What Septic Pumping Costs in Van Buren County
We charge 35 cents a gallon to pump a septic tank. A typical 1,000 gallon tank comes to $350. A 2,000 gallon tank comes to $700. It is the same number on our prices page, because we would rather you know it before we pull in the driveway.
Around here the range runs wide. There are companies inside our own service area charging 58 cents a gallon for the same work. Nobody else publishes their rate at all, so we put ours on the site. You should be able to see the price before anyone comes out.
Two things can add to the bill, and we quote both on the phone before the truck rolls. If your tank lid is buried, we charge to dig it out. If nobody knows where the tank even is, we charge to locate it. Neither one is a surprise on the invoice, and there is a permanent fix for the digging part. A riser brings your lid up to ground level, and after that nobody ever charges you to dig again.
The other question we get is how big the tank is, because most people have no idea. That is normal. We find the corners, mark them out, and once we pump it down we measure the inside and convert it to gallons. Our smaller truck has a gauge that reads at 750, 1,000 and 1,500, so on that truck the number is right on the dial.
If you are on a holding tank at the lake, the math is different because the tanks run bigger, some to 3,000 gallons and more. We wrote that up separately on the lake home page.
Call to get on the schedule: (269) 434-6385. We book two to three weeks out in season, and we hold room on Fridays for jobs that cannot wait that long.
What makes one pump-out cost more than another?
The gallon rate does not move. The tank size and the work around getting to it do. Most tanks out here hold 1,000 to 2,000 gallons, which is the $350 to $700 range. Lake places on holding tanks instead of a septic system can run 3,000 gallons or more, because nothing drains out of those and everything sits until a truck comes.
The other two lines are the lid and the location. If your lid is buried we charge to dig it out, and if nobody knows where the tank is we charge to locate it. Both get quoted before we drive out, not added afterward. A riser ends the digging charge permanently, which is why we bring it up when we are standing over a hole we just dug.
How do you know how big your tank is?
Most people do not know, and it is not a problem. We find the four corners, mark them out in the yard and measure, then measure again at the bottom once it is pumped down, and that gives us the gallons. Our 1,500 gallon truck also carries a gauge that reads at 750, 1,000 and 1,500, so on that truck we can tell you as we go.
If you want the number before we come, your county health department usually has the original septic permit on file with the tank size on the drawing. Van Buren, Allegan and Berrien all keep them.
What about a lift station?
That is priced differently. If your yard has a mound in it, there is an electric pump in a chamber doing the work of moving water uphill to the field. When that pump runs, we use it to move the water and only haul the solids, and the job is $125. When it is dead we are hauling all 500 gallons by truck and it costs more. More on that on the lift station page.