How long does a perc test take?
The field work runs on the licensed soil evaluator's schedule; the clocks Virginia law fixes come after filing. VDH has 20 working days to issue a certification letter backed by a licensed evaluator, 15 working days to act on a certified single-lot design and 60 days on multiple-lot letters, and a construction permit is then valid for 18 months.
The review clocks start when the application is filed
The review deadlines Virginia law puts on this process count from one day: the day an application, with its supporting soil work attached, is filed with the district or local health department. Everything before that day runs on someone else's calendar, and the permit's own 18 months start later still, on the day it is issued.
Beginning August 11, 2019, that supporting work has had to come from a private sector consultant licensed through the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, unless the owner qualifies for Virginia Department of Health (VDH) services by petition; the district exceptions are set out under where to get a perc test in Carroll County. So the first stretch of time belongs to a licensed onsite soil evaluator, or a professional engineer working with one. When a site visit can be scheduled, how long the field work takes, and what the weather and the season allow are theirs to estimate, and the rules quoted on this page set none of them.
Where a perc test is part of the work, it adds a public step inside the private one. Under 12VAC5-610-490 that test is performed under the supervision of the district or local health department. The evaluation and the test themselves, step by step, are on how perc tests and soil evaluations work.
Review deadlines that depend on what was filed
Once the file is in, the length of the wait depends on what was asked for and who certified it.
| What was filed | Deadline | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| A request for a certification letter, with evaluations by a licensed onsite soil evaluator | 20 working days to issue the letter | Va. Code 32.1-164 |
| A certified private site evaluation and design for a single-lot construction permit | 15 working days to issue it or state the reasons for denial in writing | Va. Code 32.1-163.5 |
| A certified private evaluation and design for multiple-lot certification letters or subdivision review | 60 days to issue or deny in writing | Va. Code 32.1-163.5 |
| Treatment works designed by a professional engineer, 1,000 gallons per day or smaller | 21 calendar days to approve or deny in writing | Va. Code 32.1-163.6 |
| Engineer-designed treatment works larger than 1,000 gallons per day | 60 calendar days to approve or deny in writing | Va. Code 32.1-163.6 |
Va. Code 32.1-163.5 attaches a consequence to its own two deadlines, the 15 working days and the 60 days:
If the Department fails to take action to approve or disapprove the designs, evaluations, or subdivision reviews within the time specified herein, the designs, evaluations or subdivision reviews shall be deemed approved
Va. Code 32.1-163.5
That section does not apply in a locality that has contracted with the Board of Health under Chapter 678 of the 1994 Acts of Assembly, or to a proprietary, pre-engineered septic system the Department deems compliant. Whether a given deadline, or the deemed-approval rule, applies to a particular filing is a question for the local health department.
A construction permit's 18 months, and what extends or voids them
The last clock is the longest, and it is the reason VDH's own application form tells applicants not to start it early.
Under Va. Code 32.1-164.1:1, a septic tank permit is valid for 18 months from the date it is issued unless there has been a substantial, intervening change in the soil or site conditions where the system is to go. If a building permit has been obtained or construction has started, the permit may be extended another 18 months, and applicants are to be told the validity period and advised to apply only when ready to begin construction. VDH's septic and well application form gives applicants for new construction the same advice, and why it sends them to a certification letter first is part of the perc test procedure linked above.
The regulation adds how a permit ends early. Under 12VAC5-610-300, a construction permit is null and void when site conditions such as the house, system or well location, the topography or the drainage ways change from what the application showed, when conditions change from what the permit shows, or when more than 18 months pass from issuance. Except as a section the regulation cross-references provides, a permit more than 18 months old on which construction has not started is revalidated if it was issued under the chapter and the site conditions are still the same.
A private well runs on its own clock: the construction permit must be issued no later than 60 days after a complete application, and an inspection follows construction. The rest of that process is on how private wells are permitted and built.
Laying the clocks against a contract's deadline
The part of the timeline nobody can look up is the stretch before filing, which is why it is the part to ask about first.
Read in order, the timeline has three parts: the evaluator's scheduling and field time, which only the evaluator can estimate; the review deadline for whatever was filed; and then, if a construction permit issues, a permit valid for 18 months. Only the first part has no clock in the law, and two of the review deadlines count working days, so the calendar stretch runs longer than the number reads.
How long a buyer's due diligence period runs is set by the purchase contract, not by the health department, and that question has its own answer. Who orders the soil work inside that window, and whose signature the application needs, is covered under who orders the perc test, buyer or seller.
Fitting soil work inside a contract period?
Send the tract and the contract dates, and Lowell will set the published review deadlines beside them and flag which dates only the evaluator or the health department can confirm. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
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Questions this raises
How long does VDH have to act on a septic system a professional engineer designs?
Va. Code 32.1-163.6 sets the clock by size. For treatment works designed by a professional engineer, VDH must issue the approval or state the specific reasons for denial in writing within 21 calendar days of the application for works of 1,000 gallons per day or smaller, and within 60 calendar days for larger works. Which clock fits a given design is a question for the engineer and the local health department.
Can a septic construction permit be extended past 18 months?
Yes. Va. Code 32.1-164.1:1 allows an extension of another 18 months if a building permit has been obtained or building construction has commenced. Separately, 12VAC5-610-300 provides for revalidating a permit more than 18 months old where construction has not begun, the permit was issued under the chapter and the site conditions are unchanged, subject to an exception in a section it cross-references.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Have you considered using the private sector? The August 11, 2019 licensed consultant requirement Virginia Department of Health
- 12VAC5-610-490: percolation tests under health department supervision, minimum of three holes Virginia Department of Health
- Va. Code 32.1-164: certification letters issued within 20 working days, recording and transfer with title Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 32.1-163.5: 15 working day and 60 day deadlines, deemed approval, and the section's exceptions Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 32.1-163.6: 21 and 60 calendar day deadlines for engineer-designed treatment works Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 32.1-164.1:1: septic tank permits valid for 18 months, and the extension Virginia General Assembly
- 12VAC5-610-300: when construction permits are null and void, and revalidation Virginia Department of Health
- Septic and Well Application (form dated November 11, 2024): certification letter first, construction permit when ready to build Virginia Department of Health
- 12VAC5-630-240: private well construction permit issued within 60 days of a complete application Virginia Department of Health
- Va. Code 32.1-176.5: well permit within 60 days and inspection after construction Virginia General Assembly