Spring runoff floods my Sussex yard, what drainage fixes work?

Drainage Fixes for a Flooded Sussex Yard

For spring runoff flooding, the excavation side of the fix usually involves one or more of these approaches: regrading the lot to direct water away from the house, cutting drainage swales, installing weeping tile or a French drain, or a combination. Published price guides from September 2026 show few New Brunswick-specific figures, but machine time runs $65 to $150 per hour for a mini-excavator with operator, or $150 to $250 per hour for a standard machine, and those hourly rates are the most reliable starting point for estimating a drainage job.

What moves the cost is the scope of the problem. A shallow swale regraded by a mini-excavator for an afternoon is a very different job from a full perimeter weeping tile system with a sump outlet, which involves more machine hours, pipe and gravel, and possibly haul-away of spoil. Ask any contractor where the water will be sent, whether the soil drains once the grade is corrected, and how rock will be handled if it turns up, since hydraulic breaking runs $200 to $300 per hour and changes the budget quickly.

Before any machine touches the ground, two separate locate requests are needed. Info-Excavation, reached through Click Before You Dig, requires three working days' notice, and its locate is valid until the end date written on the request. NB Power runs its own separate underground locate service, which must be requested at least five business days before digging and is valid for 60 days from the date on the locate form; it covers only NB Power-owned lines. Private lines, including any wire run to a shed, pool or outbuilding, are yours to find and mark before the contractor arrives. If you are unsure whether municipal water or sewer lines are captured by Info-Excavation, ask the Town of Sussex directly.

If any part of your yard sits within 30 metres of a watercourse or wetland, measured horizontally from the top of the bank, you need a Watercourse and Wetland Alteration permit from the province before any grading, clearing or machine work begins in that zone. The fee is $25 for a single alteration. That permit does not replace any local requirement, so check with the Town of Sussex about whether a development or building permit is needed for grading or drainage work on your lot. We found no Sussex rule specific to excavation, so the town is the right place to ask.

When you get quotes, look for a breakdown that covers machine hours, trucking and spoil disposal, pipe and gravel supply, and how rock will be priced if it shows up. Ask for a WorkSafeNB clearance certificate before work starts, and hold back 10% of the contract price for 60 days after substantial performance, as the Construction Remedies Act sets out.

Start with the Town of Sussex to confirm what permits apply to your lot, then contact the province if your yard is near water, because those two answers will shape exactly what a contractor can do and when.