Wet yards, flooded basements, icy driveways — it’s all the same problem: water with nowhere to go. We give Laconia water a better path with grading, drains, and culverts that actually work.
Laconia dirt work is tight-access work. Between Weirs Beach cottage lots, the downtown grid, and the older neighborhoods off Union Avenue, you’re often threading a mini excavator between a house, a fence, and a neighbor’s garage with a few feet to spare. A lot of jobs start with demolition — pulling an old block foundation or a settled slab before anything new goes in. The city’s underground is crowded too: water, sewer, gas, and decades of forgotten lines, so Dig Safe 811 marks come first on every single job, no exceptions. Along Paugus Bay and the Winnisquam shore, anything within 250 feet of the water falls under the state Shoreland Act, which changes how much you can strip and grade. Old fill is common; we’d rather find the surprises in a test pit than in your budget.
On Laconia’s older lots, always budget for what’s under the surface — buried tanks, old footings, and construction debris from previous structures turn up constantly. A short exploratory dig before finalizing your site plan costs little and can save a change order that runs into the thousands once concrete is scheduled.
Most wet-basement and swampy-yard problems are solved outside, with dirt. We regrade so the ground pitches away from the foundation, install French and curtain drains that intercept groundwater before it reaches the house, day-light downspouts and footing drains so roof water leaves, and set culverts and swales that carry storm flow through the property instead of across your lawn.
On lake lots this doubles as shoreline stewardship — controlled infiltration instead of erosion channels cutting to the water. Perforated pipe in clean stone, wrapped, pitched, and day-lighted: boring details, dry basement.
French/curtain drain installs typically run $2,000–$8,000 depending on length and depth; regrading and downspout day-lighting often less. We find where the water comes from before quoting, and the quote is flat.
Often, yes — if the water is coming from surface or shallow groundwater on the uphill side, a curtain drain that intercepts it plus regrading at the foundation solves it outside. If the water table itself is high, interior systems may be part of the answer; we'll tell you which problem you actually have.
Snowmelt plus flat or bowl-shaped grading plus our hardpan soils equals standing water. The cure is a path: swales or drains that give melt somewhere to go. Most wet yards are fixed with a day or two of grading and pipe.
Work within the protected shoreland (250 feet of a lake) or touching wetlands can require NHDES permits. We flag it on the site walk and plan the job so it's done right and documented.
Free site walks, test pits before quotes, flat pricing, and a crew that knows Lakes Region ground.
Tell us where the property is and what you’re trying to do. We’ll walk the site, talk it through, and give you a straight, flat quote.
