What Homeowners Say
Scott H.
"Serenity did a great job on our patio. They came out sooner than I expected and the new space completely changed how we use the backyard."
Maria L.
"From the first design meeting we felt heard. The fire pit and seating wall are exactly what we pictured, and the crew left the site spotless every day."
Dave & Karen R.
"One team designed and built the whole outdoor kitchen, so there was a single point of accountability start to finish. Couldn’t be happier."
Drainage Build
Where Does the Water in Your Yard Go?
Jon walks the property before he designs anything, often right after a rain, and follows the water from where it lands to where it collects: the roofline, the downspouts, the slope coming off the neighbor's yard, the low corner that never dries out. The fix depends on the source. A soggy lawn fed by downspouts needs a different system from a hillside pushing groundwater toward the house.
Drainage also shapes everything else in the yard. If a patio, wall, or new planting bed is in your plans, we design the water path first so the new work sits on dry, stable ground.
Explore Drainage Options
Find the Right Drainage System for Your Yard
French Drains
A trench lined with filter fabric, filled with washed stone, and laid with perforated pipe pitched toward an outlet. Water that soaks into the stone finds the pipe and follows it out of the yard. French drains handle wet strips along a foundation, a fence line, or the bottom of a slope.
Downspout and Underground Drain Lines
Solid pipe that carries roof water from each downspout, underground, to an outlet well away from the house. An inch of rain on a 2,000-square-foot roof sends about 1,200 gallons to the downspouts, and most of it lands within a few feet of the foundation unless something carries it farther.
Dry Wells
An underground chamber that collects water from a drain line and lets it soak into the surrounding soil over several hours. Where a yard has no low spot to let a pipe drain into open air, a dry well gives the water somewhere to go. They work best in sandy ground.
Catch Basins
A grated box set at the low point of a lawn or the base of a slope. It collects surface water before it pools and sends it into an underground line, often the same line carrying water from the downspouts.
Channel Drains
A narrow grated trench set flush in a patio, walkway, or driveway edge. It catches sheets of water coming off hard surfaces, especially where a patio meets the house or a driveway slopes toward the garage.
Regrading and Swales
Reshaping the soil so the yard slopes away from the house, or cutting a shallow, planted channel that steers water around it. Sometimes the whole fix is getting the grade right. More often, grading works alongside an underground system.
Where We Build
Across Southwest Michigan
Serenity Outdoors is based in Schoolcraft and builds throughout Kalamazoo County and the surrounding Southwest Michigan communities, reaching the lakeshore at the southern end.
Inland communities
Lakeshore corridor
Why Serenity
Why Homeowners Choose Serenity Outdoors
We Find the Source Before We Pick the System
A French drain in the wrong spot moves water that was never the problem. We trace where the water starts and test how fast your soil drains before choosing a system. Every line gets enough pitch to empty between storms, so nothing sits in the pipe to freeze over a Michigan winter. The outlet goes where water can soak in or drain away without landing in a neighbor's yard.
We Use One Designer from Beginning to End
Jon designs the system and stays on the project through the install with Isaac and Daniel. You're not handed from a salesperson to a crew that never saw the plan. The same person who mapped the water checks the pitch as the pipe goes in.
We Make It Easy to Build in Phases
Drainage is often the first phase of a bigger yard plan. We design the whole space, then sequence it so the water work goes in first and nothing gets torn out when the patio or plantings follow.
Certified & Recognized
NDS Certified Drainage Contractor
ICPI Certified Concrete Paver Installer
Who We Build For
Built for How You Live Outside
We work with homeowners in Southwest Michigan who want a yard they can use the day after a storm. If you're fixing one wet corner or planning a full outdoor living space, we invite you to check out our design process.
How To Get Started
Four Steps From Idea to Build
Contact
You'll talk with our team to discuss your project, budget, and whether we're a good fit for your yard.
Consult
We'll come visit your property and assess the space and your needs.
Customize
You'll receive a fully custom proposal and design.
Contract
Once you sign the contract and submit your deposit, we'll get started.
Imagine It
Picture the Finished Space
It rained two inches overnight in April. By lunch the dog is tearing across the lawn again. The corner by the fence that used to hold water for a week is just grass. Nobody has worried about the basement in months.
Schedule A Design ConsultationFAQs
Drainage Project Questions
Still not sure about something? Give us a call, we'd rather talk it through than leave you guessing.
269-274-3947How much does yard drainage cost? +
Trench length, depth, soil type, the outlet, and how much lawn or hardscape sits in the way all move the number. A few downspout lines carried out to the yard sit at the low end. A French drain along the full back of a house with a dry well at the end sits higher. We go through firm pricing at the consultation, once Jon has seen where the water goes.
French drain or dry well? +
They often work together. A French drain collects the water, and a dry well gives it a place to go when the yard has no low spot for an outlet. In sandy soil, a dry well can take a lot of water. In clay, we look for another outlet because the water has nowhere to soak in.
Is this the same as basement waterproofing? +
No. Waterproofing companies work on the foundation itself. We handle the water in the yard before it reaches the house: roof water, surface runoff, and groundwater moving downhill. If water is already coming through the foundation, fixing the yard is often part of the answer, and we'll tell you if it isn't the whole answer.
Can you fix drainage around an existing patio? +
Often, yes. Channel drains can be cut into a patio edge, and a French drain can sit along its low side. If the patio has already sunk, we look at whether the base needs rebuilding along with the drainage, because resetting pavers over the same conditions buys a few years at best.
How long does drainage installation take? +
Most drainage projects take a few days on site. A full perimeter system, or one paired with regrading, takes longer. You'll get a timeline with your proposal.
Will installation tear up my lawn? +
There will be a trench and some soil moved. When we finish, we restore the grade and reseed or replace sod along the trench line so the yard settles back in.
Keep Exploring
Related Services
Patios & Walkways
The living surface that ties the backyard together, sized and shaped around how you use the space.
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Retaining & Seating Walls
Walls that hold a grade or wrap a patio with built-in seating, structure and comfort in one.
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Hardscaping
Patios, walls, steps, and walkways laid out as one connected space, set on a base that holds up through Michigan winters.
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