What's a Perk Test and Where Do I Get One

If your new custom home project is for a residence where your lot is not connected to a public sewer system, you will need to put in your own underground sewage waste disposal on your property, usually referred to as a septic tank. The first time this came up was when I went to get my lot loan, I was asked for a perk test and water report. Not sure where to turn, I started making phone calls.

At first I thought that I would need a soils/geotechnical engineering firm. I couldn't reach one immediately so I used google maps to find a nearby septic service company. Steve at ABC Septic service was very friendly and gave me some direction. Steve explained that in Idaho, I would actually need an excavation company to dig a hole 12 to 15 feed deep with the inspector there. Since he does not do installations or excavation, he referred me to Phil at Bulldog Excavation.

Phil does perform the excavation for perk tests, but that the department of health and welfare is the agency that manages the building and maintaining of septic systems. Phil was great, giving me a ballpark estimate for all the excavation that I would have to do. We talked about the road that I would need to cut to the building pad, the pad itself for a daylight basement, the water, power and the septic. His initial estimate for everything was about $15,000 or less. This is the number I put on my planning worksheet, so sounds like it will be in budget if I have the whole job done by the excavator.

Next I called the Central District Health Department. This department is responsible for all kinds of things including overseeing day care centers, restaurants and of course, sewage disposal. The person I talked to explained the process for getting this inspection in a speculative situation like mine, where I have an accepted offer for the property, but I am doing my due diligence to ensure no problems will occur in building the home. In this area, I will need to submit a request for an onsite inspection for a "Speculative Site Evaluation."

The cost for this kind of "pre-permit" is about $358, and I have to provide the excavation to dig the hole used in the inspection. If I do move forward with the full septic permit, this money can be applied to the actual permit for the difference. A septic building permit from Central District Health is $721. If I don't "upgrade" to the full permit within the first year, I can extend the permit for another year for $93. So that will give me plenty of time to finalize the plans.

I downloaded the permit form in .pdf format for printing from the Central District Health web site (.pdf form) and filled it out on paper. Part of the process was to create a plat map of where everything would be located. You will see on the downloaded form instructions for the diagram, and they provide a place to illustrate it. I created my map on google map engine. This is a cool drawing program for maps where you can create map layers and add objects such as property lines, building location, road locations and your proposed septic system. Try it out at https://mapsengine.google.com/map/.

Here is a picture of my plat map initially created with Google Map Engine:

I put my initial plat map on paper:

The form was not hard to fill out, but did have a few things you might not be sure on yet. For example how many square feet is the house, and how many bedrooms. I don't have all those details, so I put initial estimates. So once my request is submitted, I should be able to schedule my "perk test" with the inspector, and pass that along to the lender.

Wait, there's more:
I learned this before going through with the perk test with the excavator: During the loan phase, you will probably be able to use an existing perk test that is on file with your planning and zoning department. I submitted the existing engineering report to my lender and so far they have taken it. So, you may not need to do this test unless you are developing a subdivision. Find out what is needed by your lender.

The Lot

I found the lot on Zillow (zillow.com). Occasionally I peruse the listings and look for something at a price I can afford. I also look at how expensive real estate can be on comparable properties. It is crazy to see the differences. This particular lot has been listed on Zillow for over 460 days. It is 5 acres mostly covered in sage brush. Teenagers like to come to this subdivision because no one is building yet, and so it is somewhat remote. Somehow a fire started on the front part of the lot and so all the sage brush on one slope is charred. I intend to remove all the brush from the area around the house, and plant shrubs and put in landscaping.

The description on the listing says, "a premier East Eagle Foothills neighborhood. Conveniently located with quick access to recreation areas, shopping & schools, but secluded above the hustle & bustle of town. Build your dream home with your own builder or inquire about one of ours & enjoy unobstructed views of Eagle & Boise. Paved, private, dead-end road with several turnarounds for lost travelers. Power at each lot. Building permits, plat maps, first-responder fire information & deed restrictions on file."

Above the hustle and bustle? no kidding. As you sit at the top of the world, not a sound can be heard except the occasional call of a bird of prey and the sound of the breeze across the ridge. With a nice view both in the front and the back, I think it will be worth it. Here is a plat map that I am putting together so I can get an initial inspection with the health department to ensure the soil will "perk" for the septic system. More on that in another post.

The view from the lot includes from almost downtown Boise to Star with Eagle, Meridian and other cities in the area. To the East, there is a view of the Boise Front with visible lights from Bogus Basin ski resort during the winter time. Behind the house will be visible the open foothills where the land is zoned RP, or rural-protected. 

Where Will You Get Water?

Most subdivisions that you can build a custom home in will have city water already piped to the front of each property, with a meter near the street where the city or water company can come along and read your water usage. If they are techno-savvy, they will also have a way to read the meter electronically using a type of wireless radio frequency reading or cellular type connection to get data into their systems automatically. But if you don't have water to the lot, you may get the opportunity to have a well drilling company find water underground.

There are two people you should speak with during the due diligence phase regarding the well you will put in. They should both come back with similar information. First, get a hold of someone at your local water resources board. Since my property is in the county boundaries, not the city, I had to call the county offices. They may need to call you back, but will have tons of good information.

My goal for this first call was to get as much information as possible about other wells in the subdivision and area and find out how hard it was for them to get water. My first discovery was that my next door neighbor lot has already drilled his well. The public records in my area have quite a few details, including the well logs that were kept as the driller punched the well.

My neighbors well was 200 feet deep. The first hit water at about 160 feet (a pleasant surprise), and they set their pump around 180 feet deep. The bad news is that they can only get about 10 gallons per minute. For residential use, you need closer to 20 gallons per minute, or have enough pressure tank to storage to store water and pressure for a period of time.

Another neighbor, just outside the subdivision drilled his well about 250 feet. He can get about 20 gallons per minute. Given these scenarios, it seems that we will need a bit more depth for a quality well. Rick, from the water resources board, said that we may need to go as deep as 300 to 400 feet to have plenty of water.

Rick also told us that without irrigation water rights we can only irrigate 1/2 acre. Since I have 5 acres here, a lot of the property will need to stay as sage brush covered rather then be landscaped. I am good with that. But if I do want to irrigate the whole property, I will have to obtain a water right from somewhere, whether purchased, traded or somehow obtained. There are a limited number of shares of irrigation water in the tributaries to the Boise river, and so beyond the 1/2 acre, we will be limited.

For irrigation you can collect ground water in a pond, and water as much as you want. I did ask him about putting in a pool. He said that it would be fine, and even though it uses a lot of water, it falls under an exception to the rule that you can't put water from the well into an irrigation pond.

The second person you should speak to is a well driller. I got a hold of Monte from Water Pro Services. He will be doing some research and then contacting me. I will give you more information as I have it.

In other news, when I went by yesterday, my neighbor down the hill in the meadow area broke ground on his home. Looks like they will be putting in a basement. I will add some pictures here soon.

The Cedar Lane Project

The other night my wife and I broke the news to the family that we were planning on building a custom home. There was a lot of excitement when everyone viewed the blog article. The turret image that I had in my first blog article was of the big house project we all lived through. I pinned a few of the images to a Pinterest board so you can take a look.

It was great going through memory lane and remembering all the little details of the remodel. At one point 5 of us lived in the living room of the old original house. My two sisters got their own (shared) room. While looking at pictures of the old place on Zillow, we tried identifying each room and the memories flooded back. We saw where tress and outdoor walls were removed, and how the kitchen has been completely redone once again.

Remodeling a home while you live in it is challenging. I think it was very difficult for my parents. But for the kids, it was the kind of adventure you never forget, and the learning is invaluable. I think going through it gave me the confidence to know that I can do it if I want it bad enough and put my mind to it.

Due Dilligence

This is where I am keeping a list of things I need to research as part of due diligence. With our real estate agent, we placed in the offer a contingency for 30 days of exploration to determine whether we will be able to build on this lot. During this time we will need to get soil work done, ensure we will be able to get water from a well on the property and that all the permits can be obtained.

Today I found out that a special permit is required to build on this lot because it is a hilltop lot. I also learned that the lot is not in the city limits yet, and so is covered by the county building inspection requirements. Here is the list:

1. Soils - Can the dirt within the hill hold a house
2. Septic/sewer - How big will the leech fields need to be
3. Power - My lot has power
4. Cable/internet options
5. Building Permits - Will need the house plans to be able to do this. For us this will come much later.
6. Special Permits - Mine requires a building permit plus a a "Hillside Development Application."
7. Water - For my property, I will need to contact the department of water resources. See blog article about it.
1. How much will the well cost?
8. Engineering - This includes the soils analysis, which is required for the "Hillside Development Application."
9. Flood Insurance - My lot up on the hill is above any risk of flood.

I got a lot of this information by calling my county building department. You may have to call your city if your property is within the city limits.

Excavation

It is a difficult lot. A challenge. This appears to be one of the reasons we got it..."Excavation will be expensive," we were told. My wife is still nervous about it, and I am not 100% sure yet. So I started researching the possibility of doing the excavation myself. I read a construction forum article that made me rethink the challenge:

jerryt asks: "I'm about to build my second house. I'd really like to rent/purchase a large backhoe and do my own excavation this time (probably about 500 cy's). My question is: am I crazy? I can use a transit and I can learn to operate the machine. But, has anyone ever done this sort of work successfully as a newbie, or is it something one should certainly steer clear of? Any pontifications are welcome!"

The responses were mostly positive:
Sparks: "Heck yeah, I would. I know a guy who did all his excavation with a Bobcat he bought used. Took some doin, but he did it. Now he's making a killing renting out the Bobcat to homeowners, etc that need one for a few hundred a day. Of course I would do all the research on the subject that I possibly could before actually doing it. Don't want to mess up on something like that."

You can read the rest at http://www.construction-resource.com/forum/

This lot will have a driveway up the hill and about .12 miles long. The amount of dirt that will need to be moved is significant, though there are plenty of places to put the excess to create flat areas for the yard and garden. Jerryt from the construction forum article said he got the book, Moving the Earth by Herbert Nichols and David Day. This king of books has 1230 pages and editions first printed in the 1950s. It weighs over four pounds.

There may be a lot to know in order to excavate something this big. So as I gain more information I will put it here. Verbally we got acceptance of our offer, but don't have a signature yet. Our real estate agent is doing a great job of keeping things going at a perfect pace. I expect to receive signed acceptance of the offer soon. Then we will need to quickly perform our "Due Diligence" to research everything we need to know about the lot before we move forward.

Awaiting Offer Accepance

Ok, I'm going to do it. I've dreamt about it; I've thought about it and I've envisioned every feature, appliance, piece of hardware and floor covering. I've visited the biggest and best custom homes of the parade of homes. In my mind I have chosen the colors, the styles and the sizes. I have prioritized the most intricate details...the view, the proximity to work and restaurants, to the right schools. I have waited patiently through the slow economy. I have discussed it a thousand times with my wife.

Front entrance to our custom home

But now, it is time. And so I made the offer...a lot that I can build on. But not just any lot. This lot sits atop a ridge. Imagine a residence sitting there, up above it all with a scene of the valley below, and foothills behind; what will this structure look like? What kind of vegetation will I plant? ...Oh, and will there be water to tap into at all below the dry ground. How much will it cost to excavate the road, and what will limited funds accomplish? How many years ahead will it affect a family's lives?

It all started a long time ago. You see, my father had these visions too. He felt so strongly about it that he quit his job teaching at 30 and went into building. We moved from rental to build job, from city to money pit. As I think of the septic tank that I must put in, I remember the septic tank that Mr. Curtis sunk into in my dad's last project house. Cedar Lane became his crown jewel, the French style home with a turret and curved staircase in the front entrance.

From building my father went into the concrete business, driving his concrete pump trailer from dream home to dream patio to 500 square foot addition. We moved a lot of concrete, up hills and down in the poison oak covered slopes of the East Bay. I followed the family business for a while, where I learned do-it-yourself equipment manufacturing and diesel mechanics.

Our third concrete pump truck

Before long I got tired of being dirty and hot, then cold and wet; covered from head to toe with mud and concrete. Late nights working were not pencil pushing or keyboard tapping (I guess it was mostly type writing back then). We were sledge hammering hardened concrete out of our precious pump hoses, or jack hammering chunks out of the equipment.

And so I went to school to be in the computer software business. Here I am, selling the software I wish I had to keep the books and track the location of workers. But I still long to have the experience of building a home. Concrete and wood, stucco and glass; the materials and the designs call to me.

Being a do-it-yourselfer doesn't mean I will do everything myself; but what I can do, I will. Here, in this blog, I will catalog the journey and document the methods, plans and designs to build a custom home. I hope this information is helpful. I look forward to your feedback. All I need now is the counter offer from the developer.