Compare Role, Scope, Deliverables and Exclusions

Define the job first

Use one written purpose—pumping, maintenance, assessment, transaction, repair, alteration or replacement—so unrelated scopes are not compared as equivalents.

Verify role evidence

Ask what current qualification or authorization applies to the stated work and record legal name, scope and checked date.

Normalize components and access

List tanks, treatment, pumps, controls, dispersal references, safe access work and owner preparations.

Separate priced responsibilities and outputs

Ask each proposer to price inspection and report, pumping, locating and repair separately, identifying included, optional and separately appointed work. Specify the applicable service record, observations, test data, report, design, filing, record drawings, maintenance information and limitations. When a practitioner is chosen, agree who signs the report, whom it is addressed to and what happens if records or safe access are insufficient: exclusions, further investigation, additional price and approval. A report with stated limits is not a generic septic pass.

Separate exclusions and changes

Record inaccessible elements, unknown condition, extra pumping or disposal, repair triggers, site restoration and written change rules.

Close the property file

Require final documents, filing evidence where applicable, waste records, maintenance updates and unresolved-item list.

Match provider role to job purpose

Ask each proposer to identify the function they perform, current qualification evidence where applicable, work limits and documents delivered. Pumping, maintenance, assessment, design and installation are different scopes and should not be collapsed into one provider label.

• Verify legal name
• List subcontracted roles
• Record authority filings included

Normalize component and access scope

Use the system map to list tanks, chambers, pumps, treatment units, distribution and dispersal areas included. Compare locating, opening, traffic protection, water use, equipment access and restoration assumptions with prices for unknown components.

• Use matching component names
• State quantity basis
• Separate optional investigations

Compare records and change rules

Require written observations, limitations, service or disposal records, photographs, maintenance instructions and follow-up questions appropriate to the visit. Define evidence, approval and pricing for concealed conditions before work expands beyond the accepted scope.

• Avoid verbal-only findings
• Authorize additions in writing
• Update the property record

Issue the accepted role-and-scope schedule

Record each provider’s legal name, function, current registration or qualification evidence, components and areas included, access and locating work, filings, observations or tests, material handling, reports, exclusions and subcontracted roles. The ASTTBC directory can help verify a Registered Onsite Wastewater Practitioner; Island Health also recognizes Professionals as Authorized Persons, so match the evidence to the work rather than relying on a generic title. Reconcile component quantities, locating assumptions, optional investigations, restoration and disposal before ranking totals. State whether the scope includes filing, design, construction, maintenance, pumping or assessment and which documents the owner will receive. Ask who obtains records, who marks utilities, who prepares safe access, who protects wells or watercourses, and who restores disturbed areas. Compare tax, mobilization, disposal, laboratory or authority costs on the same basis. Define evidence, notice, review and written authorization for concealed or unexpected conditions. Record the validity period, schedule assumptions and what happens if access or records are unavailable. At handover, confirm service, disposal, assessment, construction, certification or maintenance records appropriate to the actual visit. Note unresolved items and the role responsible for each one clearly in writing. The schedule prevents unlike provider roles from being compared as one commodity and preserves questions that require an Authorized Person or authority decision. Price is only comparable after the role, system components, access, exclusions and written output align.

• Match roles to deliverables
• Use the same component map
• Separate optional work
• Authorize additions in writing
• Update the property file