Pricing of a job is always a touchy subject, no matter what industry you work in. There will always be someone out there that is cheaper than you, that can do the job quicker and often you feel the need to justify the price you charge. However, equally there will always be someone who would charge more, take longer and that certainly does not mean they will do any better of a job!

Here at R A Dalton, we aim to be competitive with all of our quotations, within the price comes an assurance that the work you are having done is to a quality that warrants it. Whilst we would not be able to compete against a two man band of installers or builders we do go that extra mile for the works we carry out and ensure that all bases are covered.

Unfortunately, we are often called out to remedy the mess made by others – once corners are cut on site during an installation it is not very often that they can be fixed without expense but knowing how much an installation can amount to we always try to limit the additional costs.

A lot of issues we see on a site could have easily been overcome with the correct working procedure and experience in the field, here are some of the most common issues we experience when visiting a site which has had an installation go wrong:

• Insufficient or incorrect encasement – This is probably the biggest problem we encounter. Tanks which have had little-to-no concrete surround or surrounded in concrete of the wrong consistency (too wet) often end up popping out of the ground – ground movement and pressure can cause the tanks to unlevel themselves and eventually breach the surface. This can often be messy with the pipework disconnecting and the excavation void filling with waste.

• Failing soakaways – this is often a mistake made by cutting corners, all soakaways/ drainage fields sizing should be calculated as per the Building regulation part H guidelines. The correct amount of pipework and gravel is vital to ensure that these function at the right level to achieve the desired ground percolation. It is also key to remember that different times of year can vary the saturation of the ground and this should be taken into consideration when doing the percolation tests.

• Inappropriately and undersized systems – this is unfortunately becoming more and more common, all septic tanks, sewage treatment plants, pump stations and separators all have a specific design criterion and if this is not calculated accurately then these will not be functioning as designed and can cause potential environmental concerns.

Here at R A Dalton we are accredited installers for both Kingspan Klargester and Premier Tech Aqua who supply the top of the range sewage treatment systems across the UK, our combined experience across the company allows us to ensure all aspects of your installation is covered.

Our contracts managers will come to site to carry out a comprehensive report and analysis which allows them to assign the best sewage treatment plant suited to your property. We will then provide a quotation detailing our recommendations and the expected costs.

If you should be happy with your quotation, then the next stage is where our office staff take over. We have a number of departments here at R A Dalton to handle different sector of your install, the first phase is with the installation department where we will schedule in a week commencing date for your works.

After this, it falls to our QHSE department who handle any permit requirements, providing the RAMs ensuring both our engineers and customers are safe on site and overseeing any health and safety elements (equipment calibration, engineers certification etc).

Once this has been provided and approved, the installation works can commence – a date is assigned along with an installation team to carry out the job, all materials, plant etc are ordered and co-ordinated by our office; ensuring the prompt and correct materials are delivered when required is vital so the lads always have what they need and when they need it.

Each installation is normally assigned a two man team (a foreman and a labourer), this is usually due to the fact most installations have two machines on site (an excavator and a dumper) and whilst the majority of the work is being carried, one will be in the excavator and the other will be acting as a banksman for any areas not visible to the driver.

All materials we use are tried, tested and as per the manufacturer’s recommendations – this can be anything from the correct type of gravel for your drainage field/ soakaway to the concrete mix used to encase the new installation.

If it is a new sewage treatment plant, pump station or separator you have had installed, once the groundworks have been completed the book will be passed to our servicing department for the final connections and commissioning of the new system.

You may think that once this installation is complete this is where our support ends, however you would be wrong in this assumption! Our aftercare team wants to ensure that your system is working efficiently and we will provide you will an option to have ongoing maintenance as per the manufacturer’s requirements. This is a requirement for a lot of the warranty available on your tank and parts.

Whilst we only offer the manufacturer’s warranty for all parts and consumables we will guarantee our workmanship and should you have any issues following your installation we would ask you to give us a call as soon as possible so we can investigate thoroughly.