Carlsbad Concrete Group operates as Southern California's trusted expert in concrete drainage, specializing in driveway trench drains, poured concrete swales, and re-sloped flatwork. We offer cast-in-place channel drains and patio area drains.
Get a free concrete estimate
Our team provides outlet tie-ins to the curb or a dispersal point, delivering dry garages for homes and lasting runoff control for both residential and commercial projects. Backed by 11 years in business and our 1-year workmanship warranty, we have completed over 1,460 projects, from a single trench across a garage apron to a full drive repoured with new fall.
From setting a grate frame flush with the apron edge to tying the last pipe into a swale, our team handles every detail. Serving Carlsbad and neighboring Encinitas, Elfin Forest and Harmony Grove, we run a hose down every new channel before the crew packs up, so you see the water leave.
Call us for a free estimate, and we will trace the stain lines on your concrete to show where the water has been running.
What you can hold us to
Warren, near the Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve, Elfin Forest
Hillside runoff crossing the driveway and pooling at the garage door in every storm
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
Warren's driveway near the Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve caught hillside runoff in every storm, and the water pooled against the garage door before it found anywhere else to go. We cut a 46 linear ft trench across the drive, set a precast trench drain inside a poured concrete channel, and connected it to a swale that walks the water past the house. The work was an estimated $3,600 to $4,900 and took an estimated 1 to 2 days on site. Warren's garage has stayed dry through the storms since, and the drive now sheds its water to the swale instead of the door.
Water that stands on a slab long after rain, or runs toward the house instead of away from it, is the clearest sign your concrete needs a drainage fix, and we see it most on older Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe drives. Other signs are a dark stain line at the base of the garage door, soil washed out from under a panel edge, and efflorescence, the white powder left on concrete when water keeps soaking through it.
Water that keeps reaching the soil under a driveway or patio softens the base, the panel settles, and a drainage problem becomes a replacement. Near a house, the same water ends up against the footing, which is how a wet patio becomes a foundation question.
Our drainage process starts with a site walk that finds where the water comes from, where it collects and where it is allowed to leave, before any concrete is cut. On lots from Del Mar to Bonsall, our estimator shoots the grades with a level, measures the fall across the slab and checks for an outlet: the street curb, a dispersal area or an existing storm drain line.
Most driveway trench drains take an estimated 1 to 2 days, and the concrete around the channel typically needs 7 days before cars cross it again.
A Trench drain or drainage channel in Carlsbad is estimated at roughly $1,000 to $5,000 for about 30 to 50 linear ft, and trench length, the outlet distance and how much old slab has to be cut out move the price most.
About 30 to 50 linear ft of trench drain or concrete swale tied to an outlet
Demolition, haul-off, compacted base, rebar and a broom or exposed finish for a 2-car drive
Integral color, a stamp pattern and release, sealed after cure, about 400 sq ft
Tear-out around the coping, new base and steel, a cool broom, salt or exposed finish
A poured cantilevered wall with footing, steel and drainage behind it, about 50 linear ft
Rough-sawn board forms leave the wood grain in the face, about 200 sq ft of wall
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
| Drainage job | Est. investment | Est. time on site |
|---|---|---|
| Trench drain or drainage channel | Est. $1,000 to $5,000 per project | Est. 1 to 2 days |
| Driveway tear-out and repour with new fall | Est. $3,200 to $10,400 per project | Est. 2 to 5 days |
| Barn aisle and wash rack sloped to a drain | Est. $4,300 to $10,800 per project | Est. 3 to 5 days |
| Engineered retaining wall with a drain line | Est. $8,000 to $24,000 per project | Est. 5 to 10 days |
A long rural drive in Bonsall or a horse lot in Poway usually needs more trench and a longer outlet run than a Carlsbad tract driveway, so those jobs typically sit higher in the range. A slab that already falls toward the garage often needs the full tear-out and repour, because no channel can fix concrete poured the wrong way.
These drainage prices are estimates and can change once we see the outlet and the grades. Your written quote sets the final price and the schedule, based on trench length, the outlet route and how much slab has to come out.
A trench drain catches water that has to cross a slab, a swale carries water around a slab, and a re-sloped slab stops the water collecting in the first place.
| Fix | Best for | Est. investment | Est. time on site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trench drain | Runoff crossing a driveway toward a garage | Est. $1,000 to $5,000 | Est. 1 to 2 days |
| Concrete swale | Hillside sheet flow beside a drive or patio | Est. $1,000 to $5,000 | Est. 1 to 2 days |
| Re-sloped slab (tear-out and repour) | A slab that falls toward the house | Est. $3,200 to $10,400 | Est. 2 to 5 days |
Warren's job was a trench drain feeding a swale, because the water had to cross the drive and then keep moving downhill.
Winter storms are short and heavy along the coast, so drainage here is built for a lot of water in a few hours rather than steady rain. In Encinitas and Solana Beach, bluff-top lots have to send water to the street, never over the bluff edge. Inland in Poway and Lake San Marcos, clay soils swell when wet, so a slab that sits in water moves more there than it would on coastal sand.
Hillside parcels in Elfin Forest and Harmony Grove get the most sheet flow, which is why trench drains and swales are a large share of our foothill work.
A medium broom finish grips when wet, which is why we use it on sloped drives, and a concrete driveway replacement lets us correct the fall across the whole slab at once. Patios that need new fall can be repoured as stamped and decorative concrete, with the drain grate set inside the pattern.
After 11 years of North County storms, homeowners hire us because we find the water first and quote the fix second, so you are not paying for a drain in the wrong place. Our estate location manager has walked foothill lots across Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch in the storm season, and our finishing foreman sets every channel to a string line before the pour. Each drainage job is backed by our 1-year written workmanship warranty from the day the concrete is placed, channel and grate included.
We build drainage across a 35-mile radius of the Carlsbad yard, with much of it on the slopes of Elfin Forest, the horse properties of Poway and the coastal lots of Encinitas. Solana Beach, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, Fairbanks Ranch and the rest are listed on our service area page.
A slope that keeps sliding needs an engineered retaining wall with gravel and a drain line behind it, a corner that has already dropped calls for slab foundation repair, and a muddy wash rack is solved with barn aisle concrete sloped to a drain.
A driveway trench drain is estimated at roughly $1,000 to $5,000 for about 30 to 50 linear ft, and your written quote sets the final price.
Yes, when it spans the full width of the drive and has a working outlet, as Warren's 46 linear ft drain does, it catches the water before the garage door.
We send it to the street curb, an existing storm line or a dispersal area on your lot, which is common on Fairbanks Ranch estate parcels, and the quote names the route.
Yes, a Driveway tear-out and repour or a new patio pour with fall away from the house is the fix, because a channel alone cannot correct a backward slope.
Most trench drain jobs take an estimated 1 to 2 days on site, plus the usual cure before you drive over it.
Most private trench drains need no permit, but a channel that reaches the street is handled like a Driveway approach and curb cut, and we pull that right-of-way permit ourselves.
Our deposit is capped at 10% or $1,000, whichever is less, and the rest is paid in progress payments as the drainage work is done.
Request a free estimate, and we will walk your lot, find where the water starts and write up the fix that sends it away.
Start to finish
We measure the area, shoot the grades and check drainage before anything is quoted.
The quote names the tear-out, base, reinforcement, finish and control joint layout.
The subgrade is compacted and the forms and rebar are checked before the truck is booked.
The crew places, finishes and cuts the joints, then walks the cured work with you.
Where we work
Call us or send the form, and we will book a site walk and measure the job.
Calls only, we do not receive text messages.
