What Does a Septic to Sewer Conversion Cost in Indiana?

One national cost guide puts a full septic to sewer conversion at about $3,000 to $15,000. Another sets the average near $6,000. Two of the biggest swings are how much pipe runs to the main and what your utility charges.

Those are market numbers, not our price list. ASAP Poop does septic to sewer conversions and new sewer lines across St. Joseph County and Elkhart County. We look at the job and put the quote in writing.

What are you paying for in a septic to sewer conversion?

The bill has four parts: the sewer lateral, the utility’s fees, the old tank and the yard. The lateral is the pipe from your house to the main, priced by the foot.

National cost guides publish these ranges:

The guides measure different things, so the rows overlap. Your written quote is the number that counts.

What do local utilities charge to connect?

Each sewer owner sets its own fees and forms, so ask yours for the current numbers in writing. South Bend and Mishawaka publish theirs.

For county homes that tie into South Bend’s sewer, the city’s 311 article lists a utility verification form. It carries a $50 fee and a $1,030.50 system development charge. The owner also signs a consent to annexation form. The sewer tap permit adds $25, and approval typically takes up to one week.

In Mishawaka, the Engineering Department issues the sanitary sewer connection permit. Its fee schedule says the cost varies, and the city estimates it from your application. The form asks for details like the lot’s frontage and the tap size. A permit to dig in the street right-of-way costs $10 per 50 linear feet.

Does Indiana make you connect when sewer reaches your street?

A city or town can, under two conditions. Indiana Code 36-9-23-30 says a sewer has to be available within 300 feet of your property line. The city or town also has to mail you notice at least 90 days before the connection date.

The same law lets it require you to stop using the septic tank. It can set penalties for not connecting and ask a court to order the hookup.

St. Joseph County adds its own rule. Its septic ordinance says a home with a failed system must connect when sewer is available next to the property. The sewer owner can waive that in writing. The health department can also grant a variance when connecting would cost too much and no health reason requires it.

The state law covers city and town sewers. A regional sewer district or a conservancy district may follow other parts of state law. Ask the sewer owner which rule fits your lot.

Can you keep your septic system if it still works?

Some homes can, for a while. Indiana Code 36-9-23-30.1 offers an exemption to homes outside city or town limits. The system must be a septic tank with a drain field, or a constructed wetland system. It must have been new when installed and approved in writing by the local health department.

You send the city or town a written claim within 60 days of its notice. Within 120 days, you deliver a written finding, at your own cost, that the system is not failing.

The exemption runs 10 years from the day the system was installed. You can renew it twice, five years at a time, for 20 years at most. If you connect later, the fee is capped at the fee from the first date you could have connected. The utility can add documented extra costs.

A failing system does not qualify. If yours is failing near a sewer, call the county health department and the utility first. Past 300 feet, a city or town cannot use that state law to make you connect. There, a worn-out system gets repaired or replaced. Our septic system installation page covers replacements, and what a new septic system costs in Indiana covers the numbers.

How does the old septic tank come out of service?

Indiana’s residential septic rule, 410 IAC 6-8.3-90, sets these steps:

1. Power to any pumps and controls is shut off at the source, and the controls come out.
2. Every tank is pumped empty.
3. Each tank is removed, or its lid is crushed into it.
4. The hole or tank is filled with clean sand, other granular fill, concrete or soil, then packed down. Flowable fill is the other choice.
5. The ground is graded and planted.

That pump-out is the same work as septic tank pumping, done one last time. The drain field can stay if you have no other plans for that ground, with grass kept on it. If sewage has surfaced, those spots get hydrated lime, then topsoil and grass.

The homeowner then gives the local health department a receipt from the contractor as proof. In St. Joseph County, the health department also issues a permit to abandon a septic system. Its form says no work may start until that permit is issued. In Elkhart County, ask the Elkhart County Health Department about its steps first.

What are the steps from septic to sewer?

1. Call the sewer owner. Ask whether the main can serve your lot and what it costs.
2. Get a written quote. It should cover the lateral, the tap work, the tank and the yard.
3. Call Indiana 811. State law calls for at least two full working days of notice before digging. South Bend’s 311 notes that 811 does not locate private lines like your sewer lateral.
4. Line up the permits. The utility issues its own. The St. Joseph County and South Bend building department covers unincorporated areas like Granger. Its plumbing permit has its own line for the building sewer.
5. Lay the lateral and connect. South Bend’s process includes a pre-connection inspection by the city.
6. Close the tank. Pump it out, then remove it or crush the lid and fill it. Send the receipt to the county health department.

What changes the price on your lot?

• Distance. The lateral is priced by the foot, so a house far from the main costs more.
• Depth and obstacles. National guides tie trench cost to depth and to what is in the way.
• The tank. One national cost guide says most owners fill the tank in place, and removal costs extra.

Who can quote your septic to sewer conversion?

A conversion is sewer line work with a septic tank at one end. Our sewer line repair and replacement page covers the new lines we lay across both counties. Call (574) 254-7667. We look at your lot and the utility’s rules, then put the quote in writing.