Septic Tank Inspections

A septic tank inspection is highly recommended at the time of a purchase or sale of a home. As a company, we have witnessed many new homeowners run into some very serious - extensive - costly issues after purchasing a new home because they failed to get a thorough septic tank inspection done before closing.  This is typically done around the same time as a home inspection.

****Note: Most home inspectors do not include a thorough septic system inspection.

Be sure to call us if we can help by doing a complete septic tank inspection before you sell or buy a home!

Here are some FAQ answers for your information in advance:

• Someone must be on site for us to do a septic tank inspection.
• We work for and only schedule with the person who is paying for the inspection.
• We must have a signed agreement from the person who is responsible for the payment along with all county paperwork prior to the inspection appointment.
• The person responsible for the invoice will be emailed a report with either a clear passed inspection or a failed inspection. The report will only be emailed to this person.
• Once on-site, our inspectors will spend a maximum of 30 minutes trying to locate the septic tank. If we are unable to locate the tank, or if we locate it but the tank is more than two feet deep in the ground, or if the tank is under something that prevents us from getting to the tank, there will be a service charge. We only dig up to two feet to the lid of the tank.
• Once we have the septic tank open, we will pump the tank and make notes on the tank condition and components of the septic tank. Also, the field lines will be probed to make note of saturation.
• If a system fails, it is our way of protecting the person paying for our inspections from buying or selling a home that needs costly septic tank work.

Who do I call for a thorough septic inspection? 

A septic company that is licensed to install and repair septic systems. I do not recommend calling a company that does not repair, install and pump tanks on a daily basis. Those who do this on a daily basis have experienced or seen issues with systems that are uncommon to the eye of those that do not do this on a regular basis.

Steps to a septic inspection:

1st - call to schedule.

2nd - sign and email over all documents required.

3rd - the paying party or someone representing you must be onsite the entire time of the inspection. Payment is made at the time of service.

4th- A report of the inspection will be emailed over to you only in 24 business hours from the day of service.

The scheduling process takes about 30 minutes by phone to discuss everything that will take place during the inspection, gather all information and explain what is required by the paying party.  All inspections are scheduled only by the party responsible for paying. Why you ask? Great question!! Because there are a number of things that could change the price of the inspection and we need to be able to discuss issues that could happen and cause the inspection to not be completed. You will then be emailed a docusign agreement that reiterates everything discussed over the phone. You will also need to get with your realtor or the county environmentalist to get a copy of the plat that the county has on file of your septic system. Both agreement and plat need to be emailed back to us 24 hours prior to your appointment or the appointment will be cancelled. As these documents are vital to us to be able to complete our job.

What steps are done during a septic inspection?

1. Our employee will call you prior to going to the job location. Please make sure you answer the phone as with any of our jobs because we will not go onto the premises without your consent.
2. Make sure you or someone representing you is onsite during the entire time of the inspection.
3. Our driver will park the pump truck at the closest point of access to the tank on a driveway or road. We will not drive our trucks on the grass due to the weight of the truck.
4. Our driver will locate the tank, and hand dig up to 2ft to get access to the lid of the tank and begin the inspection. (This is all completed contingent as to no problems with location, system etc.)
5. Our staff will then load his material back on the truck, receive payment and leave.
6. Once he returns to the office at the end of his day he will complete inspection and discuss anything concerning with the owner.
7. Office staff keys everything into system within 24 hours of day of service and emails paperwork to you.

Things to take into consideration before scheduling septic inspection:

If home being inspected has been vacant and the system has not been in use, we can not give an accurate reading on field lines.

Septic Inspections are only valid for the day of inspection. We can not warranty an inspection of a system as anything can happen from the time of inspection to the next day. Here are some examples:

1. A dump truck drove over field lines crushing them.
2. A realtor pays for inspection, the sale falls through, another buyer comes along 3 months later. This inspection is not valid because septic system/field lines do not last forever.
3. The homeowner decides to take the house off market and make additional improvements to list the home again later. One additional improvement was to build a large patio off the back of the house. The problem is they poured the concrete over the septic tank itself and during the process of the concrete getting poured the driver drove over the field lines and crushed them.

We could do examples all day and still not discuss every case we have experienced.

We hope this information is useful! Please don't hesitate to call us with any questions!