Yard Drainage Solutions
Coordinated by the same referral network across Shreveport, Bossier City, and Northwest Louisiana.
Northwest Louisiana · Caddo & Bossier Parish
Yard grading and regrading services across Shreveport and Bossier City. Positive-grade correction, swale cutting, sod re-lay. The foundational drainage fix — often solves the problem before you spend on trench work.
Grading is the drainage fix that gets skipped because it doesn't sound like a fix. It's dirt work. But moving 4-6 inches of soil in the right places is often more effective than $10,000 of buried pipe — and every trench-and-pipe system on a poorly graded yard will fail eventually anyway. Get the grade right first.
Positive grade means the ground slopes away from the house — specifically, per most residential codes and best practices, at least 6 inches of drop in the first 10 feet from the foundation. That's a 5% slope. Most Shreveport homes were graded that way originally; many have settled backward over 30-60 years of soil movement, foundation planting, and mulch build-up. Restoring positive grade is the first thing any competent drainage contractor should evaluate before proposing pipe.
Flower beds built up higher than the sill, trapping water at the foundation. Mulch replaced annually without removing the old layer, gradually raising grade against the house siding. Sidewalks and driveways that pitch toward the house at the joint. Downspouts that discharge into low pockets that then flow back to the wall. Neighbor's yard, or a shared property line, that drains onto yours. Each of these is a grade problem before it's a pipe problem.
For a residential foundation regrade, a small crew with a skid-steer or bobcat moves and shapes 3-8 inches of topsoil, working from the foundation outward. Grade is checked with a rotary laser or a good level. Sod or seed follows — sometimes reusing existing sod carefully stripped, sometimes fresh. On a house-side regrade of a typical 60-foot exposure, expect 1-2 days of work and 15-25 cubic yards of topsoil delivered. The result is invisible after one mow cycle but changes the water balance around the house permanently.
A swale is a shallow, wide, grass-lined channel that carries surface runoff along a designed path. Common Shreveport applications: cutting a swale along a fence line to intercept a neighbor's runoff before it enters your yard; a diagonal swale across a backyard to move water from a high back corner to a legal daylight point; a swale ringing a low pocket to route surface flow to a catch basin or dry well. Swales are cheaper than piped drains, invisible when grassed, and handle very large flows. They cost mowing time — that's the trade-off.
Grading is usually first (or last) in a full drainage project. First when the goal is 'see if a regrade alone solves it before we buy pipe.' Last when the grading finishes over French drains, catch basins, and downspout burials — the crew leaves the yard at proper grade with sod re-laid over trench lines. Doing grading in the middle rarely makes sense; you're often re-doing yourself.
Regrading a steep slope isn't just moving dirt — it needs a plan for keeping the dirt in place after the next rain. Erosion-control blanket (jute or coconut mat), silt fence at the toe, straw mulch on newly seeded areas, and quick-establishing grass mix are all standard. On slopes over 3:1, retaining structures — either engineered walls or terraced landscape steps — may be the real answer. See erosion and standing water control.
A typical foundation-side regrade with topsoil and sod: $1,800-$4,500. A whole-yard grading rework with swales: $4,000-$10,000. A slope stabilization job with wall or terracing: $8,000-$25,000+. Regrading is one of the highest-return drainage investments per dollar you can make on a Shreveport property.
In many cases, yes. A French drain intercepts water; grading directs surface water. If your foundation grade slopes toward the house, water still pools at the wall before the French drain has a chance to catch it. The best drainage plans use both.
Some — foundation plants often need to be dug and heeled in temporarily, and old mulch/soil layers get stripped. A good crew reuses what it can and lays fresh sod or seed to restore the finish. Expect 3-6 weeks for the yard to look established again.
Depends on how off the grade is. A minor correction is 2-4 inches near the foundation feathered out. A major fix (bad negative grade, low yard) can involve 8-12 inches of built-up topsoil at the wall.
Yes, and it's often needed. Builder-grade lots in Twelve Oaks, Norris Ferry, Provenance, and newer Bossier subdivisions frequently need re-grading in year one — the initial rough grade doesn't hold up to first-season settlement.
Coordinated by the same referral network across Shreveport, Bossier City, and Northwest Louisiana.
Coordinated by the same referral network across Shreveport, Bossier City, and Northwest Louisiana.
Coordinated by the same referral network across Shreveport, Bossier City, and Northwest Louisiana.
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