In our area septic permits are good for only 5 years. With such a limited scope on the 2007 permit, I would want to make certain that the lot can still be approved for a septic before moving forward. If an engineered septic is required, that can be very costly.

If your in a small town go chat up the health dept person. With a plan already done -even with it expired- they may remember what conditions were on site and possibly give you an early heads up for problems before paying for anything.

I agree- a septic test in 2007 may not be valid today. We are in SC, and got a septic permit in 2006. The permit specified the size of the tank and field. We got the system in just before the permit ran out (5 years), and the guy doing the work said that that system wouldn't pass under a new permit.

As for a topo map, see if the county has a GIS site- most do. Here in Greenville County, we can get topo, flood zones, soil types, crime stats, etc. You can also zoom out to see what else is nearby.

You'll probably need an 'expert' for the well info. Wells can range all over the place for cost and difficulty, and only someone with a lot of local experience can give you a guesstimate, and even that could be way off, depending upon what they have to drill through, and how deep they have to go. In truth, they won't really know until the dig the well.

Unfortunately, wells, septic, and foundations are separate disciplines, and will require different contractors.

You have a great opportunity to ask questions now, before buying. Do all of the due diligence you can. Don't trust the realtor to answer questions. They might not know, or may out-and-out lie. They are trying to sell real estate, period. Once you buy your lot, please, PLEASE ask questions before committing to a design. I can't tell you how many folks come here, or to other forums with last minute questions that should have been worked out months ago. Study up on energy-efficient building techniques, too. Might as well build the best house you can!

In the projects I've done "site work" is always the line item with the largest unplanned variation, despite all the due diligence possible. Plan a 50% buffer in your budget for that and you might be close.

I doubt you'll be able to find a one stop shop for all of that. You MAY have a chance of finding a well driller that does septic as well. I don't know of anyone around here that does it. We just had our well finished yesterday. They were anticipating having to go close to 400 feet, but they only ended up having to go 210. Because of the shallower depth, we were also able to use a smaller 2HP pump and save a total of about $2500 over the original estimate. I think our well is going to end up being around $7500. Services and materials are usually cheaper in my part of the country though (SE Alabama).

You want a good soils engineer for the septic. As stated above wells can be hard to predict. Our first drilled resulted in a dry well and we had to drill again. There is really no easy way to know this ahead of time.

thank you everyone. The realtor suggested a septic guy who's going out this week. He said "a pump is better" than gravity system. I'll find out how much more expensive.

And the 2007 septic permit is good through December 2016. We better get busy!

A well downhill from house at about 10' elevation change might need a 3/4 hp pump instead of 1/2 hp and use 1" line instead of 3/4". Maybe $300 more.

I hope this may help someone else!