For water standing in a yard, call a drainage or excavation contractor. A landscaper can regrade and is the right call when the problem is shape rather than volume. A plumber is the wrong call unless the water is clean, constant and unrelated to rain. Start with whoever will look at the ground before quoting.

What a contractor here should be asking about

The largest mapped soil under Layton is hydrologic group C, and 46% of the mapped ground sheds water rather than taking it in. On a city divided like that, the first thing a competent firm does is find out which half your lot is on, and it takes a test hole rather than a look. Ask whether they intend to dig one. That single question separates a firm diagnosing your yard from one selling the product it fits most often.

The reasoning behind that

A drainage or excavation contractor handles water that is arriving and has nowhere to go: trenching, piping, catch basins, dry wells and outfalls. This is the right first call for standing water after rain.

A landscaper handles the shape of the ground. Where the problem is a low spot or a slope running the wrong way, regrading is cheaper and less invasive than piping, and a good landscaper will say so.

A plumber is for water that came out of a pipe. Constant flow in dry weather, clean water, no relationship to rainfall — that is a supply leak and it is a plumber’s job.

The local authority is the fourth call and it is not a trade. Anything that changes ground levels, adds a structure or connects to a public drain is usually permitted work, and that is a conversation before a quote rather than after one.

More on this: Yard and Lawn Drainage in Layton, UT.

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