# Yard drainage and regrading in McKinney, TX, from a drainage contractor who measures the slope first

> Drainage contractor in McKinney, TX: regrading, swales and French drains built to McKinney's grading minimums, with owner-maintained creeks. Book a site visit.

URL: https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/service-areas/mckinney/

Drainage contractor in McKinney, TX: regrading, swales and French drains built to McKinney's grading minimums, with owner-maintained creeks. Book a site visit.

Last Updated: November 11, 2026

- **Permits:** City of McKinney Engineering (Engineering Design Manual)
- **Storm drainage:** City of McKinney (streets and public storm drains); private drainage stays with the lot owner
- **The rule that changes the job:** 6 in fall in first 10 ft

## What usually starts a drainage job in McKinney

### A back-yard swale that stopped moving

The grass swale behind the fence holds a strip of water for days. McKinney leaves private drainage with the lot owner, so the repair is yours to arrange even if the swale sits in an easement.

### A creek bank losing ground

The yard ends at a natural creek and the edge keeps slumping. In McKinney the creek and floodplain on your lot are yours to maintain, and the outlet design has to protect that bank.

### Ground that runs toward the slab

A new patio or bed left the soil tipping back at the house. McKinney's manual asks for 6 inches of fall in the first 10 feet, and we measure against that.

### Clay that stays soft after rain

Soil maps show Houston Black clay in McKinney, and it takes water in very slowly. A lawn there can stay wet long after the storm has passed.

## Swale behind the fence holding water?

A back-yard swale should carry water past the house and out to the street or the creek. When one stripe of grass stays soft for days, the slope has flattened somewhere.

[Clay Plano Drainage Company](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/) regrades yards and builds swales, French drains and downspout lines in McKinney. Before we change anything, we measure. McKinney’s design manual sets slope minimums for yards and swales, and those numbers tell us how much fall the fix has to recover.

## The slopes McKinney asks for

McKinney’s Engineering Design Manual, adopted May 5, 2026, sets out how a residential lot is graded. It reads like a checklist for a healthy yard, and it is the yardstick we use when we take levels on your lot.

| Where | McKinney’s minimum | What it means in your yard |
| --- | --- | --- |
| First 10 feet from the house | 6 inches of fall (5% toward drains or swales where barriers are in the way) | Water leaves the slab edge before it soaks in |
| Paved surfaces within 10 feet | 1% slope away from the house | Patios and walks don’t send water back to the wall |
| Earthen swales | 2% | A grass swale keeps moving water instead of holding it |
| Side and back yards | 1% | Gentle, but enough that a puddle can’t settle |
| Paved swales | 0.6% | Concrete flumes can run flatter than grass |
| Earthen side slopes | 3 to 1 at most | Banks you can mow and that hold their shape |

The same section bars lot-to-lot drainage. Once runoff reaches the right-of-way or a drainage or floodplain easement, it may not be turned back onto private property.

## Your swale, your repair

This McKinney rule is easy to miss. Section 4.1.G of the manual says private drainage facilities are maintained by the owner of the lot they sit on, or by an HOA where the plat says so.

A drainage easement doesn’t change that. The easement gives the water a right to pass; it doesn’t hand the swale to the city. If the swale behind your fence has silted in or been flattened by a new fence line, the repair falls to the lot owner. A swale repair usually involves:

- **Reading the fall** along the full length, not just at the wet spot.
- **Reshaping the channel** to the 2% the manual asks for on earthen swales, where the lot allows it.
- **A [side-yard drain](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/side-yard-drainage/)** in solid pipe where a slab or AC pad leaves no room for a swale.
- **Cleanouts** on any piped section, so it can be flushed later.

Our [guide to drainage easements](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/drainage-easements-plano/) shows how to find yours on the plat.

## A creek at the bottom of the yard

Lots that back onto a natural creek have a second duty. McKinney’s manual says creeks and floodplain areas are owned and maintained by the property owner, not the city.

For a drain, that changes the outlet. Water piped to a creek bank arrives fast and in one spot, and on a soft bank that can cut a gully. Where a yard line has to end near a creek, we plan:

- **Where the outlet meets the bank,** set back from the edge rather than poking out over it.
- **How the water slows down** before it leaves the pipe, with rock at the outlet where the bank needs it.
- **What the overflow does** in a storm bigger than the line can carry.

Work inside a floodplain is confirmed with the city for your address before any of it is planned.

The [floodplain or drainage problem guide](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/floodplain-or-drainage-problem/) helps you tell a creek-flood issue from a yard-drainage one.

## Heavy clay in McKinney yards

Soil maps show Houston Black clay in McKinney, the same heavy clay found under much of Plano. About half of it is clay, it takes in water at roughly three hundredths of an inch an hour, and it swells as it gets wet.

That has two effects in a McKinney yard. Water that reaches the lawn sits on top instead of soaking away, and clay that stays wet along one side of a slab moves differently from the dry side. The fixes follow from that:

- **[Downspout lines](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/downspout-drainage/)** that carry roof water well clear of the slab, since the clay won’t take it quickly.
- **[Foundation-edge drainage](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/foundation-drainage/)** where water keeps pooling against the beam.
- **French drains with a larger stone zone and fabric** to keep clay fines out of the pipe, explained in the guide to [French drains in clay soil](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/french-drains-in-clay-soil/).

The [guide to foundation moisture in clay soil](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/foundation-moisture-clay-soil/) goes further into why even moisture matters.

## Signs the grade has slipped

A yard that drained well when the house was new can lose its fall over time. Clay settles, beds get topped up, and a fence or shed ends up across the swale. Look for these after a rain:

- **A stripe of wet grass** along the back or side fence that is still soft two days later.
- **Mulch washed onto the walk** from a bed next to the house.
- **Water standing on a patio** that tilts toward the back door.
- **Downspouts that empty onto a bed** right at the slab edge.
- **A fence bottom that dams the swale,** with silt piled on the uphill side.

Take a short video during the next storm. It shows us more than a dry-day photo, and with the address it is enough to plan the visit. The [cost estimator](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/tools/drainage-cost-estimator/) gives you a first range before we come out.

## From the square to the tollway

McKinney stretches across US 75 and SH 5 in the middle, with US 380 crossing east to west and SH 121 along the south. Grade, swales and creek frontage vary a lot across that spread.

Next to McKinney, the rules shift:

- **[Allen](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/service-areas/allen/)** lets a concrete slab reach no more than 1 foot into the side swale.
- **[Prosper](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/service-areas/prosper/)** allows one curb core per lot, no wider than 3 inches, through a right-of-way permit.
- **[Lucas](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/service-areas/lucas/)** asks for a permit before work in or near a street, right-of-way or easement.

## How we fix a McKinney yard

We work from the slope back to the pipe. On gentle clay slopes, a wet yard is usually a grading problem before it is a pipe problem.

- **Measure before we price.** Grade stakes and a level along every swale and away from the slab.
- **Fix the slope where it’s broken.** [Yard regrading](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/yard-grading/) brings the fall back to the manual’s minimums.
- **Pipe only what grading can’t carry.** Roof water, a boxed-in side yard, a low corner with nowhere to go.
- **Test with water** before backfill, so a low spot shows while the trench is open.
- **Put the yard back.** Sod in its strips, sprinkler lines repaired, and a walk-through at the end.

A failing older line is a different job: [drainage repair](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/drainage-repair/) is priced once a camera or flush test finds the problem section.

## Drainage services in McKinney

- [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/)
- [Service**Side yard drainage** Restoring or replacing the shallow swale between two houses so water from the back yard reaches the street instead of pooling along the fence and the slab.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/side-yard-drainage/)
- [Service**Downspout drainage** Buried solid pipe that takes roof water from each downspout past the beds and the slab to a pop-up emitter, an existing line or a permitted curb outlet.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/downspout-drainage/)
- [Service**Foundation drainage** Drainage work that keeps water from collecting against your slab: downspout lines, perimeter drains and grade along the beam. Not structural foundation repair.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/foundation-drainage/)
- [Service**French drains** A trench of washed stone and pipe that collects water held in the soil and carries it to a legal outlet at the street side of the lot.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/french-drain-installation/)
- [Service**Drain repair and cleaning** Finding why an existing French drain, yard drain or downspout line stopped working, then cleaning it, repairing the failed section or redesigning what never worked.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/drainage-repair/)

## How a job usually runs in McKinney

### Tell us what moved

Send the address and pictures of the swale, the creek edge or the low corner. Tell us whether the plat shows an easement or an HOA lot behind you.

### Levels on the visit

We set grade stakes and read the fall from the slab outward, then along each swale to its end. A soil probe shows how much clay the route will cut through.

### A plan that meets the manual

The written estimate gives the new slopes beside McKinney's minimums, the outlet and what gets restored. Any city permit for the work is arranged as part of the job.

### Build and prove it

After Texas811 locates and a white-painted route, we cut the sod in strips, shape or trench, and run water down the system before backfill. You walk the finished route with us.

## Neighborhoods, landmarks and routes

### Routes

- US 75
- SH 121 (Sam Rayburn Tollway)
- US 380 (University Drive)
- SH 5 (McDonald Street)

## McKinney: questions

### Who maintains the drainage swale behind my McKinney house?

Usually you do. McKinney's Engineering Design Manual says private drainage facilities are maintained by the owner of the lot they sit on, or by an HOA where the plat assigns it. A drainage easement over the swale doesn't move that duty to the city.

### Does McKinney take care of a creek that runs through my yard?

No. Under the city's design manual, natural creeks and floodplain areas are owned and maintained by the property owner, even inside an easement. Erosion control on the bank is the owner's job, and floodplain work is confirmed with the city for the address before anything is planned.

### How steep should the ground be around a house in McKinney?

The manual calls for finished grade to fall at least 6 inches in the first 10 feet from a building, or 5% toward drains or swales where a wall or walk is in the way. Paved surfaces within 10 feet slope at least 1% away from the house.

### What does regrading or a swale cost in McKinney?

Our rates are the same here as across the area. Our typical range for yard regrading is $1,000 to $4,000 per project, and a side-yard swale or pipe is $1,500 to $4,000 per side yard. Underground downspout lines run $300 to $800 each. The site visit and written estimate set your number.

### Can the water from my McKinney yard drain go into the easement behind me?

It can reach an easement that is meant to carry it, but McKinney doesn't allow lot-to-lot drainage, and once runoff is in the right-of-way or a drainage easement it may not be sent back onto private property. We plan the outlet so the water keeps moving downstream.

## Nearby service areas

- [City of Allen Engineering (right-of-way permits)**Allen**](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/service-areas/allen/)
- [City of Lucas (permits for work in or near streets, right-of-way and easements)**Lucas**](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/service-areas/lucas/)
- [Town of Prosper (right-of-way permit for curb coring)**Prosper**](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/service-areas/prosper/)

## Guides for yards in McKinney

- [Learn**How does drainage affect foundation movement on clay soil?** Plano's clay swells when wet and shrinks when dry, so where storm water lands around a slab matters. What drainage can do about it, and when the house itself needs a foundation professional.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/foundation-moisture-clay-soil/)
- [Learn**Is it a floodplain problem or a yard drainage problem?** A flooded back yard by a creek and a flooded back yard on a flat lot look alike from the patio. Where the water came from decides who can fix it, and what a yard drain can and can't do.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/floodplain-or-drainage-problem/)
- [Learn**Drainage easement rules in Plano: what can you build in one?** The strip along your side or back line may be yours on paper and reserved for water in practice. How to find it, what tends to block it, and how to plan around it.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/drainage-easements-plano/)
- [Learn**Do French drains work in clay soil?** Plano's clay moves water at a crawl, which changes where a trench goes, how much stone it holds and what keeps it from silting up. What works here, and why some clay drains quit.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/french-drains-in-clay-soil/)

## Get an estimate in McKinney

Tell us what the water is doing and where the house is in McKinney.