Channel Drainage (ACO Drain) Costs UK — What It Costs to Install Linear Drainage in 2026

Supply Cost vs Installed Cost

The single biggest mistake in pricing channel drainage is quoting off the cost of the channel itself. The plastic or polymer channel is cheap — it's the groundwork around it that costs money. A run of channel drain is not just dropped into place; it has to be excavated to depth, bedded and haunched in concrete so it doesn't move or float, set to the right fall, and connected to somewhere the water can go. Always separate the supply cost from the installed cost in your own head before you price.

• Supply only, domestic polymer/plastic channel: £15–£40 per metre
• Supply only, heavy-duty galvanised or ductile-iron grating / block-paving channel: £40–£90+ per metre
• Installed, including excavation, concrete bedding/haunching and connection: £60–£120 per linear metre

The installed rate is where the work lives. On a straightforward run with good access and a nearby connection point, you'll be toward the lower end. Where the ground is hard, the dig is deep, or the connection is awkward, you'll be at the top — or beyond it for heavy-duty work.

Typical Job Examples

Most domestic channel drainage jobs fall into a predictable range. A short run across a garage threshold or the front of a single driveway is the bread-and-butter job; larger or heavy-duty runs cost proportionally more because of the upgraded channel, deeper excavation and more substantial concrete surround.

• Typical garage/driveway run (4–8m), domestic load class: £400–£1,000
• Longer domestic run (10–15m) or wider driveway entrance: £1,000–£1,800
• Heavy-duty vehicle-rated run with ductile-iron grating: £120–£200+ per metre installed

Quote the run as a single figure but build it from the elements below so you can see your margin. A 6m driveway channel that you price at a flat "£600" without breaking it down is exactly the kind of job that eats half a day you didn't allow for.

The Elements That Make Up a Channel Drain

A channel drainage run is an assembly, not a single product. Pricing each element separately — even just in your own estimate — stops you from leaving things out. A typical installed run includes:

• Channel and grating: the channel body plus the removable grating on top. The grating is what carries the load and what the customer sees, and it's where most of the supply cost variation comes from.
• End caps: closed caps to seal the ends of the run where it doesn't connect onward.
• Outlet and silt trap: the connection point where water leaves the channel and drops into the pipe below. A silt trap or sump unit catches debris before it reaches the pipe and is the part you clean out.
• Concrete surround: the bedding underneath and the haunching either side that holds the channel in place. This is the bulk of the materials and labour on most runs.
• Connecting pipe and connection: the run of pipe from the outlet to a soakaway or an existing surface-water drain.
• Access / sump unit: on longer runs, an access point lets you rod and clear the system. Add one where the run is long or the connection is buried.

What Drives the Price

Two channel runs of the same length can differ in price by a factor of two or more. The variables that move the number are worth understanding before you quote, because most of them aren't visible in a customer's description over the phone.

• Length: the obvious driver — more metres, more channel, more concrete, more dig.
• Channel and grating load class: a vehicle-rated grating and the deeper, heavier channel that goes with it cost far more than a pedestrian-rated unit. This is the single biggest spec decision on the job.
• Depth and excavation: a deep channel, hard ground, or buried services to work around all add dig time. Mechanical excavation versus hand-digging changes the labour completely.
• Connecting to drainage: tying into an existing surface-water drain that's close and accessible is quick; building a new soakaway is a separate, substantial job in its own right.
• Reinstating the surface: the channel sits within a driveway or patio, so the surface around it — block paving, tarmac or concrete — has to be cut, set and reinstated to match. This finishing work is frequently underestimated.

Why Load Class Matters

Load class is the rating that tells you how much weight a channel and its grating can take, and getting it wrong is the most common spec error in this trade. The classes run from A15 (pedestrian areas only) up through B125 (driveways, car parks for cars) to C250 and D400 (carriageways and areas carrying heavier vehicles). The number is roughly the load capacity in kilonewtons.

The rule is simple: use a vehicle-rated grating anywhere a vehicle will drive over it. A pedestrian-rated A15 channel laid across a driveway will crack, deform or collapse the first time a car wheel catches the edge. For a domestic driveway, B125 is the usual minimum; for anywhere taking vans, deliveries or regular vehicle traffic, step up to C250 or D400. The grating also needs to be locked or boltdown rated on driveways so it doesn't lift under load.

Specify the load class in writing on your quote. It protects you if a customer drives over a channel you supplied for a footpath, and it justifies the higher price of the heavier units to a customer comparing quotes line by line.

SuDS and the Permeable Paving Rules

Since 2008, paving over a front garden in England has been subject to planning rules tied to surface-water drainage. If you create or replace more than 5m² of hard surface in a front garden, you either need a permeable surface, or you need somewhere for the water to drain to within the property boundary — otherwise planning permission is required. The aim is to stop rainwater running off driveways straight onto the road and overloading drains.

Channel drainage is one of the standard compliant solutions. By collecting surface water in a channel and directing it to a soakaway or a permeable area within the boundary — rather than letting it sheet off onto the highway — a driveway with channel drainage can meet the requirement even where the surface itself is impermeable block paving or tarmac. This is a useful selling point: a customer resurfacing a front driveway often needs a drainage answer whether they realise it or not, and channel drainage to a soakaway is a clean, well-understood one.

Note the destination matters. Draining to a soakaway or permeable area within the boundary is compliant; piping the channel straight into the public surface-water sewer or onto the highway generally is not, and may need consent. Plan the connection before you price the run.

Connecting to a Soakaway or Existing Drain

Where the water goes is half the cost of the job and the part customers think least about. There are two common destinations, and they price very differently:

• Existing surface-water drain: if there's a suitable surface-water gully or drain nearby, connecting to it is the cheaper route — a short pipe run and a connection. Confirm it's a surface-water drain, not foul; channel runoff must not go to the foul sewer.
• New soakaway: where there's no drain to connect to, you build a soakaway — a pit filled with crates or rubble that lets water disperse into the ground. This is a substantial separate cost (often several hundred pounds in its own right) and depends on the ground percolating well enough to take the water.

Always establish the connection point before quoting. A run priced on the assumption of a nearby drain becomes a very different job if it turns out a soakaway is needed.

Maintenance — Clearing Silt

Channel drainage needs occasional clearing to keep working. Leaves, grit and silt wash into the channel and collect in the silt trap or sump at the outlet. If it isn't cleared, the channel backs up and water ponds on the surface — exactly the problem it was installed to solve. Maintenance is straightforward: lift the gratings, scoop out the debris, empty the silt trap and flush the channel through.

Mention maintenance when you hand over the job. A customer who knows to lift the grating and clear the silt trap a couple of times a year will get years of trouble-free service; one who doesn't will be on the phone in two winters complaining the drain "doesn't work". It's also a small recurring service you can offer alongside gutter or driveway cleaning.

Quick Reference: Channel Drainage Prices UK 2026