Site intelligence · Reviewed July 2026
Why water movement, soil behavior, roof runoff, walls, pools, terraces, and landscape systems must be coordinated before finishes.
Illustrative registry studyDrainage and soil behavior should be treated as whole-property systems. Roofs, terraces, pools, walls, lawns, drives, neighboring runoff, irrigation, snowmelt, and subsurface conditions interact; solving each feature independently can simply move water and risk somewhere else.
Owner briefing
Document high and low points, roof discharge, swales, inlets, walls, drives, neighboring flows, irrigation, snow storage, pool overflow, and known wet areas. A drainage concept must explain where water begins, how it travels, and where it safely ends.
Expansive or compressible soils, undocumented fill, collapsible material, frost, and moisture variation can affect slabs, walls, foundations, decks, utilities, and landscape. Site-specific professional advice may be appropriate where consequences are material.
Surface slope, joints, waterproofing, drains, wall backdrainage, footing drains, subbase, sleeves, penetrations, thresholds, and adjacent foundations should be detailed as interfaces rather than delegated to separate trades.
Soil preparation, planting zones, irrigation, mulch, native areas, turf, tree establishment, and drainage structures should operate together. Overwatering near foundations or walls can undermine otherwise careful structural work.
Provide accessible cleanouts, serviceable drains, visible overflow paths, erosion monitoring, seasonal startup and shutdown, and documentation for the owner. Water systems that cannot be inspected are difficult to manage.
Primary references
Requirements change. Open the current source and verify the parcel, scope, and authority having jurisdiction before relying on any planning assumption.
Private assessment