Buying or selling a home on septic? We give you an honest, thorough evaluation and a written report your lender and closing attorney will accept, on either side of the river.
Neither South Carolina nor Georgia requires a septic inspection by law at point of sale. What forces it is lenders, particularly on FHA and VA loans where an appraiser flags a concern, and disclosure forms. Georgia's standard seller's disclosure asks how many bedrooms the system was approved for and the date of last professional service. Most sellers can't answer either without a contractor. We can.
This is the part most sellers don't see coming, and it's where we're genuinely useful.
Georgia's standard seller's property disclosure asks, in writing:
Most homeowners have no idea. The permitted bedroom count lives in county or state records, not in the house. The service date lives on a receipt from a contractor they may not remember using.
South Carolina has the parallel exposure through the Residential Property Condition Disclosure Act, which requires sellers to disclose the condition of the water supply and sanitary sewage disposal system.
What the system was permitted for, when it was installed, tank size, system type and drainfield location. In South Carolina, SCDES maintains permit records for permitted systems and those records show system type, tank size and where the field is.
Sludge and scum levels, water level, and whether the tank is holding as it should. A tank is usually pumped as part of a real estate inspection so its interior can actually be assessed.
Cracks, corrosion, leakage, lid and riser condition, and the state of the inlet and outlet baffles.
Whether flow is being distributed evenly across the field, and whether the outlet filter is present and clear.
Standing water, soft ground, vegetation patterns, odor. On a thorough inspection this includes digging a test hole in the field to see what's actually happening below grade.
On any system with a pump, floats or controls, we verify they operate.
Findings, condition, anything that needs attention, and a clear statement of what we did. Something you can hand to a lender or a closing attorney without a follow-up phone call.
Expect one to three hours on site, depending on the system and how accessible it is.
FHA. Properties must comply with local health authority standards, and lenders must obtain a local health authority report where one is mandated. Appraisers are required to examine the system for signs of failure or surface evidence of malfunction, and if deficiencies are found, repairs or further inspection must follow.
VA. The appraiser performs the initial evaluation during the mandatory appraisal. A full inspection by a licensed inspector is triggered only if the appraiser has concerns about condition, functionality or compliance. Repair responsibility is negotiable between buyer and seller.
An inspection before you close is the cheapest insurance available on the transaction. A failed drainfield can run into five figures, and it is not always obvious from the surface, particularly in dry weather.
| Type | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Routine maintenance inspection | $XXX-$XXX |
| Real estate transaction inspection Includes written report | $XXX-$XXX |
| Inspection with pump-out | $XXX-$X,XXX |
| Permit records retrieval | $XX-$XXX |
We know closings run on dates. Tell us the deadline and we'll tell you honestly whether we can hit it rather than promising and then not showing. Reports come back written clearly enough that a buyer's agent doesn't need to phone us to interpret them. More for real estate professionals →
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Learn more →Tell us about the property and what it's doing. We'll come look, tell you straight what it needs, and give you a number you can plan around.