Should I get three quotes?

Get at least two, and make them quote the same scope of work — which means getting the camera inspection done first and giving every company the same video. Three quotes on three different guesses about what is wrong tells you nothing except who guesses cheapest.

The contractor says a permit is not needed. Is that a red flag?

Not on its own. In some municipalities the drain itself genuinely does not need one while the connection to the storm system does. It becomes a red flag if they cannot say which rule they are relying on.

They want to start next week and the price drops if I decide today. What do I do?

Nothing, that day. Drainage is not an emergency trade in the way a burst pipe is, and the wet season is months long. A discount that expires before you can read the quote is a sales technique, not a scheduling constraint.

How do I tell a good drainage quote from a bad one?

What to ask before you sign a drainage quote

Direct answer · reviewed 2026-09-22

Read it against the Building Code rather than against the other quote. The Code says what has to be in the ground — pipe size, how deep it sits, what stone goes over it, where the water is allowed to end up — and a quote that is vague about those is vague about the parts you will never see again once the trench is filled. Victoria adds one more lever most homeowners never hear about: the installation has to be inspected before it is backfilled, which is your one independent look at the work. Every question below traces to one of those, not to an opinion.

Conditions and exceptions

These questions apply to a replacement or a new installation. For a flush or a spot repair the important question is simpler: show me the video before and after.
A contractor who answers all of these well may still be expensive. The checklist tests whether the work is right, not whether the price is.
Permit and inspection rules differ between the thirteen Greater Victoria municipalities. Confirm yours before you rely on any of this.

Scope, clean, repair or replace

Local evidence

Every figure below is quoted from the source shown or is our labelled estimate. Verified dates are the day we last checked the source; a figure whose check is overdue is withheld rather than shown.

Minimum pipe size for a foundation drain: 100 mm (4 inches); Province of British Columbia (BC Codes) · quoted · verified 2026-09-22
How deep the drain has to sit: On undisturbed or well-compacted soil, with the top of the pipe below the bottom of the floor slab or the crawl space ground cover; A drain laid higher than the slab cannot drain the water that reaches the floor; Province of British Columbia (BC Codes) · quoted · verified 2026-09-22
Crushed stone over the pipe: At least 150 mm of crushed stone or other coarse clean granular material, with no more than 10% passing a 4 mm sieve; “Clean” matters: fines wash in and blind the stone, and the drain silts up; Province of British Columbia (BC Codes) · quoted · verified 2026-09-22
Where a foundation drain is allowed to discharge: To a sewer, a drainage ditch or a dry well; A dry well may be used only where the natural groundwater level is below the bottom of the dry well, and must be at least 5 m from the foundation (Sentences 9.14.5.3.(1) and (2)); Province of British Columbia (BC Codes) · quoted · verified 2026-09-22
Does the drain pipe have to sit at the bottom of the footing?: Not necessarily — the Appeal Board found it is not necessary for the drain pipe to be at the bottom of the wall or at the level of the footing, provided it is below the level of the floor slab; The Board decided this on the facts before it, on a stepped section of foundation wall · It does not license a pipe laid above the slab, which is the genuinely defective case; Building Code Appeal Board, Province of British Columbia · quoted · verified 2026-09-22
Victoria: the inspection that happens before the trench is filled: Perimeter drain tile and dampproofing must be inspected before the installation is concealed and before backfilling; Once the trench is filled, nobody can see what was installed — this inspection is the homeowner's only independent check; City of Victoria, Permits and Inspections Division · quoted · verified 2026-09-22

What the Building Code requires, turned into questions

Section 9.14 of the BC Building Code is short, free to read, and unusually specific. These are its sentences with a question attached to each.

Ask for the discharge point to be named in the quote, not described as “to existing”.
Ask whether roof water is being kept out of the perforated pipe, and how.
Ask what happens to the stone and fabric where a driveway or patio crosses the trench.

The Code requirement, and the question it becomes
What the Code requires	Ask the contractor
100 mm (4 inches)	What diameter and material of pipe are you installing, and to which standard?
On undisturbed or well-compacted soil, with the top of the pipe below the bottom of the floor slab or the crawl space ground cover	How far below the slab will the pipe sit, and how will you confirm the fall along the run?
At least 150 mm of crushed stone or other coarse clean granular material, with no more than 10% passing a 4 mm sieve	How much clean stone goes over the pipe, and are you wrapping it in filter fabric?
To a sewer, a drainage ditch or a dry well	Where exactly does this drain discharge, and are you connecting it or leaving it as found?

“Your drain is too high” is a claim, not a finding

One assertion worth knowing how to answer, because it is used to turn a repair into a replacement. The Appeal Board has considered a pipe that sat above footing level along part of a foundation. Not necessarily — the Appeal Board found it is not necessary for the drain pipe to be at the bottom of the wall or at the level of the footing, provided it is below the level of the floor slab

That decision was made on the facts in front of the Board, on a wall that stepped deeper than the rest — a situation Greater Victoria's rock and slope produce constantly. So if a contractor tells you the system must come out because the pipe is not at the bottom of the footing, the follow-up question is whether it is below the slab. Above the slab is a genuine defect. Between the two is a conversation.

The inspection that happens before the trench is filled

In the City of Victoria: Perimeter drain tile and dampproofing must be inspected before the installation is concealed and before backfilling That single sentence is worth more to a homeowner than any warranty, because it is the only moment an independent person looks at the pipe, the stone and the dampproofing while they can still be seen.

So the question is simply: is this work being inspected before backfill, and will you send me the inspection result? If a contractor says no inspection is required for your municipality or your scope of work, that may well be true — but ask them to tell you which municipality's rule they are relying on, and then confirm it yourself.

Warranty wording that is worth something

Drainage warranties in this market are often described as lifetime workmanship warranties, with conditions attached about periodic inspections. That is not a trick, but it does mean the warranty is a relationship rather than a document: it is worth what the company is worth in ten years, and it lapses if you do not do the thing it asks.

Ask three things. What exactly does the warranty cover — the pipe, the workmanship, or the outcome of a dry basement? What do I have to do to keep it? And is it transferable if I sell, which is the question that turns a warranty into something a buyer's inspector will care about.

Questions homeowners ask

Should I get three quotes?: Get at least two, and make them quote the same scope of work — which means getting the camera inspection done first and giving every company the same video. Three quotes on three different guesses about what is wrong tells you nothing except who guesses cheapest.
The contractor says a permit is not needed. Is that a red flag?: Not on its own. In some municipalities the drain itself genuinely does not need one while the connection to the storm system does. It becomes a red flag if they cannot say which rule they are relying on.
They want to start next week and the price drops if I decide today. What do I do?: Nothing, that day. Drainage is not an emergency trade in the way a burst pipe is, and the wet season is months long. A discount that expires before you can read the quote is a sales technique, not a scheduling constraint.

Your next step

The checklist is only useful once every quote is for the same work.

Check the scope before you compare prices

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Sources

British Columbia Building Code 2018, Division B, Section 9.14 — Drainage — Province of British Columbia (BC Codes), accessed 2026-09-22
Required Building Inspections (0021BLDG2021, 27 May 2022) — City of Victoria, Permits and Inspections Division, accessed 2026-09-22
Common drainage questions — RainTek Drainage & Waterproofing (Victoria), accessed 2026-09-22
BCAB #1345 — Location of foundation perimeter drain pipe (18 April 1994) — Building Code Appeal Board, Province of British Columbia, accessed 2026-09-22

Code and municipal requirements are quoted from the sources above; price ranges are what named local companies publish, and the companies that publish them sell the work. Nothing here is a diagnosis of a particular house: only a camera in your own drain can tell you what is wrong with it. Report a correction.