Septic tank repair/replacement quote (Angus, Scotland)

LukeH_3

The outflow pipe on our old brick septic tank snapped while it was being emptied. We need to either get the pipe repaired, or to install a brand new tank (we'll need one anyway in the next few years when we extend our hours, so we were thinking this might be a good time to do it anyway).

The first guy who came out quoted £4000-£6000 (+VAT) for the repair (insisting on doing loads of brickwork rather than purely fixing the pipe), or £11550 + VAT for installing a new tank and soakaway plus a separate rainwater soakaway. We own the field downhill from our house so finding a location for the tank is not a problem.

Are these quotes reasonable? They came as a bit of a shock and there's only 1 other person in the yellow pages in our area who does this. We're worried that he's taking advantage of that fact (together with it being a bit of an emergency for us now).

barrmill

looks very expensive to me, you could have a new modern sewage treatmenty plant for that sort of money. If you google "klargester" you will get the idea. You can buy a plastic septic tank system from B&Q - might be worth looking at. have a look at SEPA's website or give them a call for advice on what standard they are looking for, under the CAR regulations all septic tanks must be registered with SEPA, if you are doing any significant work they will want you to upgrade to current standard, they will register exisiting tanks without the requirement to upgrade until they need replacing.

markie1980

My father has a business specialising in this type of work and he's been doing it for around 20 years. In the past 5 years or so he's been specialising in a system which basically converts a septic tank into a treatmentplant for a very small fraction of the cost of installing one.
The unit he uses is a 'Mantair' unit which pumps the fluid out so the broken outlet wouldn't be a problem for the conversion.
Unfortunatly you are the opposite end of the country, but you may find someone locally who can offer a similar product.