Septic Design

On one of our recent tips to the land, we ran into a neighbor (Don) who was talking to the owner of a well-drilling company. I had not yet investigated local well drillers, so it was good to meet him and get his contact information.

My neighbor Don has had a surface well on his property, but now wants to put in a deep well. We also will need a deep well. Don will hire the man he was talking to, and is going to talk to him about giving us a price break if we both have wells drilled at the same time. We think we could get a price break since it means only having the drilling equipment brought in one time.

To be in a position to hire a well-drilling company to put in a deep well, we need to first have a septic design done (I'm sure) and have it approved by the town (I think?). Having the septic design done will also include plotting the location of the well.

Once we have that, the drilling company will know where to install the well. From what I understand, we will not need a permit from the town to have that work done.

Don plans to have his well done in the spring, so if we want to take advantage of using the same company at the same time, we need to get going now on having the septic design done. I am going to get quotes from two organizations. Normally I like to get three quotes, but the two I am going to get quotes from both come highly recommended.

The first is the organization that did the perc tests on the property originally. They are David E. Ross Associates in Ayer. They have all the documentation already, and the man we bought the land from told us that they were good top work with. I have talked to them a few times already (when I was looking for the perc docs) and I was happy with the interactions I had with them.

The second is Purcell Associates in Oxford. My cousin Pat, who is a local builder, uses them and recommended them. They are more local to our current location, and it may be easier to conduct business locally. I have to get them all the documentation from the perc tests, but that's really no big deal.

I think the winning bidder will soley depend on price. I am interested to see how much of a price difference there is between them.