Bioretention is a planted stormwater practice that treats runoff as it passes through engineered soil and vegetation, with storage or infiltration depending on design.
Definition
For a civil engineering firm, bioretention work can include site assessment, sizing and grading, soil media and planting specifications, inlet and outlet details, underdrains, overflow routes, and coordination with landscape, utility, and drainage plans. The design may rely on filtration, temporary storage, infiltration, or a combination, depending on soil conditions and local criteria. A fee can include analysis, plans, specifications, permitting support, and construction-phase services, with each task priced or scoped separately. It does not automatically include construction, long-term maintenance, or monitoring unless the agreement says so. Firms may define the design boundary and level of construction support differently, so proposals should identify assumptions and responsibilities. Bioretention is not simply a landscaped depression, and its performance is not guaranteed by planting alone. Applicable stormwater requirements may be set by regulators such as the EPA.
How owners use it
- Scope design tasks and identify coordination needs across civil, landscape, utility, and drainage disciplines.
- Compare estimated design hours with the fee to track whether analysis, detailing, and review fit the project budget.
- Example: 12 design hours + 6 coordination hours = 18 planned hours for the bioretention scope.
- Identify construction-phase or maintenance tasks that need separate authorization.
