New Septic Systems, Built Right the First Time

What a Septic Installation Involves

A septic system is a small wastewater treatment plant on your property. Every drain in the house runs to it, and it needs to perform reliably for decades. The quality of the work comes down to details you will never see once the job is finished: tank depth, the slope of the line from the house, how level the drip or drain lines are set, and how carefully the excavation is dug and backfilled.

On a typical new home, the installation follows these steps:

• Layout. We stake the tank and field locations from the approved design and confirm the required setbacks from the house, property lines, wells and surface water.
• Excavation. We dig the tank hole and trenches. Around Canyon Lake this usually means breaking limestone with a hydraulic hammer mounted on the excavator.
• Setting Tanks. Concrete tanks are lowered into place with a boom truck and set level on a prepared base. Aerobic systems typically have two or three treatment compartments plus a pump tank.
• Plumbing and Electrical. We run the line from the house, connect the tanks and pump, and install the control panel, alarm and chlorinator where the design requires them.
• Disposal Field. Drip tubing, spray heads or drain lines are installed exactly as designed, then pressure tested.
• Inspection, Backfill and Grading. The county inspects the system before anything is covered. Once it passes, we backfill, grade and clean up the site.

Which Type of System Will You Need?

The soil on your lot determines the system. The site evaluation identifies what the property can support, and the engineer’s design follows from there. These are the systems we install most often:

If you are weighing the trade-offs before buying land, our aerobic vs. conventional guide covers them in more detail.

Design, Permit and Installation with One Point of Contact

In Comal County and the surrounding counties, a septic system cannot be installed without an approved permit. Texas requires the site evaluation to be done by a licensed site evaluator and the system design to be prepared by a registered sanitarian or professional engineer. We do not do that work in house. We work closely with an engineer we have a great relationship with, and we will put you in contact so they can handle the evaluation and design and guide you through the process. Learn more about how septic design works. From there, we install the system, coordinate the county inspections and stay your single point of contact. Our permit guide explains each step.

Why Homeowners Around the Lake Choose Us

Peter Varhol Construction has been family owned and operated since 1995. Dennis and Mike Varhol, lifelong Hill Country residents, oversee every job personally. We own the equipment that does the work, we keep our schedule, and we tell you up front when rock will be a factor so there are no surprises later.

We install systems for homeowners, for builders with several houses a year, and for commercial properties that need large multi-tank systems. You can see examples of our work on the projects page.