What Happens During an Engineer Site Visit
Direct answer: What should a Hawaiʻi Island homeowner expect during an engineer’s first cesspool-conversion site visit, and what should be ready beforehand?
What the first visit is for
The first engineer visit is mainly an information-gathering step. The engineer needs enough reliable property and site information to evaluate possible individual wastewater system options and prepare a design for state review. Hawaiʻi DOH’s homeowner process says the licensed civil engineer performs or coordinates a percolation test, surveys the property, determines wastewater requirements, and then submits the plans and required forms.
The visit does not itself authorize construction. It also does not guarantee that a standard septic system, an aerobic treatment unit, or a sewer connection will be the final answer. That decision follows the site evaluation, design work, applicable rules, and agency review.
What the engineer may look at
- Where the home’s wastewater line leaves the building and where the existing cesspool or other system appears to be located.
- Available area for treatment and disposal components, including setbacks from buildings, property lines, wells, water features, and other constraints.
- Slope, access, rock, drainage, vegetation, retaining walls, utilities, and other physical conditions that may affect surveying, testing, construction, or maintenance.
- The number and use of dwellings, bedrooms, and plumbing fixtures that affect the project’s wastewater design basis.
- Whether additional survey, soil, percolation, electrical, plumbing, or specialty information is needed before design can be completed.
Not every visit includes every test. The engineer may need follow-up work or information from other licensed professionals.
What to prepare before the appointment
- Your Tax Map Key number and property address.
- Any deed, survey, plot plan, building plans, permits, cesspool card, wastewater approval, inspection report, or prior engineering drawing you can locate.
- Known information about the system’s location, age, pumping history, backups, odors, wet areas, repairs, or prior notices.
- Access instructions, locked-gate information, pets, tenants, steep areas, vegetation, and any known underground utilities.
- Your goals, timing, planned renovations, sale or refinance schedule, and questions about budget or construction access.
Missing records do not necessarily stop the visit. Tell the engineer what you do and do not know rather than guessing.
What happens after the visit
The engineer reviews the collected information, completes any needed site work, and develops the proposed IWS design. Hawaiʻi DOH identifies the application form, owner certification, and site evaluation among the items submitted with IWS plans. DOH reviews the submittal before construction can proceed.
If the engineer needs more information, the next step may be a survey, additional field work, clarification of property use, or retrieval of agency records. A clean first-visit packet can reduce avoidable back-and-forth, but it does not eliminate agency review time.
Questions worth asking
- What information is still missing after today?
- What site constraints appear most important?
- What system options remain possible, and what must be confirmed before choosing?
- Will a survey, percolation test, electrician, plumber, or other specialist be needed?
- What deliverables and agency approvals are included in the engineer’s scope?
- What should remain accessible during later design and construction work?
Official sources
- Hawaiʻi Department of Health Wastewater Branch — Individual Wastewater Systems
- Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules Chapter 11-62, unofficial searchable version
- Hawaiʻi DCCA Professional and Vocational Licensing Search
This article provides general homeowner information, not legal, engineering, real-estate, lending, or health advice. Property conditions and current agency requirements control. Hawaiʻi Cesspool Help coordinates between homeowners and licensed professionals and does not provide engineering services directly.