Septic failure/ replacement in DE

[Tim Rodocker]

Hi all! Disaster struck at one of my brother's rentals and looking to see if anyone has advice, recommendations, and/or referrals...

At his property in Seaford, DE the "field failed" on the septic system and the leaching field is back filling the tank which then is flooding out the house. It's a worst case scenario.

Quotes came back at:
$650 for soil testing
$850 for engineering and permits
$5-7k for pretreatment system (required by law)
$7-10k for leaching field
$3-5k for the tank

Total $16.5k - $23,5k

Obviously, this level of a failure was not planned and was not covered in CapEx.

Steps that were taken so far:
2 quotes (recommended companies, he's in OH and doesn't know anyone else to call)
Sold 1 car that was owned outright to raise funds
Considering the sale of another car that has some equity
Dialing back (nearly ending) gifts for Christmas (5 kids plus 4 fosters YIKES)

Exhausting his entire emergency fund

Steps not taken that I advised him on:

3rd party inspection that doesn't do work... not the person the contractor recommends who is probably getting a kick-back if this is really a BS deal.