Water off the slab
Roof load and lot runoff stop parking against foundation edges, entry paths, and the beds you keep replanting.
Liberty Hill · Williamson County
French drain installation in Liberty Hill, TX
Blackland clay does not drain. After a fast Hill Country rain the water parks at your fence and against the slab, then sits there for days. We cut a line, pipe it, and give that water somewhere legal to go.
Local quote range: jobs around here often quote $2,800 to $6,500 once we have walked the yard. That is a range, not a menu. Your written quote follows the inspection.
The problem
Water that will not leave the lot
Santa Rita and Orchard Ridge pads sit on blackland clay that holds a pond after a fast rain. The builder cuts the lot, stacks two story gutters over a narrow side yard, and leaves the downspouts a few feet from the slab. Limestone closer to the western ridges sheds fast and dumps onto the next pad down.
Summerlyn and Wrangler edges run the same pattern with different street names. Finished sod, short spouts, water at the fence. The plats along FM 1869 and Highway 29 are where we walk most of the storm calls.
A channel drain across the driveway will not dry a saturated side yard, and surface pipe along the fence is the thing HOAs reject. What works is a buried line with a real outfall.
The fix
An exterior line, graded to daylight
We walk high corners, downspouts, crawl vents, and the fence line, then mark a drain that pulls water off the slab and out of the play yard. Socked pipe bedded in washed rock, graded to a legal daylight or a pop up, backfilled so you can sod or seed over it.
- Line marked and walked with you before anything gets cut
- Fabric wrap and washed rock, so the pipe does not silt in
- Discharge point confirmed against city and HOA rules first
- Backfill compacted in lifts so the trench line does not settle
Liberty Hill is the primary city. We also install in Leander, Cedar Park, Georgetown, and Round Rock.
What the install buys you
Six things that change after the line goes in
A fence line that firms up
The strip that stays soft for three days after a storm gets a path out instead of a standing pond.
Discharge your HOA will accept
A buried line to a legal outfall, not corrugated pipe snaking across the yard toward the curb.
Downspouts carried, not dumped
When the gutter is the source, the drain starts at the spout and takes that water with it.
Scope and price on paper
No coupon floor, no phone quote. You see length, depth, discharge, and restore before you commit.
A surface you can sod
Backfill goes back clean and compacted so the lawn can close over the trench instead of sinking into it.
How it works
Three visits, no surprises
Most of the bad drainage stories we hear start with a number quoted over the phone by somebody who never saw the yard.
We walk the lot
High corner, low spot, gutter discharge, fence line, and the outfall you actually have. We mark a line that can work with your HOA and the city.
You get it on paper
Scope, length, depth, discharge, and restore, written down. Jobs around here often quote $2,800 to $6,500. Yours follows what we measured.
We trench and close it up
Cut, rock, socked pipe, graded discharge, backfill in lifts. The surface goes back ready for sod or seed.
How a drain is built
Cross-section of a typical residential line
The photo is the job. This is the anatomy: downspout tie-in, washed rock, socked pipe, graded fall to a legal daylight.
Clay lots hold water. We give it a way out.
Common questions
Asked on most walkthroughs
How much does a French drain cost around Liberty Hill?
Jobs around here often quote $2,800 to $6,500. Length, clay versus rock, downspout ties, the discharge path, and HOA restore all move the bid. Your number lands in a written quote after we walk the yard.
How deep does the pipe go?
Deep enough to sit below the wet zone and still hold fall to the outfall. On most Liberty Hill lots that is a foot and a half to three feet, and the outfall elevation is what decides it, not a rule of thumb.
Will a French drain fix standing water in the yard?
If the water sits because clay holds it or the lot has a low spot with nowhere to go, a graded exterior line is usually the right fix. If the real problem is a clogged gutter or a broken irrigation head, we tell you that instead.
Do you work with HOAs?
Yes. Discharge and surface restore get planned around the rules the association actually enforces. Send any guidelines with the quote form and we will design to them.
Which cities do you serve?
Liberty Hill is primary. We also install in Leander, Cedar Park, Georgetown, and Round Rock.
Is a French drain the same as crawl space encapsulation?
No. This is exterior work that moves surface and shallow groundwater away from the house. Encapsulation is an interior product from a different kind of contractor.
Start here
Tell us what the yard is doing
The form is how jobs start. You describe what you see after a storm, we walk the lot, then you get scope and price on paper. Nothing is priced over the phone.
Get a drainage quote
Tell us the city and what the yard does after a rain. We answer about an inspection and a written quote.