If it were me I'd call the city and tell them to come back and fix the problem. They obviously didn't do it properly if you're getting standing water - and this is summer. Imagine what's going to happen in the spring. Possibly a flooded basement. To me, that much standing water is a health concern. If they resist, hire an attorney. You have grounds esp. since you aren't the only one dealing with the issue. An inground water garden/pond would require digging at least 2-1/2 to 3 feet deep. If you've got drainage pipes right where you want to put the pond, that will be a problem.

I have called the town stormwater engineers and they in-turn called the developer (home developer) who paid and did the project ... then he must have called the landscaper.

I agree, somewhere, somebody botched something major, because the thing doesn't drain and didn't drain completely, even without the sod (you can see the soggy ground in the picture).

I'm just trying figure out what to ask for, without getting into a redo the whole thing scenario, which is unlikely due to costs right now.

My whole point is that I should not have a maintenance nightmare as a result of cooperating with the project.

It took over a year to negotiate, design and implement ... and then the construction mightmare was about 2.5 months.

I have dual 15" precast concrete pipes going under my yard and down my street.

Its a little disturbing that they let water flow into this system off the plain ground behind my property, but they didn't put a drain in for me on my own property, and my water gets filtered by a whole lot of grass first, as opposed to coming off the ground and full of sediment.

I agree that the drainage solution was poorly implemented. I went through a similar problem. The swale needs to be raised along it's length by at least the 1", maybe more. That of course means raising the grade of the entire yard. The only other solution I would consider listening to would be a yard drain and basin in the problem area draining directly to the underground storm drains.

The town can be your best friend here. They are the ones that issue permits for the builder, and they should also be the ones insisting that it be done properly. The developer probably has money in escrow with the city for problems that pop up after a project is completed.

If you want a bog, or marshy area that is one thing. But you shouldn't be forced to live with one created by a problem with drainage.

Here is a link that might be useful: Come Join Pond Chat!

Thanks greenmountain. Great advise and comments.

I would say that it was astonishing to me that we all the plans (7+ months) and civil engineers, stormwater engineers and inspectors on-site ... that this whole thing could have ended up 1" too low to drain completely.

Part of the problem may have been that my builder was leading the effort and to save money, he had the pro's to the back yard and underground systems and curbs ... then had a different guy rough the front only, then had a landscaper do the final grading in front. Now everyone blames each other ... and I just want it fixed or something I can live with.

bunkers-
If all else fails with the city and developer and you are left with a soggy area try planting a raingarden. I had a wet area in my sideyard that I did that to. Google Raingarden and you will find a number of pages with info. Just like everything experts have differing opinoins, you will have to do some reading.
RexAnne
ps. more flower beds equals less mowing ;o)

Here is a link that might be useful: some info

I'm not sure if I really want a Rain Garden, but as rexanne said, if all else fails -- I need a plan of something I can do/try.

I choose to avoid fighting with the city early on, and the city really did help me out a lot in geting my larger drainage issues solved with several other parties that probably would not have helped me otherwise. They gave me power when I would have had little to none otherwise, other than paying a lawyer and hoping to recoup the costs later in a settlement.

The city still has leverage with builders in other ways (even beyond permits) in that the final handover of all the builder development owned/maintained drains, sewers ... has to be approved by the city before handover occurs. So the builder pays maintenance on all stuff till its good enough for the city to take over and becomes property of the utilities dept.

But if the city tells me to live with it ... then all I can do is whine and take it to a political level and whine to city council, etc. So far, they have been pretty good and actually wanted the best for me. I cooperated on this project and made is easy on them, as they could have dealt with 5 difference property owners instead ... so dealing with just me was easier.

Besides a rain garden, I can only envision putting in a drain to the underground sewer (costly, but very effective) or some kind of all-season, low volume pump (like a sump or pond pump) ... but would be potentially problematic and would require electric runs throught the yard and into the wet zone ... not exactly appealing either. This is all assuming I can get them to pay for this without spending an arm and leg myself.

bunkers, wish I had more to offer than moral support, what a nightmare. But with your good attitude I think eventually you'll get them to FIX the problem. Nice to hear you're still willing to work with the city (even though they may have hired some idiots).

Keep on it, document everything, and keep up the great attitude - it'll get you MUCH farther IMO.