Sticker Shock, septic permit

[frazoo]

Dang, it must have been longer than I thought since I last paid for a septic permit.  Called today and was quoted $660.00 for it. only good for 18 months, need it before they will isssue building permit, even if you plan to complete house before septic and are on a 3 year build plan . 
Wife told me to look at is as $38 bucks a month for the priviledge of building my own house for 18 months.  I guess this is a "reasonable" price in todays market?

frazoo

[Pine Cone]

That is in line with costs here in Western Washington, somewhere between about $600 or $800 depending on the type of permit.

[Squirl]

In the area I am building in in NY, the requirement is a septic engineers approved plans, and certification to be built according to the plans.  The average plan cost is $1000.  Maybe you should check with contractors first if you are having it done. The areas I know of the price of the permit is factored into the price of the whole job.

[Osprey]

$300 in western North Carolina. You must have approved septic system permit before you can get a building permit or electric service.

The money is not refundable so if the land does not perc you are SOL.

My septic tank and drain field piping cost $1,300. $250 for track hoe rental with operator. My total system was just under $2,000.

[MikeT]

For my STEP system (Septic that is linked to a publicly owned waste treatment facility), it cost me $15,000.  For comparison purposes only.....

[frazoo]

$300 in western North Carolina. You must have approved septic system permit before you can get a building permit or electric service.

The money is not refundable so if the land does not perc you are SOL.

My septic tank and drain field piping cost $1,300. $250 for track hoe rental with operator. My total system was just under $2,000.

The land was perked and system designed by a soil engineering service so I should be okay there.  $2k would be a GREAT price!

thanks to all for your opines on the pricing and for MikeT, I'll whine no more .  My head would explode if it were that high!

frazoo

[MikeT]

I should add that I knew about the price when I purchased the land.  I simply factored it into what I was paying.  No getting around it.  Everyone else has to as well.  It is a hilly place next to the ocean.  You really do not want a bunch of failing leech fields, so this is a good alternative to a pure public system....at least that is what I keep telling myself.

[devildog]

MikeT, please tell me what state your in so I never step foot there.


My permit was $560. I applied for it in april of 09'. If i'd applied for it before july 1,2008, it wouldve only cost $128.   We owned the property since may 2007,couldnt someone have sent me a letter or something to let me know. I had the money!!!!!!

So be it. but for a 2br septic install, $2600 here.

[Sod Breaker]

 In reality it's just another way for the county to screw us out of our money.  The guy here that pumps tanks charges $100 each time, then goes home and dumps it in his horse pasture.  But if you or I did that we'd be fined for "Polluting"  The money hungry........

Sod Breaker


P.S. Sorry for the rant,  but just saying how it is

[MikeT]

I am in Oregon.  The system is required.   I could have purchased land in a place where it wasn't required.  But then again, I wouldn't have had a view of the ocean within a two hour drive of Portland.   I am not complaining.  Like I said, I just viewed it as a fixed cost.

mt

[OlJarhead]

In reality it's just another way for the county to screw us out of our money.  The guy here that pumps tanks charges $100 each time, then goes home and dumps it in his horse pasture.  But if you or I did that we'd be fined for "Polluting"  The money hungry........

Sod Breaker


P.S. Sorry for the rant,  but just saying how it is

Yikes!  That's very scary!  Dumping human waste that isn't completely composted on the surface is asking for disease...something seems smelly.

[BassLakeBuda]

MikeT,

Isn't the $15,000 fee basically to "buy" or "tap" into the public system? Will you also have to pay a monthly sewer charge?

Just curious.

Had a local official at my cottage once try to talk me into coordinating a change to a system such as yours, community treatment plant. I would have been very popular with my neighbors when trying to tell them they should spend $5000 each and abandon their septic systems which they have already paid for.

I agree it would improve the health of the lake but being a "trunk slammer" from the next state, I was not the man for the job. Perhaps someday if the cottages continue to be become residences, it will need to be done. I will let me kids deal with it.

I ended up having a septic installed for about $2500 which included the permit. I will be pumping up as the drainfield is higher than the cottage. The grinder pump station with catch basin was another $1000.

[MikeT]

BLB (BassLakeBuda):

You got it right.  The fee I quoted was for the permit, install, and hook-up.  I have a $75 per month charge as well.  For that they maintain the the tank, pump it out regularly, etc.   I am on a 30% slope.  There are three homes currently downslope of me, and there might be more in the coming decade (I am 180 feet above sea level).

I learned from a friend who works in municipal planning something I hadn't considered:  when you have these (apparently high) minimum charges, it often required to pay off the bonds that were sold to build the given system.  That goes for the water, sewer, electricity, etc.   I wasn't around at the time to vote on the levy to sell the bonds, so I am faced with an option: pay or choose another place to build. 

Again, I'm not complaining, just saying.....

[pagan]

Sod Breaker,

I was driving through Bethel, VT last summer passing by a field and I was dumbfounded to see a septic truck, had the guys company name and everything on it, driving around in circles spraying raw septic sludge out the back. But you cannot build a simple grey water system because it releases dangerous "pollutants" into the water shed.

[frazoo]

We had a guy in central va back in the 90's with a septic tank pumping business.  He also had fairly large peach/apple orchard. Guess where he dumped his pumper truck?

I went by my health dept. today and spoke with the lazy-a agent who would be doing my permit and inspection.  My jaw hit the floor when he told me I had to have a backhoe onsite for his initial perk test to dig his hole for him.  I asked him if if hand auger was broke (that's what other counties health officials have used in the past).  He would not accept the soil engineers findings and platwork so that was wasted money.  Gotta love the small-minded gubermin peoples in charge of our lives.  Let the fun begin!

frazoo

[ChuckinVa]

We had a guy in central va back in the 90's with a septic tank pumping business.  He also had fairly large peach/apple orchard. Guess where he dumped his pumper truck?

I went by my health dept. today and spoke with the lazy-a agent who would be doing my permit and inspection.  My jaw hit the floor when he told me I had to have a backhoe onsite for his initial perk test to dig his hole for him.  I asked him if if hand auger was broke (that's what other counties health officials have used in the past).  He would not accept the soil engineers findings and platwork so that was wasted money.  Gotta love the small-minded gubermin peoples in charge of our lives.  Let the fun begin!

frazoo

Those peaches / Apples were the best we ever ate....
Now you know how the property in Nelson is affordable... it's all the hidden costs to build. I hope it get's better for you .
CHUCK

[MaineRhino]

Here in Maine it was $500 for the septic plan (graywater), which was required before the building permit was issued. Then it was $2,000 for the system to be installed.

[UUmom2many]

I just got quoted $400 and 18mo time frame with no extensions. I explained to him that we're building debt free and ourselves and he said as long as it's attached to the house plumbing the hosue doesn't have to be done. So when we get to that phase we'll be doing the plumbing first!

[frazoo]

I just got quoted $400 and 18mo time frame with no extensions. I explained to him that we're building debt free and ourselves and he said as long as it's attached to the house plumbing the hosue doesn't have to be done. So when we get to that phase we'll be doing the plumbing first!

I guess we are fortunate on that point.  We have 18 months, but if we apply for a certification permit first, we can extend that another 18 months as long as we  notify them before the first expires.  That permit becomes our installation permit when we are ready to pull the trigger on the septic/drainfield with no addition fee.  They just want all their money up front before we get to start ANYTHING.

frazoo

[SardonicSmile]

$300 in western North Carolina. You must have approved septic system permit before you can get a building permit or electric service.

The money is not refundable so if the land does not perc you are SOL.

One of the first things you should do, WAY before you get your permits, or even your plans.. is perc test your soil. Here in South Carolina, DHEC does the test for 60 bucks. I believe they require the test before they will even give you a permit. The permit was 100.

[glenn kangiser]

An average septic system here in our part of CA costs around $5000 to $6000 - tank - leach field, plus permits.

The state attempted to get us to put in $40,000 systems that needed annual inspections and service, but apparently because many of the politicians were invested in the new venture.  We stopped that one.

[frazoo]

$300 in western North Carolina. You must have approved septic system permit before you can get a building permit or electric service.

The money is not refundable so if the land does not perc you are SOL.

One of the first things you should do, WAY before you get your permits, or even your plans.. is perc test your soil. Here in South Carolina, DHEC does the test for 60 bucks. I believe they require the test before they will even give you a permit. The permit was 100.

That works when your state/county agency allows it.  Ours doesn't.  Your application for permit gets your perk test, you can't order just a perk test from the agency.  We had a soil engineering firm do a perk test/soil study for the land prior to purchasing the land to be sure (and is our only recourse for receiving a perk test prior to a purchase, BUT the agency STILL decided to do their own and as previously stated above by someone else, that fee is non-refundable.  The soil study engineering firm is in good standing with our agency, the agency official stated that the agency had never had a problem with their work in the past.  The agency official's secretary told me later that there were so few applications for permits coming in to the agency for the county, the agency official was being sent to the local food bank several days a week to help out there to justify keeping his position open. If his position is cut, someone from a different county would be assigned to that county for a day or two a week. It's all about the $$$$ and saving gov't. jobs at the private sectors expense.

frazoo

[glenn kangiser]

They were doing the same thing here.  Finally the Contractors association went to the board of supervisors and had the overzealous building director sent down the road.

[frazoo]

There is a big difference here in the way a contractor is treated versus a private citizen acting as his or her own general contractor.  However, I DO love letterwriting and going to county board meetings

frazoo

[glenn kangiser]

Gotta make a bit of noise alright.