Septic System Excavation in Grand Rapids, MI

Septic system excavation covers the digging for a new or replacement septic tank, the trenches or bed for the drain field, and the connecting lines to the house. Inside Grand Rapids and most of its surrounding cities, homes are on municipal sewer. Out in the townships, from Alpine and Cannon to Byron, Gaines and Caledonia, many homes rely on septic. New homes on acreage and older systems that have failed both need careful excavation.

Design comes first

Septic systems are designed around the soil and sized to the house, and they require a permit from the local health department. HomeAdvisor lists soil engineers for percolation testing at $700 to $2,000 and permits at $450 to $2,300. We dig to the approved design: tank location and depth, field layout, trench depth and slope.

Soil matters

Well-drained sands like the Spinks series take effluent quickly. Loamy till like the Marlette series drains more slowly and can have a seasonal water table 2 to 6 feet down, which can limit how deep a field can go. Those differences are why some sites get a conventional field and others need a raised or mound system.

Costs

HomeAdvisor puts septic system installation at $3,590 to $12,463, with conventional systems at $3,000 to $8,000 and mound systems at $10,000 to $20,000. Drain field installation runs $5,000 to $12,000, and a 1,000-gallon tank $900 to $1,500. It lists excavation contractors at $1,500 to $6,300 of the total, and labor at 50 to 70 percent of the job.

Replacement fields

When an old field fails, the new one usually has to go in a different area while the old one is abandoned. We plan routes for equipment that avoid crushing the new field area, protect wells and keep the required distances.

Doing it in the right season

Drain field soils should not be worked wet or frozen, because smeared or compacted soil drains poorly. Septic fields are scheduled for dry, thawed conditions whenever possible.