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Does anyone have a ballpark current cost of 3000 ltr Fosse system?


friend of stouby
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Hello

We have had our 'Controle de l'assainissement non collectif' inspection and rather than make minor repairs to an old small septic tank we will have a new Fosse septique installed.

We will get 2 or 3 quotes locally but wonder if others have had recent quotes for a fairly standard system (as described below) to give us a guide to work from.

We were advised that we will need a 3000 ltr fosse with a bac a graisse and a 5m x 5m filter bed in the style of 'Filtre a Sable Draine' due to the underlying soil being clay.

We have plenty of land behind the house where the fosse will be located with no boudaries or trees to impinge on what ever site is decided.

Access is good for a gravel lorry to be able to dump within about 20m of the fosse area and plenty of room for machinery to work.

Fortunately we also have a location on our land that is very suitable for the spoil with the means to move it too, so the contracter only has to pile the excavated soil at a close position to the fossse and we will do the rest.

Since we moved to the Allier we have had quotes for 3 separate small projects and all were wide ranging to the extent that it's not easy to say whether the cheapest was a fair price or cutting corners or whether the dearest were taking the p.. or were really the value of a good job?

Thanks for any help
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From speaking to other people that we know, the price seems to vary from department to department. We are in the Indre and paid just under €6000 for a similar lay-out to yours. But do not rush into anything you have up to 4 years to put it right. Hope this helps.

Regards.
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Thanks all, it appears that around 6000 euros was the was the going price about 3 years ago, did that include ventilation for the fosse too?

In all cases was the soil excavated removed or left on site as I believe this is a large item in the cost breakdown?

We return to France in around 2 weeks and will arrange to get quotes in the following weeks. If any is interested I'll post the totals here.

Thank you again.

 

 

 

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Our cost of just under €6000 was for last year and included the ventilation, removal of some of the clay and bringing in and spreading new top soil. It also included a visit about three months after to ensure everything was working correctly.

Regards.
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That's very good, thanks, and you aren't so far away either so maybe prices are similar? We were advised by the inspector that the earthwork people are currently very busy (due to this round of inspections?), so although we don't have to complete a new system yet it will hold up other things if we don't start this by summer.

How long did the whole process take, from the start to the finished job?  ...  and thanks again for your time.

 

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Definitely worth getting a few quotes, mine cost €4.5K four years ago and recently recommended the company to a friend who had the work done last month for a total cost of €5K and his layout was a more complex involving a pump to the bed, lead time was a couple of months, turn round time was a couple of weeks, no mention was made about separate costs for soil removal.
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Turnaround time as "Just John" says. The thing that took the most time was waiting for the rain to stop before digging could commence because of the clay soil. Also you have to think about the inspector re-visiting when the whole thing has been laid, drainage bed etc, to ok the work. Our re-inspection came wthin one week. I suppose that part is dependent on how busy they are.

Regards.
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  • 1 month later...
The first two of three of terrassement companies have now inspected the proposed fosse installation and one raised a technical point regarding the depth that our fosse would have to be sunk to to enable the correct pente (fall) for the pipe work.

We are situated on a slope with the high point behind the house. All pipe work existing and in the future exits from the rear of the house.

Due to other factors the fosse will be around 9m from the house, slightly uphill.

The internal floors are around 55cm below the ground level touching the rear wall (this will be removed or moved back by about 4m).

The fall to the fosse will be around 20- 25cm giving a total below ground level for the fosse inlet of around 80cm.

The point raised was - would Sivom allow the fosse and to a lesser extent (as the ground slopes down from fosse to filter bed location) the sand filter to be buried so deep in the ground.

Does anyone have any information as to whether there are minimum and maximum depths for the various component parts of a fosse system?

Thanks as always
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I can't answer your question directly, except to say that the earlier post I have made relates to the same problem, and an experienced contractor had no problem installing the fosse with a pump up to the bed; which sounds like a solution to your problem.
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Thanks for that suggestion JJ but would prefer to keep the system very simple if that were possible.

Have today re-measured the depth of the fosse inlet below the building floor level and have come up with 65cm, maybe 70cm. I assume the lid of the fosse is around 30cm ? above the inlet which would then rerequire an extension tube over the cap of around 35cm which doesn't appear to be so deep.

The sand filtre will be down slope of the fosse with the option to make it closer or further from the fosse as we wish. This can then be arranged in such a manner that the manholes for the fitre can be at or close to ground level.

Anyway, that's the theory...
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  • 3 weeks later...
we've just had a couple of quotes for similar work, and they're between 5500 - 6500 euro. We had a word with our neighbour and for one of those that quoted he raised his eyebrows and indicated that the chap although local to our village, wasn't very reliable - so I would advise not going purely on price.
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We had a similar system put in last August. 3000 litre fosse and sand filter bed as our land slopes upwards and we also couldn't get far enough away from our well to put 'normal' run off pipes. It cost us 3,500 € for the contractor and all the materials. He started early Thursday morning and had finished Friday afternoon. During this time frame he went off and collected the fosse from the local builders merchants plus all the piping as they couldn't deliver in time; then went and collected the gravel and later the sand in his own lorry. He neatly piled up the waste soil further up the field and left the whole place neat, tidy and level. The local mayor called to check the work on Friday morning and we were advised by the contractor to take lots of pictures so that if there was a query at a later date we had pictoral evidence of the work done and materials used.
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Have just had the first devis in for our fosse system and are waiting on 2 others to be produced. It's 5855 euros TTC

The system has evolved as follows -

  • 1 manhole sited about 3m upstream of the fosse
  • 3000 ltr fosse  (this quote is for a concrete one)
  • separate pre filter of 200 ltr sited between the fosse and the filter bed
  • secondary vent pipe installed 7m from pre filter
  • 5 x 5m filter bed with drain
  • some form of run-off from the filter bed into ground below the filter bed, the design of this we are not too clear about as yet

All spoil to be left on site and I connect the manhole to the drains for bathroom and kitchen once they are moved from their current location by myself.

Not sure what the normal delay time between site examination and receiving a devis is? but it has been 3 1/2 weeks since the last of the companies inspected the site. I'll post the devis total of the other two as they arrive.

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The second devis has now arrived (after a phone call to ask if it was sent), although it's a ' devis approximatif ' rough estimate. My understanding of French is not of the best but I thought that a devis was an actual quote rather than an estimate?

Anyway, this second devis is very close to the first at 5570 euros TTC. I believe this also happened to someone else with very close devis.

The third ground worker has questioned a point on the design but hope to meet with the inspector Monday to clarify what ever is the problem so hope for the third soon.

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A little additional info re the installation of a fosse septique.

Our third groundworking company raised a point with the inspectorate re the deeper than usual depth that the fosse and filter bed will be sited at. I am currently checking out out non preferred option of a pump unit to raise the waste to rear of house ground level.

This is due to the land behind the house being higher than the ground floor level of of the house, although this is the only realistic site for the fosse system to be located.

After new discussions with the inspector and a couple of direct questions he stated that the only critical depth was for the sand filter which should be covered by 20cm up to 25cm max with soil. Deeper than this is not allowed.

For all other components, the tank, pre filter and manholes there was no mandatory minimum or maximum depth, only what is practical for use.

After his visit it occurred to me that a plastic fosse tank sited say 100cm below ground level may not have the same external pressure containing ability as a concrete one, but there again I may be wrong in that assupmtion?
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