The five questions, expanded

1. "Exactly what pipe are you burying?"

This single question sorts the market. A drainage system built on a solid PVC carrier line can be pressure-flushed for decades; cheap single-wall corrugated pipe crushes under a mower rut, sags into silt-collecting bellies, and can't be meaningfully cleaned. Single-wall has a legitimate place in some collection legs — but a contractor should be able to tell you what goes where and why, with both options priced side by side. Here's the full corrugated-vs-PVC breakdown. In a French drain, ask about the fabric and the aggregate too: in Kansas City clay, cheap landscape fabric is the classic silent killer — it blinds over with fines and the drain suffocates.

2. "Where does the water exit — exactly?"

Every real system has a named discharge point: daylight on a slope, a pop-up emitter, a dry well, or a catch basin feeding one of those. If the salesperson can't point at the exit, there is no system — just a buried trench that fills up. Two follow-ups worth asking: "what's the slope?" (the honest answer is a continuous downhill slope to the outlet, checked with a level — not vibes) and "is that discharge legal?" (never the sanitary sewer, never a neighbor's yard).

3. "Can I see the quote itemized — and can I check your prices?"

Drainage is a blind-pricing market: most contractors quote only after an in-home presentation, which is how identical French drains end up quoted $3,000 apart. Make them itemize: feet of drain at what rate, each basin, each buried downspout line. Then sanity-check the numbers — published KC benchmarks are French drains $25–$60/LF, buried downspouts $300–$700 per line, catch basins $350–$750, dry wells $800–$2,200. (Yes, those are our published prices; they're useful as a yardstick even if you never call us. A quote far above them should come with a reason; far below usually means single-wall corrugated and no fabric.)

4. "Are you insured, and will you call 811?"

Trenching work means general liability insurance (ask for the certificate — a real company produces a COI without drama) and 811 utility locates before any digging. A crew that shrugs at 811 is a crew that will find your gas line the hard way.

5. "What's the warranty — on your work, in writing?"

Two different things get called "warranty." A product warranty (the pipe manufacturer's 50-year rating, for example) covers the plastic, not the install — and the install is what fails. What protects you is a written workmanship warranty covering slope, connections, and function. Be skeptical of "lifetime no-clog" promises on buried pipe: no honest contractor controls what washes into a system for a lifetime. Reputable KC drainage warranties run about 5–10 years on workmanship, in writing.

Red flags that end the conversation

  • No street address, no owner names, no real job photos. Several sites ranking for KC drainage searches are lead-generation operations — some even say so in their own fine print ("a service connecting homeowners with independent contractors"). You pay a markup and you don't know who shows up. Verify the business before you share your phone number.
  • Can't name the discharge point or waves off the slope question.
  • Quote-only-after-presentation pricing paired with a same-day-discount push.
  • Diagnosing a yard problem with a basement product. If every assessment ends in an interior system pitch, you called a waterproofing company, not a drainage contractor — the right trade for finished-basement wall seepage and structural movement, the wrong first call for yard water.
  • No 811, no COI, "we don't need permits here" without checking your city.

What a good process looks like

A competent KC drainage contractor walks the property, traces the water from the roofline down, flow-tests any existing buried lines before condemning them, names the discharge point, and hands you a written itemized estimate — including the simpler fix when one would work. That's the structure of our free drainage assessment, and honestly, it's what you should demand from whoever you hire.

Comparing specific companies? We published an honest rundown of the KC drainage market — competitors included: Best French Drain & Drainage Companies in Kansas City (2026).