Septic system

OhioGuy · Jan 31, 2005

I'm doing some planning on an addition to my parents house. Part of this project will probably require the septic system be relocated. I received a verbal ballpark quote today of $7000 to do the job. I think the county I'm in requires two 1000 gallon vessels and a leach field. What part of that is labor and what part is materials. It just seems like basic plumbing on a grand scale, why so much money?

Curt

Buckcreek · Jan 31, 2005

I know prices are vary from state to state but that seems extremly high . I had to install a aereator plant on my property in eastern ky. and it only cost $4000. and that included the permits and ispection fees. if i could have put in a leach bed and 1000 gal tank i could have done it for less than half of that.

AndyM · Jan 31, 2005

I had two 1000 gallon tanks installed, along with 1200 feet of line for the leach field and a curtain drain around the perimeter of the entire system. They originally brought in 165 tons of gravel for the job, and that's a big chunk of the cost right there. Ours cost around $8000.

Actually, I watched them put my system in, and when you figure in all of the components of the system and the labor involved, plus the cost of their equipment, you wonder how they make any money.

Harleymsn · Jan 31, 2005

Your right, the prices do vary. I am in the process of moving from NY state to Tn. In the western new york area a standard 1000 gal system would easily go over that $7,000 figure. On the other hand, my system in Tn is about to be installed within the next month (weather permitting). I am in a rather remote area, and I am sure the guy spotted the NY plates on my truck when he priced the job ...LOL , but he did come highly recommended! The system is costing me $2350 total. I had been told that the going rate in the area was between $1800 - 2,000, so I didn't think it was such a bad deal.
I did an internet search a couple of years ago and found that tanks cost normally in $5-600 range. If you figured a $1 a foot for pipe @ 300', I would guess the material cost to be around $900. +or- ..

tomnky · Jan 31, 2005

Five years ago , I had to have a system replaced which involved two 1,000 gallon tanks with a pump system(audible and visible alarm) along with 360 foot of leach chambers: Total cost was $8500.00. This included the inspection fees as well.

JJT · Jan 31, 2005

That's cheap if it's a raised bed/engineered system. I hauled in 1000 yards of sand and gravel, set 2 1000 gallon tanks, with 3 distribution boxes and 900 feet of N12 drain pipe for about the same money. I did all the manual labor myself and did the finish frade work. If I had outsourced the whole thing it would have been twice the price.

Freds · Feb 1, 2005

Up in PA's chimney three years ago I paid $4,500 for a 1000 gal tank, a pump and the leach field 100 ft away. I have no idea what the tank costs, but the rest of the materials looked relatively cheap (PVC and gravel). I imagine the hoe was $150/hour. It seemed like a good price for the work I was getting done. This didn't include when he first came out and dug holes for the inspector. I think that was around $200 with the permit.

Ronzonie · Feb 1, 2005

As a rule you can come close to figuring the labor and machine time cost by finding the material cost and doubling it the total will be the price of the job complete.

ByronBob · Feb 1, 2005

My system in WNY was 1000 gallon tank, d-box and 8 50 foot leach lines with curtain drain for $4,000

boustany · Feb 1, 2005

First, I'd ask the guy what gave you the quote how much is labour and how much is materials.

My septic cost me something like $30,000, if memory serves, if not a lot more (I may have blocked it from my memory - ) This was for two reasons: first the size calculation was based on things like the square footage of the house, the number of bedrooms, the number of washrooms, etc., with a bunch of thresholds and I managed to just cross each one. So I ended up with a septic system literally sized for a small motel.

The second reason is that my soil has bad perc, which meant a whole lot of sand was needed and where I live sand has to be trucked in from some distance so materials was a large part of the cost.

One way of saving cost is an active system, but thats definitely a 'pay me now or pay me later' type deal.