Catch basins are the least-thought-about part of a commercial property until the day water has nowhere to go — and then they are the only thing anyone is thinking about.
We clean catch basins and storm drains for commercial properties across Rochester and Monroe County: vacuum truck sediment removal, storm line jetting, drainage troubleshooting, and written condition reports you can put straight into your maintenance file. Property managers, HOAs, retail centers, industrial parks, schools, and churches all run on the same simple maintenance cycle — and in our experience most of them are overdue without knowing it.
Send us the property address and we'll usually count the basins from the aerial view and quote it the same day.
The diagram above explains why this matters. A catch basin isn't just a hole under a grate: the working part is the sump, the empty space below the outlet pipe. That space exists to trap sand, grit, and leaves before they travel into the storm line. Once sediment fills the sump past the outlet, the basin has nothing left to catch with — debris starts moving downstream into pipe you can't reach with a shovel, and water starts backing up onto your pavement.
What we do
Catch Basin Cleaning
Vacuum truck removal of sediment, sand, and debris from the sump — the core service, done right.
Learn more →Storm Drain Cleaning
Jetting and vacuuming the lines between catch basins so water actually leaves your property.
Learn more →Parking Lot Drainage
Standing water after every rain usually isn't the pavement — it's a catch basin that stopped working.
Learn more →Inspection & Reporting
Condition reports with sediment depths and photos, ready for your file or your stormwater coordinator.
Learn more →Storm & Flood Response
Blocked catch basin backing water into a loading dock or lot? We prioritize active flooding.
Learn more →What It Costs
Per-basin pricing, what drives it up or down, and how to get an accurate number fast.
Learn more →Why Rochester lots need this more than most
Every winter, Monroe County properties absorb months of sand and road salt. Every spring, the melt washes all of it straight into the catch basins. Then autumn drops a full leaf load on top of whatever survived the summer. Between the two, a Rochester lot loads its basins harder than lots in most of the country.
Ponding and ice
Standing water in a Rochester parking lot becomes a sheet of ice, and an ice sheet in a customer parking area becomes a liability claim.
Pavement failure
Water that sits works into the asphalt, freezes, expands, and lifts it. Drainage neglect is how a lot ages a decade in three winters.
Backups into the lines
A full basin pushes sediment downstream, and clearing a plugged storm line costs several times what cleaning the basin would have.
How to tell yours are overdue
You don't need to open anything to get a strong signal. Any of these usually means at least one basin has a full sump:
- Water still sitting in the same spot more than an hour after rain stops
- A grate you can see debris sitting on top of, week after week
- Silt fans or sand deltas spreading across the pavement near a grate
- Ice forming in the same place every winter, in a spot that isn't a low point by design
- A smell near a grate in summer — that's organic material decomposing in a sump that never empties
- Nobody at your company can remember the last time they were cleaned
Most commercial properties here need service once or twice a year — typically spring, after the melt has carried in a winter of sand, and again in late fall once leaves are down. Properties with heavy truck traffic, adjacent bare soil, or active construction nearby fill faster and do better on three visits.
Most lots are overdue and nobody notices until it rains
Tell us the property address and roughly how many basins — you'll have a price today.
Call (585) 514-5978Who's actually responsible for the basins?
This is the question that stalls more drainage work than cost does, so it's worth answering plainly.
Catch basins in the public right-of-way — in the street, along a municipal curb line — belong to the municipality. Catch basins on private property, which means nearly everything inside your parking lot, belong to the property owner. The town does not clean those and will not come out for them, and that surprises a lot of people the first time a lot floods.
Under a typical triple-net commercial lease, that maintenance obligation is usually passed to the tenant or shared through CAM charges, but the responsibility for the system itself stays with ownership. If you manage the property, drainage is almost certainly yours to schedule. If you're a tenant being asked to pay for it, it's worth a look at your lease before writing the check.
Who we work with
- Property management companies with multiple sites across Monroe County
- Retail centers and plazas where ponding lands in customer parking
- HOAs and apartment communities that own their drainage outright
- Industrial and warehouse properties with heavy truck traffic
- Schools, churches, and municipal lots
Managing several properties? We'll put all of them on one seasonal schedule with a single point of contact and one invoice, so drainage becomes something you stop having to remember.
We serve Greece, Henrietta, Webster and Penfield, plus Irondequoit, Brighton, Gates, and Chili.