French Drain Installation Cost: Pricing by Linear Foot

French drains are priced per linear foot, with the price set by trench depth, what you are digging through, and how much surface restoration is needed afterward. The pipe and gravel are minor; excavation and haul-off are the job.

What does a French drain cost per linear foot?

Exterior surface French drains run $25 to $60 per linear foot. Deeper drains along a foundation run $50 to $100 per linear foot. Interior basement perimeter drains run $60 to $120 per linear foot because of concrete cutting and removal. A typical yard project lands between $2,500 and $8,000.

What conditions change the price?

• Digging through clay, roots, or rock vs. loose soil
• Trench depth — every extra foot of depth adds spoil volume and shoring concerns
• Hand-digging where a trencher or mini-excavator cannot reach
• Spoil disposal vs. spreading on site
• Restoration: sod, hardscape removal and replacement, concrete patching
• A daylight outlet vs. tying into a dry well or sump pit

How do you quote the discharge point?

Where the water goes is half the design. Quote the outlet explicitly — daylight on a slope, a pop-up emitter, a dry well sized to soil percolation, or a sump. If the lot is flat with nowhere to drain, the sump and pit are a significant separate cost, not an afterthought.

What should the estimate protect against?

Note that the quote assumes no unmarked utilities in the trench path and that a utility locate will be done. Call out that heavy clay or a high water table may require a wider stone envelope or a deeper system, and price that as a contingency rather than eating it.