The run
Start from a common job, then replace every figure with your takeoff. Changing depth, pipe, soil, or outlet never overwrites a rate you already typed. This prices an exterior yard drain — not an interior basement waterproofing job, and not a gutter install.
Your crew rates
A $42/h operator loaded at 30% is $54.60. Quoting the raw wage on a published $25-a-foot special is how a deep clay drywell run that looked fine turns into a two-day loss after the first rock ledge and the first saw-cut.
Your bid
- Run and outlet
- Trench and extras
- Crew hours
- Loaded labor
- Pipe + extras
- Travel + equipment
- Overhead
- Total cost
- Profit at this price
- Price per foot
- Effective hourly rate
- Walk-away price
A bid link carries your own rates — wage, burden, overhead, and target margin — so the page reopens exactly as you left it. Send it to yourself or your crew. The numbers ride after the #, which is never sent to a server, so copying a link uploads nothing. The customer should get the price, not the link.
Where the hours go
Where the cost goes
Transparent arithmetic from your own inputs. Starting hours and material rates are common ballpark figures, not an industry standard or a drainage design — replace them with your own takeoff.
Hand the customer a proposal
The price above is for you. This is the page you print or save as a PDF and give to the customer — your details, their details, the scope, the deposit split, and a line for them to sign. Your business details are saved on this device so you only type them once; the customer’s details are never saved.
Everything on the printed page is text you typed or a number this calculator worked out. It contains no warranty, lien, or cancellation wording — those depend on your jurisdiction and your contract, and this tool is not the place to invent them.
Common questions
Why can a competitor advertise “$25 a foot” for a French drain?
Because a per-foot price is written around the easiest possible trench, and that trench is the first preset here: 40 feet, shallow, 4-inch perforated, daylighted to grade, in dirt, with the lawn put back. Everything that makes a wet-basement job hard — depth, clay or rock, a drywell or a storm tie-in, catch basins, downspout ties, going under a driveway — is not in that number. Price the actual yard beside the special and the difference becomes line items you can point at.
How much does digging deeper really cost?
It moves labor and gravel together, which is why depth is the biggest lever on this page. A shallow 18-inch trench starts at 0.12 hours and $4.50 of gravel per foot. Standard 24–30 inch goes to 0.16 hours and $6.40. A deep 36–48 inch trench is 0.22 hours and $9.20 — nearly double the shallow number on both sides at once. Depth is decided by where the water is, not by the bid, so it is worth settling before you quote a rate.
Why does soil type multiply the price instead of adding to it?
Because it scales with every foot you dig. The soil factor multiplies the trench hours only — not the outlet, not the extras — at 1× in dirt or loam, 1.45× in clay, and 2.1× in rock or hardpan. It moves the spoils dump too: $85, $185, and $320 respectively, because rock and clay come out heavier and cost more to take away. A 60-foot run in rock is not a 60-foot run with a surcharge; it is more than twice the digging.
What’s the difference between daylighting, a drywell, and a storm tie-in?
Where the water is allowed to go, and it is the second-largest swing here. Daylighting to grade is 1.5 hours and no kit — free, if the grade cooperates. A drywell or pop-up emitter is 3.8 hours and a $380 kit because it is a second excavation. A storm or catch-basin tie-in is 4.2 hours and a $265 kit, and is usually the one that needs a permit and an inspection your jurisdiction sets, so the permit fee is its own field and starts at zero rather than being guessed for you.
Why are catch basins, downspout ties, and driveway crossings priced one at a time?
Because a drain that solves the problem is rarely just the trench. Each catch basin is 1.2 hours plus a $165 kit; each downspout tie is 0.6 hours plus a $45 kit; going under a driveway is 0.35 hours per foot, the most expensive foot on the job. Solid (non-perforated) pipe carrying water past where you do not want it collecting runs 0.08 hours and $2.40 a foot. Tick only what the yard actually needs and the price follows the scope instead of a package.
Is my data uploaded anywhere?
No account and no network requests — the calculator runs entirely in your browser. Your bid is saved in this browser’s local storage so it is still here next visit, and a bid link you copy carries those same numbers in the page’s address rather than sending anything to a server. The optional usage counter records only which features were used and the day, never your footage, wages, or prices.
What’s the difference between the bid price and the walk-away price?
The bid price already carries your target margin on top of labor, materials, fees, and overhead. The walk-away price is the total cost underneath it — crew hours, pipe, gravel, fabric, the outlet kit, basins and ties, spoils disposal, lawn restore, permit, travel and equipment — the point below which the dig stops being profitable at all. Typing a number into “Price you’re considering” shows you the margin, or the loss, before you send it.