We purchased a house recently and on the first day we got the keys it rained 6", so we found out the hard way that one side of our new house had serious drainage issues. We had been told by our inspector that the soil line was "a little too high" so we had planned on having drain work done at some point... but unfortunately for us, the soil being "a little to high" was a massive understatement and the heavy rain made fixing this issue an almost emergency-tier problem.
We called several places listed on Yelp with tons of pretty good reviews, asking for quotes for :
-grading the soil down to where 4" of the slab was visible
-a proper drainage system where the water would dump out at the street level
-down-spout tie-ins to said drainage system
-putting in sod on top of the newly graded soil in an otherwise very muddy and pebble-filled area that had a "lean-to" building covering it
-if possible, remove the lean-to building so sunlight could be restored to the area and allow for proper growth of the sod
Dennis was the only one who didn't balk at any one point of this set of requirements and said he could do it in a few days.
He and his crew did it all. Not only that, but they did so at a very reasonable price - and even more impressive was the fact that Dennis used WAAAAY higher quality equipment than what I've seen other drainage companies use.
5+ years ago, we had drainage issues at our previous home, and the company that we ended up using only did drainage work on the side. They were primarily a "sprinkler" company. That company just put in crumply black corrugated tubing you can get from Home Depot, put in little pop up drains that floated away after a heavy storm, and if you stepped on any of the cheapo grates they used, you'd pop the lids off. Also, they refused to drill a hole in the edge of the concrete, and instead just used a crack to flow out storm run-off... which constantly got clogged with leaves. If I didn't clear them out while it was storming heavily, then my backyard patio would flood. That company also charged 5 years ago only a little less than what Dennis does now.
But Dennis?
He used 4" diameter pro-grade PVC pipe, hard shell drains with strong grates anyone can walk on with no issue, and no pop-up drains but instead a 4" diameter core-drilled hole in the concrete street edge that basically dumps out the storm run-off from the new drain system like an amusement park waterslide.
I had only one minor issue, where some of our electrical equipment in a "very-hard-to-get-through-without-bumping-it" spot, causing several of the outlets to short out, but Dennis came out within the next 24 hours and spent literally hours of his own time and bought his own parts to fix the problem so that not only was the panel fixed, but had been more secure than it was before it was bumped.
I can't recommend Dennis enough.
That side of the yard next to the house has been completely transformed from "dark mud-filled pit where Saruman dug up the Uruk-hai in Lord of the Rings" to "miniature dog-park" in just 2 days.
Book Dennis fast if you have any issues with drainage of any kind, as I imagine his schedule will soon be much busier and his rate will probably be much higher than we were lucky enough to get. read more