Phoning around for soakaway in Pietermaritzburg takes time, and every company asks the same questions. Send one job card instead and we pass it to drainage contractors and septic installers who serve Pietermaritzburg and nearby areas of KwaZulu-Natal. They quote on the work, travel, disposal and how soon they can come.
Soakaways in Pietermaritzburg
Soakaway work in Pietermaritzburg is mostly booked by owners of plots, farms and older houses where a septic tank is the only option. Share the number of people, the tank size and whether the ground is sandy, clay or rocky, so contractors serving Pietermaritzburg and the rest of KwaZulu-Natal can quote accurately.
Want to know more first? Our soakaway guide covers the options, what to check and what affects the price.
Septic tanks and drainage in Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg has a large sewered core, but suburbs on the edge, smallholdings around Ashburton and Hilton and farms in the Midlands rely on septic tanks and soakaways. The city sits in a hollow, and its clay and shale soils drain slowly, so heavy summer thunderstorms can overload drainage fields and push effluent to the surface. Schools, churches and rural clinics often run older conservancy tanks that need scheduled pump-outs. Honey sucker operators work from Mkondeni and Willowton and cover the road to Howick, while tank suppliers in the city stock plastic and concrete tanks. Sandstone outcrops can make digging a new trench slow.
Typical soakaway requests in the area come from:
- Houses: a new or rebuilt soakaway for an older house whose pit has clogged or flooded
- Smallholdings and plots: a larger pit or two linked pits on a smallholding with space but heavy clay soil
- Farms and game farms: building pits at homesteads and worker housing, kept well clear of boreholes and dams
- Schools, churches and clinics: large pits for schools, clinics and churches, designed for heavy daytime use
- Lodges, guesthouses and venues: larger or multiple pits that cope with peak guest numbers and seasonal overloading
- Restaurants, shops and offices: pits for rural shops, filling stations and restaurants that are not on a sewer
- Estates and complexes: sizing pits for shared tanks on a complex, with a test report for the body corporate
Local tips for Pietermaritzburg
Common here: septic tanks with soakaways on plots, conservancy tanks at schools and clinics. Ask each operator or contractor to allow for this: ask for a percolation test before building or extending a soakaway. Help usually comes from operators in Mkondeni and Willowton, with suppliers across the city.
Soakaways usually means dig a pit, fill it with stone or fit chambers, for 2 to 3 m across, 1.5 to 2.5 m deep, check yearly, lasts 15 to 25 years. Ground in the area: slow draining clay and shale: heavy storms overload drainage fields.
What to include in your request
- Number of people using the system and the tank size in litres
- Whether this is a new soakaway or a repair of an old one
- Soil type and whether a percolation test has been done
- Distance to buildings, boreholes, streams and boundaries
- Stone pit, rubble pit or chamber, if you have a preference
The more detail you give, the more accurate your quote will be.
Service area: Pietermaritzburg and surrounds
Operators, contractors and suppliers on our network work in Pietermaritzburg and surrounding areas, including Edendale, Imbali, Scottsville, Hilton, Howick, Hayfields, Northdale. Give the suburb, holding or farm name so the quote can include travel, and say how soon you need someone.