It would be a complete lie to say that any element of a new wastewater installation could be considered a cheap project (or at least when it is done correctly!) Under certain circumstances there are ways in which the outlay can be reduced such as installing a combined sewage treatment plant and clubbing in with neighbours or undertaking certain elements of the work yourself if you are capable.

In some rare circumstances other occurrences can work in your favour, this was the case for one job we carried out before Christmas. Our contracts manager Rob Scholefield had attended the property to assess the current wastewater set up and looked to upgrade the set up from the existing combined Septic tank.

Due to the 2020 General Binding Rules and its close proximity to the sewer network the only compliant proposal was to connect to the mains drains.

The bonus to both properties needing to connect to the mains sewer is that some costs can be distributed equally between both households. Permissions were sought to utilise the same demarcation chamber and connection point for both properties due to the limited expected flow, once this had been confirmed by the water authority the ball was rolling to get the works started.

However, this site proved to be a tricky one, not on paper but there were a few practical implications. A confident and steady hand was required as heavily restricted access caused a couple of complications.

A pump station was required to suit each property and as we were limited to installing with a micro digger then the Harlequin 800 litre pump station was the ideal solution. The total depth of excavation was just under 1.5 metre deep and storage had not been compromised.

Using such a small machine to carry out the installation also meant that more time was required on site, even leading materials from one side of site to the other took a considerable amount longer time.

To make matters worse some of the drainage on site even need to be hand excavated.

As the project came to a close the customer benefited from multiple cost saving exercises which were then passed on such as:

• Shared costs for the installation and materials required to install a new demarcation chamber, gravity pipework and to connect to the mains sewer.
• Shared costs for the Section 50 license.
• Shared costs for the Road Closure which was necessary to facilitate the works.
• Shared costs for the associated traffic management.
• Any administration fees in relation to the above including procurement of service maps.
• Shared machinery hires and mobilisation costs.

We always aim to provide the best possible solution for all our customers whilst keeping the price reasonable and if any savings can be made then we would pass these on.

For more information on what is involved in a connection to mains sewer job please don’t hesitate to give us a call.