It is getting incredibly expensive to just poop in this world. About a year ago I set up to pay SJB consulting to draw up an engineered septic system for my home. Assuming I needed one, and of course I needed one! There is mottling (the soil is sometimes wet) just 22” below the surface. I’ll keep the prices of the business we went through private, but the fee’s to Contra Costa County I’ll show here. It’s not cheap! Here is a link to their costs https://cchealth.org/eh/land-use/pdf/Fees.pdf

  • $870 Percolation Test
  • $2926 County Plan Check Fee
  • $800 Septic system construction Observations

That is nearly $4600 Dollars. This does not include the cost to have an engineer draw up plans. Also, this is not the cost to put the engineered septic in the ground. Also, I assume the County Plan Check Fee includes the FIVE inspections that are required during the building of the septic.

    I have engineered plans in my hand. They tell me exactly what size dirt, what depth and what height everything needs to be. It’s defined to all the pipes, valves, and other components that must be installed and how. With it spelled out exactly as it is, I still need 5 separate inspections at different times of installation. I don’t see a lot of trust here, but I guess it is important. So long as I follow directions, I don’t know how I can screw it up.

For those who may not know I’ll give a brief description what I call ‘septic magic.

Septic cutout

As you can tell from the picture. Septic systems mostly pump out water, and then let the other stuff degrade on its own until it’s about the same as water. Septic systems seem a bit magical. I learned that human waste is about 75% water, cool huh! There are also the detergents we use in our dishwashers and washing machines. And fats from the food we don’t eat and run down the sink. But, again, a lot of what we run down our pipes is water. I guess that’s why I pay for both water and sewer to the city of Brentwood.

Fox Agri Tech Septic Design

My system will be a raised bed “alternative” system. Some people call them mound systems. There will be two 1500 gallon tanks. One will be a septic tank like the picture above. The other will be a pumping tank. The pumping tank will pump out the waste to the incredibly large leech field. It will be 240 linear feet if I read it right.

I will need to be reading it right, because I’m putting in the septic system myself! Well, hopefully with some other helpful hands. When I mentioned it to the county everyone had to dust off the procedure for what needs to happen for an owner/builder to install a septic system. It doesn’t seem many people like installing their own septic systems. Granted… If I had the money, I’d pay someone to do it too. Seems like a pretty crappy job.