Septic Services in Gainesville, FL

Your house drain and your septic system are one system. We work on both.

Rather text? Send a photo of the problem to 352-377-9447 and we’ll tell you what it sounds like.

Licensed Florida Plumbing Contractor CFC1430748

Flat $69 service fee. Two year parts and labor warranty. We patch every hole we cut.

Flat service fee to come out and diagnose it, waived on larger jobs.

$ 69

Parts and labor warranty, with the manufacturer warranty on top.

2 yr

Septic services handled under one call, from locating to decommission.

First Choice Plumbing installs, replaces, locates and decommissions septic systems across Gainesville, Hawthorne and rural Alachua County. We are a Florida certified plumbing contractor, license CFC1430748, so we can trace the problem from your bathroom drain all the way to the drain field. Flat $69 service fee, two year parts and labor warranty, and every hole we cut gets patched.

Is the problem in your house or out in the yard?

That is the question that decides everything, and it is the one most homeowners cannot answer from the kitchen. A slow tub, a gurgling toilet, a wet spot in the grass and a smell by the back door all look the same from inside.

Here is the part nobody tells you. A septic-only contractor is not licensed to open your house plumbing. A plumber who does not do septic will stop at the property line. So you end up paying two people to each look at half the problem, and neither one owns the answer. That is not a knock on either trade. It is just how the licenses work.

We hold a Florida plumbing contractor certification, and we install and repair septic systems, so we can start at the fixture, run a camera down the line, find the tank, and tell you whether you are looking at a two hour drain clearing or a new drain field. You get one answer from one person who is standing there when you ask the follow-up question.

You deserve a straight answer before anybody quotes you a number. That is the whole idea.

How do you know if your septic system is failing?

Septic systems almost never fail all at once. They warn you for months first, quietly, in ways that are easy to explain away. Here is what to watch for, in roughly the order it shows up.

Everything drains slow at once. One slow sink is a clog. The tub, the toilet and the kitchen all slowing down together points outside the house.
The toilet gurgles when the washer drains. That is air being pushed back up the line because water is not leaving fast enough.
Grass over the field is greener and taller than the rest of the yard. Nutrient rich water is surfacing where it should be soaking in.
Soggy ground or standing water over the tank or field on a dry week. If it has not rained and the ground is still wet, the system is pushing water up instead of down.
A smell near the tank lid or at the back door. Odor outdoors points at the tank or field. Odor at one fixture usually points at a dry trap or a vent problem inside, which is a plumbing repair, not a septic job.
Drains back up after heavy rain. A saturated field cannot accept water. This is the classic North Central Florida summer complaint.
The last pump-out was more than three to five years ago, or nobody can remember one.

If you have two or more of these, get it looked at before the next holiday weekend. A field that is struggling can often be saved. A field that has been overloaded for another year usually cannot, and that is the difference between a service call and a five figure project.

Not sure which one you are looking at? Read what a camera inspection actually shows you. Sewer camera inspection

What we do, and what we hand to somebody better

Six septic services under one license, plus an honest note about the two we do not do ourselves.

Septic Tank Install and Replacement

New tanks set to code, old tanks replaced, and the health department paperwork handled so you are not chasing permits on your day off.

Drain Field Install and Replacement

When the field stops taking water, the fix is a new field, not another pump-out. We size it for your soil, your household and the rules that apply to your parcel.

Septic Locating

Nobody knows where the tank is. Deeds do not say, and the previous owner is long gone. We find it, mark it, and tell you the depth before anybody digs.

Septic Inspection

Buying, selling or refinancing a home on septic and need eyes on the system.

Septic Abandonment and Decommission

Hooking up to city water and drains, or clearing a tank for new construction. We empty it, break it up, crush it and bury it the way the state requires.

Septic Pump-Out

Routine pumping keeps solids out of your drain field and adds years to it.

The honest part. We do not run a pump truck, and our inspection certificate is still in progress. When you need either one, we hand you to a local outfit we trust and we tell you what a fair price looks like before you call them. We would rather point you to the right person than take money for work we are not the best at. If a $400 pump-out buys you five more years out of your field, we will say so instead of selling you a field.

What happens after you call

Tell us what the house is doing.

Kim answers the phone and asks a handful of plain questions: what is draining slow, how long, has it rained, when was the tank last pumped, do you know where it is. That call is free, and it is often enough for us to tell you whether this sounds like a drain or a field.

We come out and find the real problem.

Flat $69, waived on larger jobs. We locate the tank, run a camera where it helps, and check the field. Then you get a written price for the actual fix, all in, before anybody starts.

We do the work and stand behind it.

Permits pulled, county inspection scheduled, every hole we cut patched, and two years of parts and labor behind it. You get the approved paperwork for your file when we close out.

The owner still runs the estimates

It is a small crew on purpose, and it is locally owned.

Will’s take on it is simple: he would rather be the guy standing in your yard explaining what he sees than the guy collecting money behind a curtain. If a repair gets you five more years, he will quote the repair. If the field is done, he will show you why before he prices a new one.

What changes when a licensed plumber does your septic work

Both trades are legitimate and both do good work. The difference is how much of the problem one call can actually cover.

Flat $69 to come out. If a pump-out is all you need, we will tell you and point you to someone who does them.

What you are comparing	First Choice Plumbing	Typical septic-only contractor
Where the work can start	At the fixture inside your home, then out to the tank and field	At the property side only. House plumbing is outside the license
Diagnosis before digging	Camera down the line and locate the tank first, so you dig once	Often a pump-out first, then dig and look
What it costs to find out	Flat $69 to come out, waived on larger jobs. Published on the site	Usually not published anywhere. You ask on the phone
If the trouble is inside the house	We fix it on the same visit. Drain clearing, descaling, a broken cast iron line	Referred out to a plumber. Second trip, second fee
Holes and interior damage	Every hole we cut gets professionally patched. We do not paint, and we say so	Varies. Often left for the homeowner
Warranty	Two years parts and labor, plus the manufacturer warranty	Varies by shop, commonly one year or none
Who shows up for the estimate	Will, the owner and license holder, runs the estimates himself	Usually a salesperson or a dispatcher
Paying for a big project	Financing available on jobs from about $500 up. Financing	Often cash, check or card only

What it looks like when it is done right

The yard is graded back and seeded. The toilets flush the way they did the first year you owned the place. Nobody is standing in the hall wondering whether to run the washer. The permit and the county inspection are in a folder with your closing documents, so when you sell, the septic is a non-issue instead of a negotiation. And you are not thinking about any of it, which is exactly the point. A septic system you never think about is a septic system that was done right.

Who permits septic systems in Alachua County, and why it matters to you

Septic work here is permitted work. A new system, a replacement tank and a new drain field all require a site evaluation and a construction permit before anybody breaks ground, and the system has to pass inspection before you can use it. In Alachua County that runs through the county health department’s septic program. Which building office handles the rest of the job depends on your address: the county handles unincorporated parcels, and the city handles addresses inside Gainesville city limits.

There is a second layer out here that surprises people. Alachua County sits inside two springs protection areas tied to the Santa Fe River and the Gainesville area. In the parts of the county covered by those plans, a new system can be required to be an enhanced nutrient reducing system rather than a standard tank and field. That changes the design, the cost and the timeline, and it is decided by your parcel, not by your preference.

Skipping the permit is where people get hurt. An unpermitted tank has no record, which means the next buyer’s lender or inspector finds a system the county has never seen. That gets fixed on your dime, on their timeline, usually in the middle of a closing. We would rather spend an extra week on paperwork than hand you that.

So we pull the permits, we schedule the county inspection, and we hand you the approved paperwork when the job is closed out. You keep it with the deed. It is worth real money the day you sell.

Flat $69 service fee

Covers the trip and the diagnosis, and we waive it on larger jobs.

Two year parts and labor warranty

With the manufacturer warranty on top.

We patch every hole we cut

Professionally. We do not paint, and we say so.

Financing from about $500

Available on jobs from about $500 up.

Septic questions we get every week

How much does it cost to have you come out?

A flat $69 service fee covers the trip and the diagnosis, and we waive it on larger jobs, generally in the $800 to $1,000 range and up. You get a written all-in price for the repair before we start. No hourly meter running while you watch.

Do you pump septic tanks?

No. We do not run a pump truck. Pumping is its own equipment and its own route, and there are local outfits that do it well. Call us for locating, installs, drain fields and decommission, and we will point you to a pumper we trust when that is what you actually need. Septic pump-out

Who permits a septic system in Alachua County?

The county health department's septic program handles the site evaluation, the construction permit and the final inspection. Depending on your address, the City of Gainesville or Alachua County Growth Management handles the building side. We pull the permits and schedule the inspections as part of the job.

How much does a new drain field cost in Florida?

Statewide, drain field replacement commonly runs from about $5,000 to $20,000, with most projects landing in the middle of that range. Your number depends on soil, system size, access and whether your parcel requires an enhanced nutrient reducing design. We price yours after we look, not over the phone.

Will I be required to install an enhanced nutrient reducing system?

Possibly. Parts of Alachua County sit inside the Santa Fe River and Gainesville area springs protection plans, and in those areas new systems can be required to reduce nutrients beyond what a standard tank and field does. It is decided by your parcel. We check that before we design anything.

How do you find a septic tank when nobody knows where it is?

We start with the county records and the way the house drains exit the building, then we locate the tank in the field and mark it, along with the depth of the lid. That is a service on its own, and it is worth doing before anyone brings a shovel or a backhoe. Septic locating

We are connecting to city water and drains. What happens to the old tank?

It cannot simply be left in the ground. We empty it, break it up, crush it and backfill, the way the state requires for a decommission, and we handle the paperwork. Doing it properly is what keeps it from becoming a problem at your next closing. Septic abandonment

Where we work

We are based in Hawthorne, which puts us closer to most septic country than the shops in town. Kim batches the schedule by area so our truck is not running Hawthorne to Gainesville and back all day, which is part of how we keep the trip fee at $69 instead of building drive time into every invoice.

We cover Gainesville, Hawthorne, Melrose, Keystone Heights, Interlachen, Micanopy, Waldo, Alachua, High Springs, Newberry, Archer, Williston, Starke and the rest of Alachua County.

If you farm or keep livestock, we also handle the water side of the property: hose bibs, horse waterers, feeder lines and outdoor kitchens. Farm plumbing

Tell us what the house is doing. We will tell you what it is.

One call, one visit, one straight answer, and a written price before anybody digs. Flat $69 to come out and it is waived on larger jobs.

Not urgent? Book a visit online and pick your own window.

Leaks don’t stand a chance.

Tell us what's going on and we'll take it from there

You get a real person, a $69 visit, a flat price before we start, and a company that patches what it cuts and answers the phone when you call back. If a smaller fix is the right call, we’ll tell you that too.

First Choice Plumbing is a locally owned, owner led plumbing company working Gainesville, Hawthorne and Greater Alachua County. Leak detection, repipes, water heaters, drains, trenchless lining, well water filtration and septic. We find it, we fix it, we guarantee it.

Florida Certified Plumbing Contractor CFC1430748

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