Here I am deep inside part of the septic system at a rental property in Calhoun. I didn’t even know what this thing was when we bought it. I’m sure you’ve seen them before. It looks like a big green trash can lid lying on the ground. But when you open the lid, instead of trash, you get a 10 foot deep, couple hundred gallon tank of fecal filtered water. Yours truly is down right in the middle of it. Do you want to be an investor yet?
Those green lids are part of a drip system. Drip systems are for areas where the land doesn’t percolate. By that I mean pooh water that doesn’t seep away from the house well. It works by pumping grey water into lots of small field lines to force the water away from the house. This keeps the septic tank from being full and backing up.
So why was I in this pool of pooh? Like I said, I had no idea what this green lid was. We found out something wasn’t “kite yite” as we were rehabbing. I’m pretty handy. So I started tinkering with it trying to find out why the alarm kept going off and why the pump kept shutting down. After many attempts, I fixed the problem and moved a nice family in. At least… I thought I fixed it.
The problem got worse now that we had people living there. We were on a tight budget with this house. I kept trying to fix it myself because of that. The problem was… I didn’t know what in the heck I was doing. I tried to get professional help, but this particular system was put in by an installer that was no longer in business. I couldn’t get a straight answer on what I was dealing with. I was at my wits end!
FINALLY I met Mitchell of P&P Septic. I liked Mitchell as soon as I met him. He is a great guy, shows up on time and knows his stuff. He dove, literally, head first into this tank to reposition part of the sump pump. That should have fixed it. However, my many failed attempts burned the motor up and we had to replace the sump pump. GO ME!
Be sure to treat guys like Mitchell well and they will save you money. Case in point… We were looking to buy four duplexes the other day. We noticed something about the septic wasn’t right. We had Mitchell come out to inspect it. He advised me to NOT buy them. The whole area doesn’t perk.
I asked him how much it would cost to put in new field lines. He told the price. The next thing he said shocked me. He told me that if I just wanted to put new field lines in I would need to get someone else. He explained that he just couldn’t put his name on something like that.
New field lines would not have fixed the problem. The land was no good. The correct way to fix it would cost $30,000 per duplex. That killed the deal. I am very grateful for Mitchell. His integrity and know-how saved me a ton of money and head aches that day. Any idea how much he charged me… A rain check for a lunch. What a businessman!
You will find yourself doing all kinds of projects that you aren’t equipped to do when you first get started investing. Make sure if you do a project on your own it is because you have to, not because you are being cheap. You need to have guys like Mitchell around that know what they are doing and have the integrity to do it right. As strange as it sounds, paying them now will save you money. Treat these guys well and they will take care of you. PS, he still hasn’t collected on his lunch.