New build systems
A complete system for a property with no existing septic. Site evaluation, design, permit, installation and final inspection.
Septic service
Septic System Installation in Whatcom County
Site evaluation, design, county permit and installation, handled as one job instead of three separate ones you have to coordinate.
Site evaluation and soil work first
Design and county permit package included
Built for high winter groundwater
Final inspection coordinated with the county
01Why it matters
The soil decides the system, and the soil here varies enormously
A septic system is designed around what the ground will accept. That is the whole logic of it. Two properties a mile apart in this county can need completely different systems and completely different budgets, because one sits on free draining glacial material and the other sits on heavy clay with groundwater two feet down in February.
So the process starts with digging test pits and reading the soil profile, not with picking a tank.
What comes out of that determines whether you get a conventional gravity system, a pressure distribution system, a sand filter, a mound, or something else. It also determines how much land the drain field needs and where on the lot it can go, which occasionally changes where the house can go.
Doing that work properly at the start is the difference between a system that lasts thirty years and one that is in trouble in eight. In wet ground there is very little margin for a design that was optimistic about drainage.
02Scope
What we handle
Replacement systems
A new system where an old one has reached the end. Same process, plus decommissioning the old tank and working around existing buildings, wells, drives and landscaping.
Alternative and engineered systems
Where the soil or the site will not take a conventional gravity system: pressure distribution, sand filters and mound systems. These cost more and are frequently the only option on tight or wet lots.
03Included
What is included
Site evaluation
Test pits dug, soil profile read and logged, groundwater assessed, and the usable area of the lot established with setbacks from wells, water, buildings and property lines accounted for.
System design
A design matched to what the soil will actually accept and to the number of bedrooms the house has, drawn up for submission.
County permit package
Application, drawings and supporting documentation prepared and submitted, and the review process followed through.
Installation and final inspection
Excavation, tank set, trenches, pipe and drain rock, backfill and reinstatement, with the county inspection scheduled and attended.
04How it runs
How an installation runs
Most routine visits follow this exact sequence. If yours will not, we say so when you book rather than on the day.
- 01
Site visit
What is planned, how many bedrooms, where the well is, where the drive and buildings will sit, and what the ground looks like on the surface.
- 02
Site evaluation and soil testing
Test pits, soil logging and groundwater assessment. This determines everything downstream and it cannot be skipped or estimated.
- 03
Design
The system type, size and layout that the soil and the bedroom count require, drawn for submission.
- 04
Permit
Submitted to the county and followed through review. Timelines here are outside our control and we will be straight with you about that.
- 05
Installation
Excavation, tank, trenches, pipe, rock, backfill and reinstatement. Weather dependent in winter, and we will tell you honestly if a job should wait.
- 06
Final inspection and records
County inspection attended, and you get the as-built record for your own files. Keep it. Half our locating work exists because somebody did not.
05Why us
Why install with us
We do the evaluation, the design, the permit and the installation as one job. Splitting those across a designer, a contractor and the homeowner is the normal arrangement and it is where projects stall, because the gaps between them are nobody's responsibility.
We design for winter, not for the day we visited. A soil evaluation done in August tells you a great deal less about groundwater than one that accounts for what the site does in February. In this county that is a design input, not a footnote.
We are honest about permit timelines. They are what they are, they are not within our control, and building expectations around an optimistic version helps nobody.
And we hand you the as-built at the end and tell you to keep it somewhere findable. It is a five second piece of advice that saves the next owner a few hundred dollars and a lot of probing.
Planning a build or facing a replacement?
Start with the site evaluation. Everything else, including the budget, follows from what the soil says.
06What customers say
What customers say
Placeholder section.No reviews have been collected yet, and nothing here is invented to fill the space. Real customer reviews go in before this section publishes. Until then there is no star rating, no aggregate score and no review markup on this site.
07Questions
Septic installation questions
How much does a new septic system cost in Washington?
It swings widely with soil and system type. A conventional gravity system on good ground is the cheapest outcome and an engineered system on a difficult wet lot can be several times that. Our cost guide breaks down what drives it.
Can I install my own septic system in Washington state?
Installation is regulated and in practice this is not a homeowner job. The design, the permit and the inspection all sit within a county and state process, and an unpermitted system is a serious problem at resale as well as a health one.
How many bedrooms will a 1500 gallon septic tank support?
Tank size and drain field size are both set by bedroom count under the design rules, because bedrooms are used as the proxy for occupancy. The exact figures come from the applicable code rather than from a rule of thumb, and they are confirmed at design stage.
How long does it take to install a septic system?
The installation itself is usually a matter of days. The site evaluation, design and permit review beforehand are what set the real timeline, and those run to weeks or months depending on the county's workload.
What is a perc test?
A soil and percolation assessment that establishes how quickly the ground accepts water. It is the basis of the whole design. On difficult sites the result can rule out a conventional system entirely.
Do I need a new septic system if the drain field failed?
Not always. Sometimes only the field needs replacing and a sound tank can stay. Our drain field page covers how that gets decided.
08Coverage
Where we install
We install across Bellingham, Lynden, Ferndale, Blaine, Birch Bay, Everson, Nooksack, Sumas, Deming, Custer, Sudden Valley and Point Roberts.
09Related
The rest of what we do
Every other service we run, in case the job you have is not the one you came here for.
Septic Tank Pumping
Routine and overdue pumping. Both chambers, lids dug out at no extra charge, and the tank inspected while it is open.
See this service
Septic Inspections
Property transfer and routine inspections, with a written report escrow and the county can both act on.
See this service
Septic System Repair
Baffles, lids, risers, pumps, alarms and blocked lines. We diagnose before anyone quotes a replacement.
See this service
Drain Field Repair and Replacement
Whether a saturated field can be recovered or genuinely needs replacing, and the evidence for the call.
See this service
Septic System Replacement
Full replacement when a system is finished, including decommissioning the old tank properly.
See this service
Emergency Septic Service
Backing up, alarm sounding, sewage surfacing. Same day response, priced before we start.
See this service
Septic Tank Locating and Records
Finding a buried system on a property where nobody knows where anything is, and tracking down the as-built.
See this service
Riser and Lid Installation
Lids brought to ground level so future service does not start with an hour of digging.
See this service
Pump and Alarm Replacement
Effluent and grinder pumps, floats and alarm panels on pressurised, mound and sand filter systems.
See this service
Septic Design and Permitting
Test pits, soil logs, a design the ground will support, and a permit package the county will accept.
See this service
10Book it
Book a site evaluation
Tell us about the property, how many bedrooms are planned, and whether this is a new build or a replacement.
- Call us(520) 412-5565
- Email[email protected]
- HoursMon to Fri, 7am to 5pmEmergency service outside those hours.
- Area servedWhatcom County, Washington