A Hauppauge-based cesspool company serving Long Island since 2004. Tom Palmieri runs the shop — third generation in the trade, 22 years on Suffolk driveways, 2100-plus Long Island homes pumped, replaced, and inspected.
No dispatch fee for backups. We walk you through the job before the truck leaves. Real estimate, signed on site, the number on the clipboard is the number on the invoice.
Tell us what's going on. Marie calls back within 4 business hours. If the tank is full right now, just dial.
We don't do roofs, basements, or driveways. Just cesspools and septic systems on Long Island homes — and we've gotten pretty good at it after 22 years.
After-hours calls route directly to whichever truck is closest. No menu. No voicemail. No dispatch fee for backup calls within 60 miles of our Hauppauge shop. Most calls cleared the same night.
Every cesspool job follows the same four-step playbook. Every photo here is one of our crews on a real Suffolk or Nassau driveway. No stock photography, no AI of someone else's truck.
Pop the cover, scope the tank, document what's there.
Empty the tank, blast the inlets, vacuum any standing solids.
Old precast out, new SCDHS-spec system in.
Compacted backfill, topsoil, seed. Yard back the way it was.
Marie picks up weekdays 7am to 6pm. After hours, dispatch routes to whichever truck is closest. We have not let an emergency call go to voicemail in 18 months. Test it — call right now.
Tom's father pumped cesspools in Suffolk in the 70s. Tom started this company in 2004. His son Joe runs jobsites now. Three generations in the same dirt — you can feel it on a job.
We do not quote over the phone for replacements. We come out, look at the tank, tell you what's wrong, and write the number on a clipboard before the truck leaves. The number on the clipboard is the number on the invoice.
SCDHS Installer #SCDHS-IR-2004-0187. NYS Pumper #NYS-SEP-PUMP-18422. $2,000,000 general liability. Workers comp on every guy. Suffolk County Waste Hauler permit current.
We've handled 180+ Suffolk Septic Improvement Program applications since 2017. 178 approved. We know which inspectors want what paperwork. The $30k grant is real money — we make sure you get it.
Hauppauge shop. Tom in Smithtown, Joe in Hauppauge, Marie in Commack. Our trucks know every Suffolk back road. We know which 1960s cesspool pools are still standing and which are about to collapse on you.
“We had three cesspool guys out. Tom was the only one who pulled the cover and actually looked. He showed us exactly where the leach pool had collapsed, walked us through the SCSIP grant for the I/A system, and his crew finished in three days. The grant covered $22k of the $24k bill. We paid almost nothing. Could not be more grateful.”
“Tank backed up Sunday morning. Two other companies put me on hold for ten minutes. Long Island Cesspool answered on the second ring, dispatch had a truck at my house in 90 minutes, the guy was polite, fast, and the price was the price. Fifteen years of cesspool calls and this is the first one I'd actually recommend.”
“Three years on their pump schedule now. Marie sends a reminder a week before. Truck shows up on time. Driver always tells me what he found. Last visit he flagged a baffle issue and they came back the next week to fix it for $180. Honest, easy, no upselling. That's all I want from a contractor.”
Our shop is on Veterans Memorial Highway in Hauppauge. From there our trucks reach every Suffolk town daily. Eastern Nassau gets routes twice a week, and emergency dispatch any time.
The SCSIP grant pays Suffolk homeowners to replace failing cesspools with nitrogen-reducing I/A systems. We've processed 180+ applications since the program launched. 178 approved. We know which inspectors want what paperwork.
The questions Marie answers on the phone every week. No corporate hedging — the actual answer the way Tom would say it on a driveway.
See all 30+ FAQsFor a typical 4-person Long Island household with a 1,000-gallon tank, every 2 to 3 years is the industry standard. Heavy water users (laundry, dishwasher daily, multiple bathrooms) closer to every 18 months. Lower-occupancy homes can stretch to 4 years.
Read our full guide: how often to pump a cesspool on Long Island.
Residential cesspool pumping on Long Island depends on tank size, access, sludge depth, and whether risers need to be uncovered. We charge by the truckload, not by the hour, and there are no fuel surcharges.
Full transparent ranges: cesspool service pricing. If the tank's overflowing right now, call (631) 641-5761.
Suffolk County Septic Improvement Program. Up to $30,000 in grants and rebates toward replacing a conventional cesspool with a nitrogen-reducing I/A (Innovative/Alternative) system. Most Suffolk homeowners with failing systems qualify.
We've processed 180+ applications. Read the full SCSIP guide or request a site visit to start the application.
Conventional precast cesspool replacement: 1 to 2 days on site. I/A (Innovative/Alternative) system installation: 3 to 5 days, plus a few weeks of permit and engineering work upfront. We coordinate the SCDHS inspector, dig, set the tank, run the lines, backfill, and restore the yard. We photograph every step.
Yes, 24/7. After-hours calls route directly to dispatch — no voicemail. Most overflow calls get a truck on site within 90 minutes. There's no dispatch fee within 60 miles of Hauppauge. Call (631) 641-5761 any time.
Yes. Suffolk County Department of Health Services (SCDHS) requires Article 6 permits for any cesspool replacement, repair affecting the tank, or new installation. We pull the permit, schedule the inspector, and handle the as-built drawings. You sign one piece of paper at the start.
Cesspool pumping on Long Island is a routine service for the roughly 360,000 homes in Nassau and Suffolk County that are not connected to municipal sewer lines. The Suffolk County Department of Health Services recommends pumping every 3 to 5 years for a family of four on a standard residential cesspool. Fail to pump on schedule and sludge accumulation reaches the leach pool, causes backups, and dramatically accelerates the timeline to full cesspool replacement.
We pump cesspools of all sizes across Long Island — 300-gallon sumps in North Shore villages to 3,000-gallon multi-ring systems in Brookhaven and Riverhead. Three truck sizes (1,500 / 3,200 / 4,500 gallon) mean we match the right equipment to your system without multiple trips. Every pump-out includes a written service record documenting sludge depth, baffle condition, and any observed structural concerns.
Cesspool pumping in Suffolk County is our highest-volume service. Our Hauppauge shop puts us within 30 minutes of Babylon and Lindenhurst, 25 minutes of Smithtown and Commack, 35 minutes of Patchogue, and under 45 minutes of most of Brookhaven. We run Suffolk County routes every weekday. Same-day pumping is available for backup emergencies — we keep one truck on standby specifically for emergency dispatch.
$385 – $675 for residential (by truckload, not by hour). No fuel surcharges. Covers tank pumping, baffle inspection, and service record.
Next-day slots most weekdays. Same-day available for emergencies. Eastern Nassau routes twice weekly. All of Suffolk daily.
Tank access uncovering, full pump-out, visual inspection of baffle and structural condition, written service report, disposal at SCDHS-licensed facility.
Most pre-1972 homes never connected to municipal sewer
We know which inspectors want what paperwork
Riverhead in under 40. Daily dispatch to every Suffolk town
The South Shore Estuary Reserve and Peconic Bay watershed trigger SCDHS nitrogen-reduction mandates — many South Shore homeowners must upgrade to I/A systems when their cesspool fails. We handle every Article 6 filing in-house. No third-party engineering markup.
Buying or selling? Most LI attorneys and lenders require a written cesspool inspection. We provide SCDHS-compliant reports within 48 hours — tank condition, baffle integrity, leach field function, photos, pass/fail findings. Same-week slots. Rush same-day available. Full inspection guide →
Every number below comes from real invoices on Long Island jobs. We publish them because the industry won’t. Your final price depends on tank size, access, and condition — but these ranges are honest.
| Service | Typical Range | Timeframe | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cesspool Pumping (residential) | $385 – $675 | Same-day to next-day | Price by truckload, not by hour |
| Emergency Pumping (after-hours) | $485 – $775 | Same night | No dispatch fee within 60 mi of Hauppauge |
| Cesspool Replacement (conventional) | $8,500 – $16,000 | 1 – 2 days on site | SCDHS Article 6 permit included |
| I/A System Install | $18,000 – $24,000 | 3 – 5 days on site | SCSIP grant covers up to $30k |
| Septic Inspection (pre-purchase) | $350 – $550 | Report in 48 hrs | SCDHS-compliant written report |
| Riser Installation | $275 – $450 | Same visit | Saves dig-up cost on future pumps |
Prices current as of 2025. All quotes are written on-site before work begins. See full pricing page for details.
Our Hauppauge shop (ZIP 11788) dispatches trucks daily across every Suffolk County town and twice weekly to eastern Nassau. Here’s where we work most and what we see in each area.
Our home turf. Most homes here sit on 1960s–1970s precast cesspools with single leach pools. High water table areas near the Nissequogue River see accelerated failure. We run 3–4 pumping jobs per week in these two ZIPs alone.
Dense residential housing stock from the 1950s–60s post-war boom. Many original cesspools still in service — 60+ years old. Commack’s clay-heavy soil holds moisture against tank walls, accelerating concrete deterioration. Frequent replacement territory.
South Shore proximity to the Great South Bay means shallow water tables and strict SCDHS nitrogen requirements. Many homeowners here are prime SCSIP grant candidates for I/A system upgrades. We’ve done 40+ I/A installs in these ZIPs.
Brookhaven is Suffolk’s largest town by area. Mixed rural and suburban lots — some with ancient stone-lined cesspools from the 1940s that need full replacement. Patchogue Village waterfront properties carry elevated nitrogen sensitivity requirements.
Dense suburban grid with small lots means tight access for excavation equipment. Our smaller trucks (1,500-gallon) are purpose-built for Babylon’s narrow driveways. High-volume pumping territory — many homes on regular 2-year pump schedules.
Agricultural and waterfront properties with larger lots and older systems. Seasonal homes in the Hamptons need pre-season pump-outs. Riverhead’s proximity to Peconic Bay triggers SCDHS nitrogen-reduction mandates on replacement jobs.
We also serve eastern Nassau County towns including Bethpage (11714), Hicksville (11801), Massapequa (11758), Plainview (11803), and Farmingdale (11735) on scheduled twice-weekly routes. Emergency dispatch to Nassau any time.
A cesspool is an underground tank — typically precast concrete rings stacked into a cylinder — that receives all household wastewater and allows it to leach slowly into the surrounding soil through perforations or gaps between the rings. Most Long Island homes built before 1972 use cesspools rather than septic systems, because the Island's sandy, well-draining soil made them the standard solution before municipal sewer expansion. Suffolk County alone has an estimated 360,000+ cesspool systems. They work fine until they don't — usually when the surrounding soil becomes saturated with solids, the tank walls crack, or the leach pool collapses. At that point, the system backs up into the house.
Yes. Our Hauppauge shop dispatches to every Suffolk County town daily — Smithtown, Huntington, Babylon, Islip, Brookhaven, Riverhead, Southampton, and every East End hamlet. Eastern Nassau County towns including Bethpage (11714), Hicksville (11801), Massapequa (11758), Plainview (11803), Farmingdale (11735), Levittown (11756), and Wantagh (11793) get scheduled routes twice weekly and emergency dispatch any time. If your home is on a private cesspool in Nassau or Suffolk, we service it.
A cesspool is a single underground tank (usually precast concrete rings) that receives wastewater and allows it to leach directly into the surrounding soil through perforations. A septic tank is a sealed two-chamber unit that separates solids from liquids, then sends effluent to a separate leach field or drain field. Most pre-1970s Long Island homes have cesspools. Newer systems and all SCDHS-mandated replacements use septic tanks or I/A (Innovative/Alternative) nitrogen-reducing systems.
Common signs: slow drains throughout the house (not just one fixture), sewage odor in the yard or basement, standing water or unusually green grass over the tank area, and gurgling sounds in drains when you flush. If the tank backs up into the house, that's an emergency — call us at any hour. We'll scope the tank and give you a straight answer on whether it's a pump-out fix or a replacement situation.
Yes, if you're in Suffolk County and your existing cesspool is failing or within a designated nitrogen-sensitive area. The SCSIP grant covers up to $30,000 toward an I/A (Innovative/Alternative) nitrogen-reducing system. We handle the entire application — engineering drawings, SCDHS permit, installer coordination. 178 of our 180+ applications have been approved. The average homeowner pays under $3,000 out of pocket after the grant.
We service every Suffolk County ZIP code daily from our Hauppauge (11788) shop: Smithtown (11787), Huntington (11743), Commack (11725), Bay Shore (11706), Islip (11751), Brookhaven (11772), Babylon (11702), Patchogue (11772), Riverhead (11901), Port Jefferson (11777), Sayville (11782), Brentwood (11717), and all East End ZIPs. Eastern Nassau County ZIPs — Bethpage (11714), Hicksville (11801), Massapequa (11758), Plainview (11803), Farmingdale (11735) — get scheduled routes twice weekly and emergency dispatch any time.
A conventional precast cesspool replacement runs $8,500 to $16,000 on Long Island, depending on tank size, depth, access, and soil conditions. An I/A nitrogen-reducing system runs $18,000 to $24,000 before the SCSIP grant. With the grant (up to $30,000), most I/A installs cost the homeowner under $3,000 out of pocket. We quote on site — not over the phone — and the written quote is the final price.
Yes. Most real estate attorneys and lenders on Long Island require a cesspool or septic inspection as part of the home sale process. The tank should be pumped and visually inspected. We provide a SCDHS-compliant written report with photos within 48 hours — fast enough for most closing timelines. Rush same-day reports available for active deals.
Our driver locates your tank access cover (or uncovers it if buried), connects the pump truck vacuum hose, and pumps out all liquid and solid waste. While the tank is empty, the driver inspects the interior walls, baffles, and inlet/outlet pipes. You get a written service record noting what was found, estimated sludge depth before pumping, and any recommended follow-up. The whole visit takes 30 to 60 minutes for a standard residential tank.
Marie picks up weekdays. After hours, dispatch routes to the closest truck. Estimate's free, the visit takes 30 minutes, and there's no pitch at the end.
or fill out the form, it takes 20 seconds
Five fields. We take it from there.
