21].
• Installed: $50–$3,000+, from a simple gravel pit ($50–$250) to a plastic tank ($200–$700) and concrete ($500–$3,000+), per HomeGuide^[1]; $500–$3,000 per LawnStarter^[4]; $1,500–$5,000 per Fixr^[3].
• Atlanta: $1,200–$4,500 for a typical dry well in 2026, per one local contractor^[13].
• A percolation test, which shows whether the soil can take the water, costs $600–$2,000 per HomeGuide^[1].

Channel drain cost

A channel (trench) drain is a narrow grated channel set into a driveway, patio or path. It catches water running across a hard surface, where a French drain catches water in the soil.

• Kit: NDS Spee-D channel drain, 10 ft, $189 with plastic grates or $235 with galvanized steel grates at Lowe's^[22].
• Installed: $30–$150 per linear foot (HomeGuide^[2], Fixr^[3], Bob Vila^[5]); $400–$2,400 for a driveway channel drain (HomeGuide^[2]).
• Related parts at Lowe's: a 12 × 12 in catch basin kit $82.48^[23], a pop-up emitter $16.47–$28.98^[24].

French drain vs dry well vs channel drain

	French drain	Dry well	Channel drain
Catches	water in wet soil and from the surface along the trench	water piped to it	water running over paving
Sends it	along the pipe to an outlet	into the surrounding soil	into a pipe to an outlet
Installed cost	$10–$35 per ft in a yard[1]	$500–$3,000[4]	$30–$150 per ft[2]

They are often combined: a channel drain or a French drain carrying water to a dry well.

Permits, neighbors and when to call an engineer

• Call 811 first. It is the free national before-you-dig service; contact it a few business days before digging^[36].
• Permits depend on the town. Cary, North Carolina has no requirements unless the drain ties into the road right-of-way^[34]. The Village of Kings Point, New York requires a drainage permit, and new systems need drawings signed and sealed by a professional engineer^[35]. Guides put permits at $50–$100 (Fixr^[3]) or $100–$375 (HomeGuide^[1]).
• Do not move the problem next door. In Maryland, upstream landowners cannot increase stormwater flow onto downstream landowners^[33]. Cary cites North Carolina law that it is illegal to impede the natural flow of water^[34].

Get a professional involved when:

• the water is getting into a basement or the drain has to go down to the footing: that is a 6–8 ft deep job next to the foundation^[6];
• the soil is more than half silt or clay: for its gravel-free EZ-Drain pipe, NDS says an engineer or landscape architect should choose the extra filter fabric^[31];
• the area is large or there is more than 200 ft of pipe upstream: the same manual recommends a landscape architect or drainage specialist, and a design professional for complex applications^[31];
• your town requires engineered drawings, as Kings Point does^[35].

Oklahoma State Extension goes further: in all cases, it says, a qualified landscape contractor will be needed to solve drainage problems^[32].

Questions

How much does a 100 ft French drain cost?

$1,000–$3,500 for a yard drain by HomeGuide's figures^[1], $3,500–$4,000 for an exterior drain by Fixr's^[3]; an interior drain runs $4,000–$8,500 (HomeGuide) or $5,000–$6,000 (Fixr).

Can I install a French drain myself?

A shallow yard drain is a common DIY job: This Old House puts DIY under $1,000^[6], and our 50 ft example above comes to about $290–$450 in materials. The digging is the hard part: 2.78 cubic yards of gravel for that trench weighs close to 7,000 lb at 2,500 lb a yard^[27].

A wet spot in a shade bed?

Hostas want moist but well-drained soil; our hosta planting guide covers choosing the spot and what soggy soil does to the crowns.