Demolition
We handle demolition on houses and small commercial buildings, down to the slab when you want it gone. Free estimates across Acadiana.
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French drain installation in New Iberia, LA is dirt work, and we do it with a machine. Elite Excavation Services digs yard drainage lines, drainage ditches and pipe trenches across Iberia Parish. We run compact excavators, a compact track loader and dump trailers. We cut long, deep, straight runs. The pipe and gravel go in, and the water goes to an outlet that can take it. Call (337) 201-0594 for a free on-site estimate.
We cover roughly 35 to 50 miles around New Iberia, which is most of Acadiana: Iberia, Lafayette, St. Martin, Vermilion, St. Landry, Acadia and St. Mary parishes. Yards here sit on heavy clay over a shallow water table, on ground that falls less than half a percent. Louisiana averages about 57 inches of rain a year. The water has nowhere to go, so it sits on the grass for days. We take the same machines out for excavation and drainage work in Lafayette.
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A French drain is a trench with a perforated pipe in the bottom, buried under washed gravel. The LSU AgCenter sizes that trench at 12 to 18 inches wide and 18 to 24 inches deep. Inside goes a 4 inch perforated pipe and gravel about 1 inch across. We dig it with a compact excavator, so the run stays straight and the depth stays even the whole way.
Geotextile fabric goes in first, across the bottom and up both walls of the trench, before any gravel drops. That fabric keeps clay and silt out of the stone, and plugged stone is what kills a drain. Then the pipe sits in the base and gravel covers it. The trench carries fall the whole run, so the water keeps moving toward the outlet.
The top is your call. Gravel can come all the way to the surface. That takes water fastest and reads as a clean line across the yard. Or we cap the gravel with topsoil and you grow grass over the path. Where one low spot floods first, we set a grate at the surface and tie it straight into the pipe.
The soil is the first reason. The Iberia clay series is named for this parish. Soil surveys rate it poorly drained with very slow permeability. It holds a saturated zone within 2 feet of the surface from December through April. The second reason is the ground itself, which lies at less than half a percent of fall. The third is rain, about 57 inches a year statewide.
That mix means water does not soak in. It spreads out and sits. A French drain earns its keep on a soggy strip, a wet side yard or a low back corner. It also takes roof runoff that dumps beside the slab. Give the water an easier path than the clay and it will take it.
Not every wet yard needs pipe. When the ground simply falls the wrong way, regrading and yard leveling can move the water with no pipe at all. Sometimes the water stalls at the driveway because the pipe under it is crushed or too small. That job is driveway culvert installation. We look first and tell you which one you have.
Most property around here drains through a ditch. Iberia Parish Public Works keeps 815 miles of canals and drainage ditches, plus more than 400 roadside ditches. Those ditches carry water off to the coulees and to Bayou Teche. The parish maintains the road ditch. The ditch that crosses your own property is yours to keep open.
Ditches silt in. Grass and clay wash down, the bottom rises, and water backs up into the yard before it ever reaches the road. We reshape a ditch with the excavator. The bottom comes back to a clean grade, and the banks get pulled to a slope that will stand. The spoil leaves in dump trailers. New ditch digging works the same way, cut to fall in the direction the water already wants to run.
A ditch and a French drain often work as one system. The drain gathers water out of the yard and the ditch carries it away. If the driveway crossing washes out when that ditch runs full, gravel driveway repair and regrading is the other half.
We come look at the property first, at no charge, and follow the water. Where it stands, where it comes from, and how far it sits from an outlet that can take it. You get a price for the whole job before anything gets dug. Call (337) 201-0594 or send the details through our free on-site estimate form.
Before the first cut we file a locate request with Louisiana 811. State law gives the utility operators at least two full business days to mark what is buried. We book the dig around that window. Most house-lot French drain runs are a one day job once the marks are down. Long runs and ditch work take longer.
You get the yard back backfilled and raked, with the gravel top or the topsoil cap you picked. Seed and sod are on you, and the drain works either way. The water leaves through a ditch, a coulee or a low area on the property that already takes water. It never gets pushed onto a neighbor's lot. Louisiana law is plain about that. The land below you has to take what runs off naturally, and you cannot make that load heavier.
Free, no-obligation estimates across New Iberia and all of Acadiana.
(337) 201-0594From the first call to the last load of debris hauled off, here is how it goes.
Tell us what the property needs: a teardown, a cleared lot, a pad, a driveway. We take the details and line up a time to come look.
We come look at the lot, check equipment access and soil conditions, and price the whole job. The estimate is free and it holds.
Permits where the parish or city wants them, utility checks before a teardown, and a start date you can plan around.
The machines do the work, debris gets hauled off, and the property is left graded and clean, ready for whatever comes next.
Common questions about drainage across New Iberia and all of Acadiana. If yours is not here, call and ask.
We handle demolition on houses and small commercial buildings, down to the slab when you want it gone. Free estimates across Acadiana.
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We tear down old mobile homes and manufactured homes around New Iberia and haul every piece off. The lot is left clean. Free on-site estimates across Acadiana.
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We tear down sheds, detached garages, barns, pole barns and metal carports around New Iberia, haul the debris off and leave the spot clean.
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We break out old concrete driveways, patios, walkways and slabs around New Iberia and haul the pieces off. Free on-site estimates across Acadiana.
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We clear overgrown lots and acreage around New Iberia. That means underbrushing, brush removal, briars, vines and small trees. The vegetation leaves the property in dump trailers or roll-off containers.
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We do dirt work across Acadiana: site prep, cut and fill, and fill packed in lifts. Our excavators and track loader move, spread and pack fill to the grade you need. Call for a free estimate.
View DetailsCompact excavators and a track loader work in town lots, back yards and farm gates. Tight access rarely stops a job, and the ground takes less damage than it would under bigger machines.
We live and work here, so Iberia Parish and the towns around it are short runs. Estimates happen fast and the machines show up when the schedule says they will.
Teardown, stumps, dirt, culvert, driveway: the same outfit can carry a property from overgrown or condemned to pad-ready. One schedule and one number instead of four subcontractors.
We price after looking at the property, the access and the ground. You get a real number before work starts, and the site is left clean when it ends.
Real reviews from real demolition, debris and dirt work jobs on Google.
Jason was a pleasure to do business with. He had a fair price and did excellent work. I will definitely use Elite Excavation Services again in the future
I needed some debris removed and Elite Excavation came through very timely and the job was done smoothly!
Great service with a reasonable price. The operator did a great job with my shed demolition! He left the place very clean and ready for my new shop. I highly recommend Jason and his crew.
A yard French drain runs about $10 to $75 per foot. See published 50, 100 and 200 foot prices, what clay adds, and where the water can legally go.
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How much does land grading cost in Louisiana? Per square foot and per acre ranges, yard leveling costs, and what clay and rain do to the price.
Read more →A structure that needs to come down, a lot to clear, a pad to build, or a driveway that floods? Call or send the form. We come look at the property, price the job in person, and give you a number that holds. Estimates are free.
Tell us about the job and we’ll get right back to you.