Building septic tank also called soak way by some Nigerians, is not hard nor does it take much time. All you need is the materials experienced workers and you are done. We are going to look at how much exactly one can see building this type of building for waste.

First, let’s consider the difference between a septic tank and soak away, it somehow causes confusion.

What is soak Away this context?

In brief, a Soak way is where water from the kitchen, bathroom and other wastewater goes into. Depending on the plumber he can do a cross connection between the septic tank and soak way to capture the excess from the septic tank, or he can leave it with its own compartment.

The Soakaway is not actually very deep as it is usually less in depth compared to a septic tank.

A standard soak way in Nigeria is usually 4 by 4. 

What is a Septic tank?

This still an underground building that is responsible for the waste this time the waste that comes from toilets, also known as feaces, in popular parlance, shit.

Septic Tank is deeper than Soakaway, unlike Soakaway, the body plastered and the floor, floored.

A standard septic tank in Nigeria is 8 by 10.

So basically the difference between Septic Tank and Soak Away is that a Septic Tank is deeper and plastered then floored, while Soakaway is not given such treatment as the floor is left like that, it is also not that deep.

In some countries like Nigeria and Kenya, they are built together and separated by six inches blocks. Then the plumber will then do the rest of the separation.

The Minimum money you’ll need. I’ll try to cover everything except plumbing as that is another very different area.

For a small family building a 4 room bungalow, you’ll need a standard Septic tank which is  8 by 10 and soak away 4 by 4. 

This will cost about 50 6 inches block (depending on the land topography, it may be slightly more or less)

– Half trip of sand (for plastering and coaching )

– Half trip of gravel (for concrete cover)

– About 11 standard rods 

– 5 bags of cement (Unicem and Dangote recommended)

– 11 12 ft boards for concrete cover

– 10 pieces of po line wood the standard type

– 3inches nails 10 pounds weight 

Other things you’ll need

You’ll need the services of; 

– Diggers

– Carpenter

– Mason and servant

– Plumber 

Then other expenses which should be about 305 thousand naira (about 800 dollars)

Note however, that this is not a financial advise.

The maximum cost 

The above is the standard way to build, for a very large house like the ones at Onitsha designed for commercial purposes you may have to build one for each floor.

So there is no fixed amount, it can cost millions