Clarke Watson is the owner of Advanced Septic Solutions, a full-service septic system contractor with experience on both residential and commercial projects. Watson is a past president of the Home Builders Association and a past chairman of the State Commercial/Industrial Council. He has installed, repaired, inspected, and designed hundreds of septic tank systems throughout the course of his career. Here, he explains what a septic inspection is and why it is important that homeowners get them.
Septic tank inspections are something that a lot of people—even homeowners who might have a septic system of their own—still do not fully understand. There are a couple of reasons, though, why homeowners should get septic inspections done on a regular basis.
The first reason is obvious: Getting a septic inspection is mandatory, depending on your location. In many counties, getting a septic inspection is required as a way to make sure that the older systems that were put in years ago are still adequate today.
Unfortunately, many of these older systems are inadequate, which is why inspections are so important. In year’s past, there was not as much understanding as to how septic systems work, so they were not installed with the same standards. When they are done to fulfill a requirement, septic inspections are usually used to ensure that the system that is already in place is still working, and to determine how much life is still left in it.
If you are thinking of selling or buying a home, a septic tank inspection may be a requirement, as well. Septic systems can extremely expensive to repair, and obviously nobody wants to buy a new home and instantly be forced to turn around and pay an additional $10,000, $20,000, or even $30,000 to repair a problem.
Another reason why inspections are so important is because having one done can really decrease the odds of having major trouble with your system. Ideally, tanks are not supposed to break, so if all goes right, you could get a good 50 to 100 years out of a septic system. Just like with a car, though, basic maintenance can go a long ways in lengthening the lifespan of a tank. So if you want your tank to last the 50 to 100 years it is supposed to, you need it inspected regularly to catch small problems when they first occur.
If there are little things, just simple things that can be taken care of with a simple pump and cleaning, then why not do that? Taking those simple steps is going to be a lot cheaper than replacing an entire system.
Inspecting a septic system can be as easy as inspecting some of the parts and components while a contractor is there doing other septic pumping or similar work. A trained professional can notice about 20 things while doing a basic pump, visually speaking. Looking at both the content that is in the tank and the components themselves is an easy way to tell if something is wrong.
Unfortunately, not all septic system companies will do an inspection while they are working on your tank. And asking to have an inspection done specifically is a habit that the majority of consumers still have not picked up. Because their septic tanks are below ground, they are generally not on the minds of most people. And also because most homeowners just don’t know any better, and they are uneducated about what type of system they have.
Part of our deal at Advanced Septic Solutions, though, is to educate everybody that we come into contact with. When a homeowner calls us for even a basic job, we try to give him as much information as is available. That is not something that a lot of septic companies do, though. We take the time to explain to our customers what is going on, which a lot of homeowners appreciate.
Part of our price, if you will, is that we are going to take the time to sit there and talk with you about what is going on. If someone is looking for a septic contractor with just the cheapest price, then we might not be the right company for the job and we might not get hired for a quick pump. But when clients come in wanting a septic system contractor who knows the most about what he is doing, and are willing to share that knowledge and information, they come to me.
