A French drain costs $25–$75 per linear foot installed by a contractor, or $10–$25 per linear foot in materials if you dig it yourself. A common 60-foot run along a wet side yard lands around $900 DIY or $2,400–$3,500 installed.
Almost all of that variation comes from one thing: how hard the trench is to dig. The pipe, stone and fabric are cheap and predictable. Depth, soil type, tree roots, buried utilities and whether a machine can reach the trench line are what move a $1,500 job to $5,000.
Here is what each component actually costs, how to price your own run, and the situations where paying a contractor is clearly the right call. To size the stone order, use the French drain calculator.
French Drain Cost Per Linear Foot
Pricing scales with trench size, and trench size scales with the job. A shallow yard drain intercepting surface water is a fraction of the cost of a footing drain that has to reach the bottom of a basement wall.
| Drain type | Typical trench | DIY materials per ft | Installed per ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shallow yard / swale drain | 12 in. deep × 12 in. wide | $10–$15 | $25–$40 |
| Standard perimeter drain | 18–24 in. deep × 12–18 in. wide | $14–$20 | $35–$55 |
| Deep footing / foundation drain | 36–48 in. deep | $20–$25 | $50–$75 |
| Interior basement drain (concrete cut) | Below slab | Not a DIY job | $60–$110 |
Add-ons priced separately: a catch basin or grated inlet runs $75–$250 each installed, a dry well is $500–$2,500 depending on size, and a sump pump connection adds $600–$1,800 if the drain cannot daylight by gravity.
Materials Breakdown
A properly built French drain is a fabric-lined trench, at least 12 inches deep, filled with washed drainage stone around a 4-inch perforated pipe. The stone is by far the biggest material line.
- Washed #57 stone — $30–$55 per ton delivered. This is the workhorse. Washed matters: unwashed stone carries fines that silt up the voids and choke the drain within a few seasons. Price yours with the #57 stone calculator.
- 4 in. perforated pipe — $0.75–$2.50 per foot. Corrugated flexible pipe is cheapest; rigid PVC with drilled holes costs more but resists crushing and can be snaked out if it clogs.
- Non-woven geotextile fabric — $0.20–$0.50 per sq ft. Wrap the whole trench, not just the pipe. A 12 in. × 12 in. trench needs roughly 4 sq ft of fabric per linear foot with overlap.
- Fittings, outlet, and grate — $40–$150 per drain. Elbows, a solid-pipe daylight run and a rodent-proof outlet grate.
- Delivery — $50–$150 per load. A tandem dump truck carries 13–15 tons, far more stone than most drains need, so you are usually paying a flat fee for a partial load.
The stone math
A 12 in. × 12 in. trench is 1 cubic foot per linear foot, or 0.037 cubic yards. Washed #57 runs about 1.4 tons per cubic yard, so that is roughly 0.052 tons — about 105 lbs — of stone per linear foot. A 60-foot drain needs about 3.1 tons, or $95–$170 of stone. Widen the trench to 18 inches and that jumps to 4.7 tons.
Cost-saving tip: Order stone as a single load sized to the trench plus 10%, and have it dumped as close to the trench line as the truck can safely get. Wheelbarrowing 3 tons an extra 80 feet costs you a half day; a second delivery costs another $50–$150.
Excavation: The Line That Decides Your Price
Digging is 50–70% of a contractor’s French drain bill. Machine trenching in clear, workable soil runs about $8–$18 per linear foot. Hand-digging — required near foundations, under trees, around utilities or anywhere a machine cannot fit — runs $25–$50 per linear foot and can be more in rocky ground.
The factors that push you up that scale:
- Access. A gate narrower than about 36 inches rules out most mini excavators and converts the whole job to hand labor.
- Depth. Cost is not linear. A 4-foot trench needs shoring or benching and moves four times the spoil of a 1-foot trench.
- Spoil disposal. A 60 ft × 12 in. × 18 in. trench yields about 3.3 cubic yards of dirt. Hauling it off adds $200–$500; spreading it on site is free if you have somewhere to put it.
- Restoration. Re-sodding, replanting or repairing a driveway crossing is quoted separately — always confirm whether it is in the number.
DIY excavation is free in dollars and expensive in time. A trencher rental is $150–$300 per day and cuts a narrow slot fast, but it will not handle roots or rock. Expect one long day of hand digging per 25–40 feet of standard-depth trench.
Worked Example: 60 ft Side-Yard Drain
A 60-foot run, 18 inches deep and 12 inches wide, daylighting at a slope at the end of the yard:
- Washed #57 stone, 3.5 tons @ $45/ton — $158
- 4 in. perforated pipe, 60 ft @ $1.25 — $75
- Solid outlet pipe and fittings — $60
- Geotextile fabric, 300 sq ft @ $0.30 — $90
- Delivery — $100
- Trencher rental, 1 day — $200
- DIY total: about $683, or $11.40 per linear foot
- Same drain installed: $2,100–$3,300
The gap is almost entirely labor. If you are physically able and the trench line is clear, this is one of the highest-return DIY projects in landscaping — provided you get the slope right.
When to Hire a Contractor
Fall is the whole game. A French drain needs a consistent slope of at least 1% — about 1 inch of drop per 8 feet — from the high end to the outlet. Get that wrong and you have built an expensive underground puddle. Hire out when:
- Water is entering a basement or crawlspace. Footing drains are deep, close to structure, and expensive to redo. This is not the project to learn on.
- The yard is flat. With little natural fall you may need a dry well or a pump, and the design work matters more than the digging.
- Utilities cross the trench line. Call 811 regardless — it is free — but if gas, electric or fiber runs through it, let an insured contractor take the risk.
- The run exceeds about 100 feet. Material handling alone becomes a machine job.
For a straightforward shallow yard drain on a sloping lot, DIY is very reasonable — our French drain installation guide walks through the build step by step.
Bottom Line
Expect $10–$25 per linear foot to build a French drain yourself and $25–$75 per foot installed, with deep foundation work at the top of that range. Materials are the small, predictable half — about $11 per foot for a standard trench — and digging is where the money and the risk sit. Spend your budget on getting depth, slope and washed stone right; those three decide whether the drain works, not how much you paid for pipe. Sizing the stone order is the next step: the crushed stone calculator converts trench dimensions to tons, and our gravel delivery guide explains how to get a partial load without overpaying.