The Utilities

Septic:
We are using our neighbor's engineer, Felix. He came out to talk to Russ about our septic system. He was very forthcoming with information and held nothing back. He told us not to have the property deeded to us until after the septic field was in and that would save us a LOT of money. He also had Russ take soil samples, two holes that were four feet deep. Samples at 1 ft, 2ft, 3ft, and 4ft to see if the soil would accept a standard leech field septic system (not aerobic, not low pressure). Felix got the samples and had them tested. Thankfully, we can put in a standard septic system. And Felix is letting us put the system in that he designed. He will inspect it before the county comes to make sure it will pass inspection.

Russ has found a company that is going to sell us a 1000 gal septic tank for $650, including delivery. That would usually cost us much more.


Water:
We wanted to do rainwater collection only. But we found that the roof washer and filtration system was going to cost about $2500. That cost is without the cost of a water tank. Our neighbor (Antonio) had to order a water tank for himself, his mother, and he had promised to buy one for Pat (Russ's dad). Russ went online and found a company that would charge one shipping fee if they are all sent to the same address. So Antonio put in the order and we paid him for our tank (3000 gal). We are going to use the well here on the property but we have to put in about 1/2 mile in PVC from the front of the property to our acre. We still hope to put in a rainwater collection system, but that will have to be at a later date.


Electric:
We had CPS come out to access the situation and tell us what we needed to do to get electric back to our property. Thankfully, our neighbor on the other side, has his son living pretty far back on his property. His last power pole is about 300 ft from our property. CPS wants us to set a pole 300 ft further back for $1800 and $1000 for guy-wires on our pole and the previous pole. Then we have to set our 20' meter pole. Instead of spending all that money, Russ's dad has agreed to give us right-of-way for our power pole. Then we will bury our line after the meter.


So... That is all about our utilities. We cannot start our septic system until after the building is put in place, because the building will be brought in over the top of the leech field. Russ will rent a Ditch Witch so we can bury the water line and the electric line. The lady down the road has a backhoe that she will let us use for as long as we need it.