Martin Septic Co

We had an experience with the Martin Septic Company of Seaford Delaware. We engaged the services of Mr. Martin, the apparent namesake of the company to evaluate the septic system of a house we were trying to purchase. The real estate agent informed us Mr. Martin had removed a cover of the tank, said it was damaged and the system needed to be replaced. The owners had experienced no problems with the existing system. The owners of the house were informed, and we agreed to split the cost of installing an approved and functioning system. The back yard of the home was covered with a beautiful lawn with a pretty red maple in the middle of it, which had to be removed at a cost of about $1000 which Mr. Martin wrapped into the final cost. After about two months, the delay of which rested on Mr. Martin's illness of some sort, the system was finished, according to Mr. Martin. I authorized the final payment totaling $10,000 to the Martin Company on the word of Mr. Martin that everything was in order. We lived out of the area, and I am not a plumber, so I believed that the work was done professionally and properly. The problems started almost immediately. The workers we had hired to renovate the house reported stopped up toilets almost every day. They had to go under the house and unclog the pipes. When I arrived there was still another stoppage. I paid them to unclog it, a filthy job I might add, and it worked for a day or two and stopped up again. I went under the house and found a 90 degree elbow in a waste drain pipe at the street clean out, a fresh new looking piece of plastic drain pipe, the final connection to the new system. The clogs always formed here. There was hardly any slope from the house to the first processing tank. The three tanks are not in a straight line, and some were at ground level, some 3 or more inches above ground level. There were only 2 screws holding the covers on any of the three processing tanks where there were provisions for 8. I installed 2 additional screws in each cover, which reduced the foul odors emanating from the tanks. After several days of frustrating clogs and repeated clearings, we hired a plumber. He raised the house drains as far as possible and removed the 90 degree waste pipe and replaced it with two 45 degree pipes. It was a costly but effective repair, but since that time we have had no more stoppages. I also ran over one of the 9 clean-out caps with the lawn mower and fractured it while mowing the yard. They left them at varying levels this one stood about 3 inches above the rest, and I didn't see it among the weeds. I will have to dig this out and repair and properly level it with the existing grade. I also noted that in the corner of the yard the "topsoil" fill was almost all rocks. The contract stated that the Martin Company was supposed to either sod, or rake and seed the new surface. I called and asked Mr. Martin to remove the excessive rocks and he told me he would but only if I paid him extra to do so. Exasperated at his inaction, I called the DNREC and asked them to intercede. They convinced him to remove several wheelbarrows of rocks, but he refused to rake the area, which was of course impossible, as the ground is still mostly rocks. After this episode we realized any further actions with Mr. Martin would require extensive legal expenses which would not prove worthwhile on a cost and frustration basis, so I took my lumps and moved on. No grass had come up in the areas he had disturbed, so we asked when we should expect some. He told us the entire area was seeded with grass seed, but we never saw any new grass, only crabgrass, weeds and a lot of turnips. Weed-n-feed finally removed most of the turnips, but new lawn quality grass never grew. My suggestion is, if you need septic tank work done, do not rely on the word of any one company. Have two or more assess your situation, get competing bids, and hire a plumber to inspect their work before you pay them. We wish we had. Also, insist the contract spells out the type of ground cover. Seed may or may not come up, but if it doesn't you will have already paid the contractor, and it will be too late for you. The Martin Company is a State approved class B septic designer and installer. Apparently the State of Delaware trusts the installers to the extent that the State does little oversight during the contractor's work. It saves you tax money but can leave you holding the bag