Installation of Residential Systems

For new home residential properties, the county building department will not give you a building permit until you have obtained a septic permit from the county health department.  To obtain the septic permit, you first need a soils test performed.   The soils test costs between $450.00 - $700.00, and takes from 10 to 30 days from order date to written report, depending on which engineering firm you choose and how busy they are.  Please see Soils Engineers under Resources for a list of engineering firms.

Once you receive the soils test report, you file it, together with an application form and a check for $350.00 with your local health department office.  The permit should issue in 7 – 10 days.  A copy of the permit can then be given to the building department along with your plans.  The permit expires in one year, but is renewable for a second year.

If the soils have too slow a percolation rate (above 60 minutes per inch), or if there are shallow sandstone or clay stone bedrock conditions, you may need an engineered system.  Engineered system designs can be prepared by these soils engineering firms at an additional cost of $600.00 - $750.00.

Once you receive your soils report or engineered design, please fax or mail a copy to us.  We are happy to talk with you about what you want and need, visit the site and give you a prompt Estimate for the cost of installation.  The cost of construction varies greatly, depending on the size and type of system required, but ranges from a minimum $6,500.00 for a simple, traditional, 3-bedroom repair, to $11,500.00 for a 5-bedroom, engineered system.  We usually need 2 – 4 weeks’ notice to schedule the work.  We recommend that the system be installed near the end of your construction project to minimize the chance of damage to the system from construction traffic.

You may want to consider installing a relatively new type of system known as Subsurface Drip Irrigation.  This technology for the first time takes advantage of the water and nutrients in septic tank effluent to complete life’s cycle by watering and fertilizing lawn grass, planter beds, trees and shrubs.  It can do away with sprinkler systems which lose much of the water spray to evaporation, as well as sprinkler system maintenance and repairs.  It is automated to operate on plant demand.  And if your watering needs are larger than the septic system flows, fresh water can be added to meet plant needs.  The cost is little more than that of traditional engineered system.