Solar Drainage Consulting and Drain Tile Mapping
Most solar sites hold more drain tile than the map shows. We find the pipe that was missed and design the dewatering system around your piles, MV routing and access roads.
The Tile Map You Were Given Is Missing Pipe
Desk-only tile estimates miss 20 to 30 percent of what is actually in the ground. Engineers without a farm background rarely expect that much existing pipe on a solar site.
The usual tools do not close the gap. 811 does not mark private farm tile. Ground-penetrating radar stops working when pipe is about three-quarters full.
We find the water before it finds your schedule.
What Missed Tile Does to a Solar Site
MV Trenches Turn Into Drains
Cut a tile line and everything upstream keeps flowing into the trench, then up at cabinets and terminations.
Piles Cut Tile Row After Row
Piles go in about 5 ft deep, every 15 ft north to south and 20 ft east to west.
Water Moves Off Site
Severed tile pushes water toward neighboring property. A drainage problem becomes a landowner claim.
Wet Ground Stops Crews
Broken drainage stays soft long after rain. Equipment sits, access roads rut.
Hidden Tile Becomes a Change Order
Found mid-build, it is priced under schedule pressure. Found before award, it is a line item.
Water doesn’t wait. Get the drainage picture while the layout can still change.
Three Ways to Engage
Risk Scan and Concept Study
Aerial and desktop review plus targeted field work. You get the drainage picture while the layout can still move…
Drainage Design Package
Field-verified tile mapping, remediation design and crossing matrices. A scope you can price and defend…
Installation and Construction Support
Crews install around piles, roads and collection lines, then hand over as-built records. See our renewable energy drainage installation scopes.
We see the tile others miss
Taylor Abraham has spent his working life installing farm drainage. Over two years he has hand-traced roughly 1.2 million tile line segments from aerial imagery.
Engineers design solar sites. We understand the drainage systems under them because we install them. Link: agricultural drainage work.
How accurate is it?
When a national developer asked, Taylor’s answer was at least 70 percent of mapped lines within 5 feet. His first GPS probe landed 6 inches off. Every design is verified in the field before we dig.
First In, Last Out
Bring us in early and we stay through closeout.
Development and permitting
Risk assessment and costing for developers.
Before layout lock
Decisions made while piles, roads and MV can move.
After grading, before piles
The best install window.
During construction
Design updates, checked against the current pile file.
After turnover
Remediation when a system fails or a landowner calls.
Drainage Consulting Nationwide
Tile does not stop at the Midwest. We have found heavy tile as far south as Georgia, and a wet site with no tile still needs a dewatering plan.
Installation runs through our install service area. Outside it, we design the system and your team takes it to bid. See our renewable energy drainage services.
Why Project Teams Bring Us In
Renewable Energy Drainage Is Our Core Business
Others run solar drainage as one line among many. For us it is the main line.
Veteran-Led
U.S. Air Force veteran-owned. Precision in the plan. No excuses in the field.
Proof in the Ground
291 projects · 26,100+ acres · 15.8M ft of pipe
Designs Checked by the Crew That Builds Them
An out-of-date pile file would have put a design into three piles. Our field lead caught it…
Solar Drainage Consulting Questions
What does solar drainage consulting include?
Finding existing tile, reading how water moves, flagging conflicts, then designing around the infrastructure.
Why can’t we rely on the tile map we were given?
Desk-only estimates miss 20 to 30 percent of what is in the ground.
Does ground-penetrating radar find drain tile?
Not reliably. It stops working when pipe is about three-quarters full.
How accurate is your tile mapping?
At least 70 percent of mapped lines within 5 feet.
When should a developer bring you in?
As early as development and permitting.
Do you charge for consulting?
Yes. Consulting is paid work, scoped and priced before we start. There is a lot of time, knowledge, and expertise that goes into our consulting.
Do we have to hire you to install the design?
No. A Drainage Design Package stands on its own.
Do you consult outside the Midwest?
Yes. Abraham Drainage’s consulting is nationwide.
Request a Consulting Proposal
Send the project basics. We will come back with a scope and a price. Bring us in before the machine hits the ground.
Prefer to talk it through? Call (440) 714-0696 or use our contact page.