Septic profit margin benchmarks
The IRS reports what one-owner businesses filing Schedule C earn, by sector. Septic falls under Waste management and remediation services. For tax year 2023, 30,817 returns reported $4.3 billion in receipts, $1.0 billion in cost of sales and $0.3 billion in net income less deficit (the table gives thousands of dollars):
| Benchmark | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross margin | 75.9% |
| Net margin, owner pay included | 7.8% |
| Average receipts per return | $140,187 |
| Average net income per return | $10,913 |
The owner's own draw is not an expense on a Schedule C, so that net margin is mostly the owner's wage, not profit on top of it.
Where the money goes in septic
Septic pumping is truck time, disposal fees and labor. Digging for buried lids takes time that is often not billed.
Where septic margin leaks, and how to win it back
- Disposal fees
- Lid digging not billed
- Truck repairs
- Long drives
- Callbacks
Ways septic companies raise margin: charge for digging to buried lids; sell risers to cut future digging; pass disposal fees through; book pumping reminders.
Check your septic prices against the costs
We do not have sourced price ranges for septic services yet, so start from your own costs with the labor rate calculator and list your prices on the services list.
Work out the margin on each line of your menu, not just the big jobs. The usual septic menu: septic tank pumping; locate and dig lids; riser install; real estate inspection; camera inspection; baffle replacement; effluent filter clean or replace; line jetting.
Overhead comes out of the margin before profit. In septic it includes general liability insurance, which Insureon's customers who are contractors as a group pay an average of $83 a month for; commercial auto at $270 a month on the same figures.
Work out your own margin
Put one recent septic job into the calculator above, or switch it to "My margin for the year" to set your year next to the IRS benchmark. A 50% markup is a 33% margin; the markup calculator shows the rest.
Sources
- IRS Statistics of Income: Nonfarm sole proprietorships, Table 2, income statements by industrial sector, tax year 2023, checked October 9, 2026
- IRS: SOI tax stats, nonfarm sole proprietorship statistics, checked October 9, 2026
- Insureon: Insurance cost for contractors as a group, checked October 9, 2026
Last checked October 9, 2026. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and differ by state and city, so confirm with the agency named before you act.