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Drainage and grading, solved at the cause.

We map the runoff, re-grade the lot, and build a real system with a legal outlet — the structural work other contractors quote around or decline, across San Diego County since 1984.

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Standing water pooling on a graded San Diego lot before a drainage system is built to carry it to an outlet

Water pooling is a grade problem, not a puddle.

This is the work most contractors quote around or decline. A puddle that will not drain, a patio that floods, water creeping toward a foundation, a slope shedding mud onto a patio below. It is not glamorous, it is hard to price, and it is easy to get wrong. So most builders bury a surface drain over the low spot and move on to the patio. The water comes back the next time it rains.

The water is pooling because the grade sends it there and the soil holds it. San Diego County sits on expansive clay that sheds water instead of absorbing it, so runoff runs along the surface to the lowest point on the lot. On a slope or canyon edge, gravity and uphill runoff make it worse. None of that is fixed by a grate. The water has to go somewhere real, which means a legal outlet, by gravity or by pump, that carries it off the property without pushing the problem to the lot next door.

So we start with where the water is and where it must end up. We map the runoff, set the grade to move water away from the structures, and build the system before anything cosmetic goes in. Swales, drain lines, French drains, a sump if there is no gravity outlet. We have built drainage this way since 1984, and we carry the ten-year structural liability clean on the work we put in the ground.

What’s included.

  • Site and runoff analysis — we read where water goes on a normal day, not just a flood day
  • Re-grading to move water away from the house, slabs, and retaining, with positive fall to a real outlet
  • Swales and dry creek beds to carry surface runoff across the lot without erosion
  • French drains and catch basins to pull water out of the soil and off the surface
  • Channel drains and area drains at patios, driveways, and low collection points
  • Sump systems with pumps where the lot has no gravity outlet
  • Downspout tie-ins so roof water enters the system instead of dumping at the foundation
  • Slope erosion control to hold the hillside while the runoff is routed away
  • A real legal outlet — the water leaves the property without becoming the neighbor’s problem

Our process.

01 · Discovery

Map the water

We walk the lot, read the grade and the soil, and trace the path water actually takes. We find where it pools, where it comes from, and where a real outlet can be — before a single number is priced.

02 · Design

Engineer the system

We draw the grade and the drainage as one system: fall, swales, drain lines, French drains, and the outlet. You see what gets cut, what gets buried, and exactly where the water ends up.

03 · Build

Grade, then drain

Re-grading, swales, trenching, pipe, gravel, catch basins, sumps, and tie-ins. Every phase runs in-house, in order, and nothing cosmetic goes in until the water has somewhere to go.

04 · Handoff

Test & warranty

We run water through the system and confirm it carries to the outlet before we restore the surface. Then the ten-year structural liability is ours — on the grade, the drains, and the slope work.

Selected drainage projects.

A San Diego lot that pooled water, re-graded and fitted with a drainage system that carries runoff to a legal outlet
Drainage & re-grade
Pooling lot, re-graded to a real outlet
Hardscape patio built over an engineered drainage system so surface water is carried away instead of pooling
Patio drainage
Channel drains under a new patio
Canyon-edge property with slope erosion control and interception drainage routing uphill runoff away from the structures
Slope & runoff
Canyon slope, runoff intercepted
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Why bring us the water.

Forty years, same owner

Darren Earl has read San Diego County grades and soils since 1984. Four decades of watching where water goes on this region’s clay, slopes, and canyon lots is what lets him trace a flooding problem to its cause on the first walk. The owner prices the job and has carried the ten-year structural liability on it for four decades. His in-house crew, not a rotating cast of subs, builds it.

One team, no subcontractors

Drainage is where blame hides between trades — the grader, the plumber, the patio crew each pointing at the last. We run the grading, the trenching, the pipe, and the surface work in-house. One contract, one number to call, no gap between phases for water to find its way back in.

Ten-year liability, clean record

California holds the builder structurally liable for ten years on this kind of work. We carry that on every drainage and grading job, and we have carried it clean for forty — zero structural complaints. That exposure is why we build a real system to a real outlet instead of hiding a grate over the problem.

Drainage questions, answered straight.

Because the problem is the grade and the soil, not the amount of rain. If the ground slopes toward the house instead of away, or if water hits a low spot with nowhere to drain, even a light rain pools. San Diego’s expansive clay makes it worse: it sheds water instead of absorbing it, so runoff sits on the surface and finds the lowest point, which is often a patio or a foundation. A heavy storm only exposes a problem that was already built into the grade. We read where the water goes on a normal day, not just a flood day, and fix the path it is taking.
A surface drain is a grate that catches water already standing on top of the ground. A French drain is a perforated pipe in gravel that pulls water out of the soil before it surfaces, and moves subsurface water away from a wall or foundation. They solve different problems. A grate over a low spot does nothing about water saturating the soil under a slab or pushing against a retaining wall. We use both, but only after we figure out whether the water is on the surface, in the soil, or both, and where it has to end up.
Often, yes. If the grade is mostly right and the issue is one path the water is taking, we can cut in a swale, a drain line, or a French drain with limited disruption and restore what we open. When the grade itself sends water the wrong way across the whole lot, re-grading is the fix, and that is more involved. We tell you which situation you have before we quote. We do not sell a bigger job than the property needs, but we also will not bury a surface drain over a grading problem and call it solved.
It depends on what the water is doing and how far it has to travel to a legal outlet. A single problem area with a clear place to send the water is a modest job. A lot that needs re-grading, multiple drain lines, a sump because there is no gravity outlet, or slope erosion control runs higher. The biggest cost driver is usually the outlet: if water has to be carried a long way or lifted by a pump, that is real work. We assess the property, price it as a fixed concept, and there is no charge for the visit.
Yes, and it is common in San Diego County’s hillside and canyon lots. Water from an uphill slope or an adjacent property has to be intercepted before it reaches the area you care about, then carried to an outlet that does not just push the problem to the next lot down. We build interception swales, area drains, and channel drains to catch runoff at the top of the property and route it through a real system. We also handle the slope itself with erosion control so the runoff is not carrying your hillside with it.

Tell us where the water goes.

Bring us the lot that floods, the slope that sheds mud, the patio that never dries — the drainage nobody else would quote. We come look at it, map the water, and give you a fixed-price concept. No charge for the visit.

Call
(858) 603-7842
Studio
20808 Thyme Way, Jamul, CA 91935
Hours
Mon–Fri · 8:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday · By appointment
Sunday · Closed
License
CSLB #523467 · Licensed & insured

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