What is a septic test pit in New Brunswick and who digs it?

A septic test pit is a hole dug so the soil on a lot can be examined before a septic system is designed. In New Brunswick, under the On-site Sewage Disposal System Regulation, a licensed installer must apply for approval before any system is built, and that application must include soil conditions gathered from a test pit inspection.

Who digs the test pit

The licensed installer is the person who applies for approval and arranges the work. An excavation contractor can dig the test pit when the licensed installer organizes it. The contractor does not install the system and does not apply for approval; that responsibility stays with the installer. A homeowner cannot install their own septic system under the regulation.

Ask the licensed installer what the pit needs to show and when it can be backfilled.

Before any machine moves on the lot, locates are needed. Info-Excavation, reached through Click Before You Dig, asks for three working days' notice; the locate is valid until the end date written on the request. NB Power runs its own separate underground locate service and asks for at least five business days' notice; that locate is valid for 60 days from the date on the locate form and covers only NB Power-owned underground power lines. Private lines, such as wiring to a garage or outbuilding, are the owner's to find and mark before digging starts.

If the lot is within 30 metres of a watercourse or wetland, a Watercourse and Wetland Alteration permit from the province is required before any machine work or ground disturbance. That distance is measured horizontally from the top of the bank in the field, not from a map.

On cost, few New Brunswick prices for test pit digging alone are published. Machine time is the best-published figure: a mini excavator with operator runs $65 to $150 per hour, and a standard excavator with operator runs $150 to $250 per hour, based on published price guides read in September 2026. For the full excavation side of a septic job, published guides show a range of $3,000 to $12,000, though that figure is national with no Atlantic breakdown.

Ask for a WorkSafeNB clearance certificate before the contractor starts; it confirms the business is registered and in good standing with its workers' compensation account. Under the Construction Remedies Act, hold back 10 percent of the contract price for 60 days after substantial performance is certified.

With more than one bid in hand, check whether each one names how rock is priced if the machine hits it, where the spoil goes and who pays trucking, what backfill material is used to close the pit, and whether site clean-up is included, because those four items are where quotes that look similar on the surface can end up far apart. The form on this page can send your job details to excavation contractors listed in the New Brunswick Construction Network directory.