Hear from Our Customers
A dry basement is the obvious win. But what actually changes is the slow drain on your peace of mind every time it rains. No more checking the corners. No more moving boxes to higher ground. No more wondering if that musty smell means something worse is growing behind the drywall.
For Upper Merion homeowners — especially in the 1950s subdivisions like Dartmouth Hills, Cinnamon Hill, and Valley Brooke — the drainage problem is almost always a structural one, not a fluke. Those homes were built without the waterproofing standards we have today, and 65-plus years of soil settlement and aging infrastructure doesn’t fix itself. A properly installed french drain system intercepts groundwater before it ever reaches your foundation wall.
The Gulph Mills terrain adds another layer. That hilly, wooded topography funnels water downslope fast, and if your home sits at the base of any kind of grade, hydrostatic pressure builds up against your foundation every time it rains hard. We design french drains that handle that pressure by giving the water a direct path out — not through your walls.
We’ve been working in Montgomery County for about two decades. That means we’ve been inside the crawlspaces and basements of King of Prussia ranch homes, Gulph Mills hillside properties, and Schuylkill River corridor houses that sit a little too close to the floodplain. We know what’s down there — and we know what to look for before we start excavating.
Here’s what separates us from every other drainage contractor you’ll find in Upper Merion: we’re also a certified lead inspector and risk assessor operating under EPA and HUD compliance standards. Most of Upper Merion’s residential housing stock was built before 1978. That matters when someone is digging near your foundation. We test first. Every time.
We’re fully licensed, bonded, and insured — and we handle everything from the initial assessment to final cleanup, including any mold, lead, or asbestos that turns up along the way. One call, one company, no surprises.
It starts with a free estimate. We come out, walk the property, and look at where the water is coming from, where it’s going, and what’s in the way. For homes in Upper Merion’s older subdivisions, that assessment includes checking for any environmental hazards near the foundation before we break ground — lead paint, asbestos pipe insulation, anything that needs to be handled before a shovel goes in the ground.
Once we know what we’re working with, we map out the drain route. For most residential installs, that means excavating a trench along the foundation or across the yard, laying rigid perforated PVC pipe — not the cheap corrugated flex pipe that collapses and clogs — surrounding it with clean crushed stone and proper filter fabric, and running it to a safe outlet point. We maintain the minimum 1% grade needed for the system to actually drain. That detail alone is where a lot of cut-rate installs fail.
Before we close anything up, we make sure the Upper Merion Township permit requirements are covered. Most residential drainage projects here fall under the Class A Stormwater, Drainage, and Erosion Control Permit — and if the work touches the right-of-way, a road opening permit applies too. We handle the compliance side so you don’t have to track it down yourself.
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Upper Merion’s stormwater challenges are well-documented — the township has had a formal Stormwater Master Plan since 1995 and updated it in 2017. The Upper Merion Sanitary and Stormwater Authority even charges property owners a stormwater fee based on impervious surface area. That’s not background noise — that’s the township telling you that drainage here is a real, ongoing issue that requires real solutions.
What we install is built to last 30 to 40 years. That means rigid PVC pipe, not flex. It means properly graded trenches with verified slope. It means geotextile filter fabric that keeps soil out of the pipe so the system doesn’t clog in year three. And it means a discharge point — whether that’s daylight, a dry well, or a storm sewer connection — that actually handles the volume your property generates during a hard rain.
For homes near Valley Creek, Gulph Creek, or the Schuylkill River corridor, we factor in proximity to flood-prone areas when we design the system. For the hillside properties in Gulph Mills, we address uphill runoff specifically. And for any pre-1978 home in King of Prussia or the surrounding neighborhoods, our environmental assessment runs alongside the drainage work — not as a separate project, but as part of the same job. That’s the difference between a drainage contractor and a contractor who actually understands what they’re getting into.
Yes — and it’s worth knowing before you hire anyone. Upper Merion Township requires a Class A Stormwater, Drainage, and Erosion Control Permit for most residential drainage projects involving new impervious surface under 3,000 square feet or land disturbance under 5,000 square feet. If the work extends into the right-of-way or touches a driveway apron, a separate road opening permit is also required.
A contractor who skips the permit process isn’t saving you time — they’re exposing you to code violation liability and potential complications when you sell the home. We handle the permit requirements as a standard part of every project in Upper Merion. If you have questions about what applies to your specific property, the township’s stormwater line is 610-205-8509, and we’re happy to walk through it with you before the estimate.
Most residential french drain installations fall somewhere between $3,000 and $8,000 depending on the length of the drain, whether it’s an interior or exterior system, and what the site conditions look like. Exterior installs in Upper Merion’s older subdivisions can run higher if there are environmental hazards near the foundation that need to be assessed and addressed before excavation begins.
The honest answer is that cost depends heavily on your specific property. A Gulph Mills hillside home with significant slope drainage issues is a different job than a flat King of Prussia ranch home with a simple perimeter drain. We offer free estimates with no obligation, so you’ll know exactly what you’re looking at before you make any decisions. With median home values in Upper Merion around $500,000, a properly installed drainage system is one of the better investments you can make in protecting that asset long-term.
An exterior french drain is installed around the outside perimeter of your foundation. It intercepts groundwater before it ever reaches the wall and redirects it away from the house. This is generally the more comprehensive solution when the water source is coming from the surrounding soil or from surface runoff — which is common in Upper Merion’s hillside areas and in neighborhoods where decades of soil settlement have changed how water moves across the lot.
An interior french drain is installed inside the basement, typically along the perimeter of the floor. It doesn’t stop water from entering the wall, but it captures it once it does and routes it to a sump pump for removal. Interior systems are often the right call when exterior excavation isn’t practical or when the problem is primarily hydrostatic pressure coming through the foundation floor. In many Upper Merion homes — especially those built in the 1950s — the answer is actually a combination of both, and we’ll tell you that honestly during the estimate rather than defaulting to the more expensive option.
It’s a legitimate concern, and most drainage contractors won’t bring it up. Any home built before 1978 may contain lead-based paint — and that includes the foundation walls, window trim, and structural elements that get disturbed during excavation or interior demolition. The EPA’s RRP Rule requires certified contractors to follow specific protocols when working in pre-1978 homes to prevent lead dust exposure.
We’re a certified lead inspector and risk assessor. Before we excavate near any foundation in an older King of Prussia home, we assess for lead and other environmental hazards first. If something needs to be addressed before the drainage work begins, we handle it — we don’t subcontract it out or leave it for you to figure out. This is especially relevant for families with young children or anyone with respiratory sensitivities, and it’s one of the reasons our process looks different from a standard waterproofing contractor’s.
A properly installed french drain using rigid perforated PVC pipe, clean crushed stone, and quality filter fabric should last 30 to 40 years. The systems that fail early — sometimes within five years — are almost always the ones installed with corrugated flex pipe, which collapses under soil pressure and clogs with sediment. If you’ve had a french drain installed before and it stopped working, that’s usually why.
Maintenance is minimal but not zero. Over time, the filter fabric can become saturated with fine particles, and the pipe can accumulate debris — especially in wooded areas like Gulph Mills where organic material is more prevalent. French drain cleaning every several years, or after major storm events that push significant sediment through the system, is a reasonable maintenance schedule. We can assess the condition of an existing system during an estimate if you’re not sure whether yours needs replacement or just cleaning.
No catch. Cash payments reduce our processing overhead, and we pass that savings directly to you. It’s a straightforward arrangement that works well for homeowners who prefer to manage larger home improvement transactions outside of financing — which, in a township like Upper Merion where a significant portion of residents are established professionals, is more common than you might think.
It’s also worth knowing that we offer free estimates with no obligation. You’re not paying for a sales visit. You get a real assessment of what’s happening with your drainage, what it will take to fix it, and what it will cost — and then you decide. We’ve been in Montgomery County long enough to know that the best way to earn a customer is to be straight with them from the first conversation, not after they’ve already signed something.
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