How much does yard regrading cost in Irving?

There is no single honest price for yard regrading in Irving. The job can mean hand-shaping a 10-foot strip beside the slab or cutting a swale across a whole backyard, and cost follows area, soil moved, access, restoration and permits. Rein Irving Drainage Company explains each driver here and prices regrading only after elevations are measured.

Why a single range would mislead

Most drainage work is priced around a product: a foot of French drain or one buried downspout. Regrading is earth moved from where it is to where it should be, and two yards that look equally “flat” can need very different amounts of it.

Three unknowns decide the price, and none can be judged from a photo:

1. Existing elevations. A yard that falls slightly away from the house in one corner and toward it in another needs a survey level or laser, not a glance.
2. Whether soil balances. If the high ground can fill the low ground, nothing is bought or hauled. If not, every cubic yard is trucked in or out.
3. Where the water ends up. The new surface must lead to an outlet the law allows, which can lengthen a swale or add a catch basin where grade alone cannot get water there.

A figure quoted before those are known is a guess, so we do not publish one.

The cost drivers

What the slope target means in soil

The common residential code standard is 6 inches of fall in the first 10 feet away from the foundation, about a 5 percent slope. Raising ground at the house by an average of 2 inches over a 40-foot wall and 10 feet out is about 67 cubic feet, roughly 2.5 cubic yards. That is little soil, but it is placed by hand, kept below the brick ledge and weep holes, and compacted so it does not settle.

Where soil cannot go higher at the wall, the yard is cut down farther out instead, which moves more soil but protects the slab edge. The slope guide explains how much fall different parts of a yard need.

How Irving soil changes the work

In Las Colinas, a USDA soil survey sample point shows Ferris and Heiden clay, about half clay particles and slow to take water. Clay is sticky when wet and hard when dry, so it shapes well only in a narrow moisture window and is compacted in thin layers. Near Irving Boulevard, a sample point shows about 15 inches of loamy fine sand over sandy clay loam. That topsoil shapes easily but erodes from a steep swale unless sod goes down quickly. These are sample points, not every lot.

City rules that add cost

• Grand Prairie: an earthwork permit when grade or drainage pattern changes, $50 for a lot under half an acre and $100 above; earthen surfaces need at least 1 percent slope and paved surfaces 0.5 percent; concentrated runoff onto an adjacent lot needs an easement or recorded release.
• Dallas: single-family and duplex lots under 2 acres are exempt from the grading permit, but floodplain earthwork is reviewed.
• University Park: side-yard grade is capped at 5 percent, and a plan comes before the permit.
• Southlake: new houses and additions need a drainage and grading plan.
• Irving: we confirm the rule per address.

Texas Water Code section 11.086 applies everywhere: regrading must not divert water onto a neighbor in a way that damages their property. See neighbor runoff in Texas.

Ways to keep a regrade small

• Fix the roof water first. Buried downspouts take the largest single flow away from the slab, which can shrink the area that needs reshaping.
• Start at the foundation. The first 10 feet do most of the work for the slab; see foundation drainage.
• Balance on site. A design that uses the yard’s own high spots avoids trucking.
• Add a basin where grade runs out. On a flat lot, a catch basin at the low point can replace a long cut.

Getting a real number

Send photos from each corner of the house looking out, plus any spot where water stands, through the contact page. The drainage assessment helps sort grade problems from soil problems, and the drainage cost overview shows how regrading fits with the other work a yard may need.

Questions people ask

Why won't a contractor quote regrading over the phone?

Because the price depends on elevations nobody has measured yet. Until someone shoots the grade from the slab to the outlet, it is not known whether soil needs to be added, removed or just moved, and that difference can change the job several times over.

Is regrading priced by the cubic yard?

Soil volume is part of the calculation, especially for imported fill or haul-off, but labor, access, hand work near the house and restoration usually add more than the soil itself. Most estimates are a job price built from those pieces.

Is regrading cheaper than putting in a drain?

Sometimes. Where the problem is ground sloping toward the house or a shallow dip with a natural path to an outlet, regrading may be the whole fix. Where the yard is flat to the curb or water moves through the soil, regrading alone will not finish the job.