# Commercial drainage contractor in Plano, TX

> Commercial drainage in Plano, TX for HOA common areas, retail and office lots: inlets, trench drains and grading, with engineered plans and permits as needed.

URL: https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/commercial-drainage/

Drainage for HOA common areas, retail centers and office lots: inlets, trench drains, storm tie-ins and grading, built to engineered plans where the city requires them.

Last Updated: November 11, 2026

- **Catch:** downspouts, low spots, side swales
- **Carry:** solid pipe at a steady fall
- **Release:** to the street, never the neighbor

## Water standing in the lot or the common area?

Ponding at a storefront, a flooded entry median or a soggy greenbelt behind the pool starts the same way a yard problem does: water with no working path out. What changes is the scale, the traffic and who signs off.

[Clay Plano Drainage Company](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/) handles commercial drainage for HOA common areas and retail and office lots in Plano and nearby cities. We scope the job, coordinate the engineering and permits it needs, and manage the work around the people using the site.

## What happens on the first visit

We walk the site with whoever fields the complaints: the property manager, the HOA board’s contact or the facilities lead. Photos and dates from past storms help separate recurring problems from one-off ones.

- **Where water collects.** Parking rows, entries, loading areas, sidewalks, amenity decks and greenbelts.
- **The existing system.** Curb inlets, area drains, trench drains, storm lines and any detention outlet, and whether each one flows.
- **The paperwork.** The plat, easements, any approved drainage or grading plan, and who the plat makes responsible for maintenance.
- **Traffic and access.** Fire lanes, deliveries, residents’ routes and business hours.
- **What needs an engineer.** Storm sewer tie-ins, work in the right-of-way, or grading across a larger area.

You get a written scope showing the phasing and what needs engineering or a permit before the bid is final.

## HOA common areas

Common areas carry water from many lots at once. Entry medians, greenbelts, amenity centers and the swales behind rows of houses all take runoff from the homes around them.

- **Greenbelt swales** that have silted up or been planted over.
- **Pool decks and amenity patios** that pond at the door or drain toward a building.
- **Entry medians and islands** where irrigation and runoff keep the turf soft.
- **Easements behind homes** where fences, beds or sheds now block the flow.

Who maintains what depends on the plat. In Plano, house drainage easements are privately maintained. In [McKinney](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/service-areas/mckinney/), the engineering manual puts private drainage on the lot owner, or on the HOA where the plat says so. The guide to [drainage easements in Plano](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/drainage-easements-plano/) explains what an easement does and doesn’t change.

## Retail and office lots

Paved lots move water fast. Every square foot of asphalt and roof sends its rain to the inlets, so a clogged or undersized inlet floods a row of parking in a hurry.

| Where it ponds | What usually fixes it |
| --- | --- |
| Storefront walks and entries | A [channel drain](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/channel-drains/) across the walk or drive, with a traffic-rated grate |
| Low spots in parking rows | A new inlet or a [catch basin](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/catch-basins/) tied to the storm line, with the paving patched around it |
| Loading docks and ramps | A trench drain at the bottom of the ramp, sized to the paving above |
| Landscape islands | [Regrading](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/yard-grading/) so the island stops shedding mud and water onto the curb line |

Grates and channels on a commercial lot carry cars and delivery trucks, so they’re rated for that load. A residential grate under a box truck cracks or shifts.

A new inlet at a parking row’s low point, with the asphalt patched around it.

## Engineering, permits and stormwater rules

Commercial drainage has more sign-offs than a home yard. Where the work ties into public storm drains, regrades a site or crosses the right-of-way, the plans and permits come first.

| What the job touches | What it needs |
| --- | --- |
| Plano right-of-way, curbs, drive approaches or storm drains | The city’s Engineering Permit for public infrastructure, kept on site once approved |
| Grading across a site | A grading plan under Plano’s Stormwater Design Manual |
| New detention or storm sewer design | A civil engineer’s stamped design |
| Open trenches near storm inlets | Construction runoff controls under the city’s MS4 permit |
| [Garland](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/service-areas/garland/) right-of-way or easements | A permit with engineered plans |

Engineers size inlets and pipe for a chosen design storm. For central Plano, NOAA’s rainfall atlas puts a storm with a 10 percent chance in any year at about 2.52 inches in an hour. The engineer chooses the storm a site has to carry, and inlets, pipe and overflow routes follow from it.

Plano’s manual also says natural flow can’t be diverted or impounded in a way that damages adjacent or downstream property. Where the scope is design work, the engineer of record leads, and we manage the work to that plan.

## Working around an open site

A commercial job happens around people who still need the site. The plan for that matters as much as the drainage.

- **Phases.** The work goes in sections, so part of the lot, the pool area or the entry stays usable.
- **Fire lanes and accessible routes** stay open, or get a marked detour the property agrees to.
- **Noisy work** such as saw-cutting gets scheduled with the property manager or board.
- **Notice.** An HOA can pass the schedule to residents before work reaches their area.

The guides to [where yard drain water can go](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/where-can-yard-drain-water-go/) and [Plano drainage rules](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/plano-drainage-rules/) cover the outlet and lot rules that apply to common areas too.

## Keeping a commercial system working

Commercial drains clog the same way home drains do, only faster, because more paving sends more grit and litter to each inlet.

- **Inlets and trench drains** need clearing after the fall leaves drop and before the spring storms.
- **Sweeping the lot** keeps sand and debris out of the storm line in the first place.
- **Clippings from landscape maintenance** belong in bags, not blown into the curb line. Plano makes it illegal to dump debris into ditches and channels.
- **Greenbelt swales** need mowing and silt removal so they keep their shape.

A short maintenance list in the closeout walk tells the property manager or board what to check and when. Lines that keep backing up are a job for [drain repair and cleaning](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/drainage-repair/).

## How commercial drainage is priced

We scope and bid each commercial job, because no two sites share the same mix of engineering, paving and phasing. The written bid lists each part of the work, so a board or an owner can see what drives the total.

The biggest drivers:

- Engineered plans and city permits
- Traffic-rated inlets and channel
- Storm sewer tie-ins and right-of-way work
- Paving cut and replacement
- Phasing around occupants, traffic and open hours
- The volume of earthwork

Where a common area problem starts on the homes around it, the fix can include [French drain](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/french-drain-installation/) or [yard drainage](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/yard-drainage/) work on those lots, scoped with each owner.

## What's included

- A site walk with the property manager or HOA contact to map where water collects
- A review of the plat, any approved drainage plan and the easements on the site
- A written scope and bid, phased around open hours, traffic or residents' access
- Coordination with the engineer of record where plans or permits need one
- Permit applications for right-of-way work
- Traffic-rated inlets, trench drains and solid pipe to the storm system or an approved outlet
- Saw-cut and paving replacement around new inlets and channels
- Silt controls protecting storm inlets while the work is open
- Flow testing before backfill and a closeout walk showing what went in and where

## Home yard, common area or commercial lot?

|  | Home yard | HOA common area | Retail or office lot |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Who signs off | The homeowner, sometimes the HOA | The HOA board, under the plat and covenants | The owner or property manager, often with an engineer |
| Plans | A drawn route on the estimate | A drawn route, or engineered plans for larger areas | Engineered plans where the city requires them |
| Grates and pipe | Lawn and foot-traffic grates | Foot traffic and maintenance vehicles | Car and delivery-truck loads |
| Scheduling | Around the household | Around residents, pools and amenity hours | Around open hours, deliveries and parking |

## How we run a job

### Call

You tell us what you see, where it pools and when.

### Look

We walk the yard, measure the fall and find a legal outlet.

### Mark

We call Texas811 for locates and paint our route in white.

### Build

We trench to grade and set stone, fabric, pipe and outlet.

### Test

We run water through the system before any backfill.

### Restore

We put back sod and beds and repair crossed sprinkler lines.

## What this work looks like

New square grate inlet set in patched asphalt at the low point of a parking row

Heavy cast-iron trench drain grate across the sidewalk in front of a row of storefronts

Reshaped grass swale running along an HOA greenbelt behind a row of back fences

Silt protection wrapped around a curb inlet beside an open trench in a commercial lot

## Commercial drainage: questions

### Does commercial drainage work in Plano need engineered plans?

When it ties into public storm drains, works in the right-of-way or regrades a larger area, expect to. Plano's Engineering Permit covers storm drain, paving and grading work in public infrastructure, and the Stormwater Design Manual calls for grading plans for land disturbance. Smaller repairs inside a lot may not need them, and we confirm before bidding.

### Who maintains the drainage in our HOA's common areas?

The plat decides. In Plano, house drainage easements are privately maintained, and owners are expected to keep ditches on their property clear. McKinney's design manual puts private drainage on the lot owner, or the HOA where the plat says so. We read the plat with you before scoping.

### Can the work happen while the center stays open?

Usually, by phasing it. We plan the work in sections so part of the lot stays open, keep fire lanes and accessible routes clear, and agree timing for noisy saw-cutting with the property. The phasing is written into the scope.

### Do you design detention ponds?

No. New detention or retention systems are designed by a civil engineer for the site. We can scope and manage drainage work to that engineer's stamped plan, and handle the inlets, channels, grading and pipe around it.

### How is a commercial drainage job priced?

We scope and bid each job, because engineering, permits, paving, traffic-rated parts, storm tie-ins and phasing differ from site to site. The written bid lists each part of the work, so a board or owner can see what drives the total.

## Related services

- [Service**Channel drains** A grated trench set into concrete at a driveway, patio or garage apron that catches water running across the paving before it reaches the house.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/channel-drains/)
- [Service**Catch basins** A grated box set at the lowest point of a lawn, bed edge or patio that takes in surface water and sends it through solid pipe to an outlet.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/catch-basins/)
- [Service**Yard grading** Reshaping the soil so the ground falls away from the slab and toward a swale or the street, set to measured slopes instead of guesswork.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/yard-grading/)

## Get an estimate for commercial drainage

Tell us where the water stands and when. We walk the yard, measure the fall and send a written estimate.