Sourced from Skamania County Community Development’s Environmental Health Division pages, the county’s published Building Division and Environmental Health Fee Schedule, its licensed installer and pumper rosters, and chapter 246-272A WAC — last checked August 2026. Where we could not source something, we say so.
Quick answer: Skamania County is the rare Washington county that says it plainly: “in 2027, property transfer inspections will be REQUIRED.” It also says the inspection must be done by a Skamania County Licensed Operation and Maintenance company — and the county’s own list of those companies is titled “COMING SOON…” and contains no names. Meanwhile the permit itself is the cheapest we have found in Washington: $195 to review and permit a residential design.
The county said it out loud
Most Washington counties handle the 2027 change by not mentioning it. Skamania published a notice headed “Property transfer inspections – REQUIRED 2027” and wrote this:
“At this time, it is recommended that a property inspection of the septic system be conducted to ensure that the septic system is still properly functioning. However, in 2027, property transfer inspections will be REQUIRED. The property transfer inspection must be conducted by a Skamania County Licensed Operation and Maintenance company and the inspection should be submitted to the Environmental Health Division for review.”
Read that second sentence carefully, because it does two things at once. It tells you the requirement is coming. And it tells you that when it arrives, not just any inspector will satisfy it — the inspection has to come from a company holding a county-issued Operation and Maintenance license.
That is a stricter arrangement than the statewide rule by itself demands. WAC 246-272A-0270 is what makes inspection at property transfer a statewide expectation from February 1, 2027. Skamania is layering a local licensing gate on top of it.
The list of people allowed to do it is empty
The county links to its roster of approved inspectors from the septic program page. The page it opens is called “Licensed Operation & Maintenance (O&M) Inspectors – COMING SOON…” Its body explains what the list will be — “septic system pumpers who have obtained their Annual Skamania County Septic Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Inspector License” — repeats the 2027 notice, and closes with “Updates to this list to follow…”
So the requirement is announced, the credential is defined, and the roster of people holding it is blank. The county’s other rosters are not blank at all:
| Skamania County roster | Businesses listed |
|---|---|
| Licensed septic system installers | 19 |
| Licensed septic system pumpers | 11 |
| Licensed O&M inspectors | 0 — “COMING SOON…” |
The credential is not hypothetical, either. The fee schedule already prices it: Installer/Pumper/Inspector Annual License — $150.00 each, with a $50 penalty for late renewal. The county has set a price for the license it will require and published nobody who holds it.
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And the pumpers are all from somewhere else
Because the O&M inspector license is described as a thing pumpers obtain, the pumper roster is the realistic pool of future inspectors. Here is where those 11 businesses are based:
| Based in | Businesses |
|---|---|
| Oregon | Portland (2), Boring, Hood River, The Dalles — 5 |
| Clark County, WA | Battle Ground (3), Camas, Brush Prairie — 5 |
| Klickitat County, WA | Goldendale — 1 |
| Skamania County, WA | 0 |
Not one licensed pumper lists a Skamania County address. The installer roster, by contrast, includes businesses in Stevenson, Carson, Skamania and North Bonneville. If you are selling in Underwood or Carson in 2027 and need a county-licensed inspector, the nearest candidates are currently an hour or more away — and none of them holds the license yet.
What Skamania charges
These come from the Environmental Health Fee Schedule the county publishes as part of its combined Building Division and Environmental Health fee document.
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| Soil and site evaluation | $335 |
| Concurrency review of designer’s soil and site evaluation | $245 |
| Winter evaluation (weekly site visits over three months, to read drainage) | $650 |
| Design plan review and permit — under 1,000 gpd | $195 |
| Design plan review and permit — 1,000 to 3,500 gpd | $265 |
| Repair / replacement permit — under 1,000 gpd | $420 |
| Repair / replacement permit — 1,000 to 3,500 gpd | $720 |
| Expansion permit — under 1,000 gpd | $510 |
| Septic tank or pump tank replacement only (includes abandonment if needed) | $200 |
| Minor expansion or replacement of a single component | $200 |
| O&M review for existing systems | $105 |
| Water adequacy verification, self-sample | $265 |
| Land division septic evaluation | $200 one lot · $375 two · $560 three to four · $55 each additional |
| Land division water availability review | $595 |
| Vault toilet · septic tank abandonment verification | $140 each |
| Design re-review after the first | $70 |
| Administrative appeal of an Environmental Health decision | $685 |
$195 is real, and it is also not the whole bill
Among the Washington counties we have priced, $195 is the lowest published permit fee we have found. For comparison, the same step costs $1,000 in Whitman and Benton-Franklin, $1,032 in Grays Harbor, $1,044 in Grant, and $1,890 in Spokane.
Two honest qualifications. First, the county fee is not the project cost: a licensed designer has to draw the system, and that professional’s fee is set by the professional, not the county. Second, a realistic new-build county total is the evaluation plus the permit — $335 + $195 = $530 — and $795 if you also need water adequacy verification on a private or shared well. That is still the low end of the state by a distance.
Worth knowing before you dig: the $650 winter evaluation is not an alternative to the $335 soil and site evaluation — it is a three-month program of weekly visits used where drainage has to be observed through the wet season. If your site needs one, plan the calendar, not just the budget.
Cloudpermit, and only Cloudpermit
Skamania runs its septic permitting through Cloudpermit. The county’s page lists what the account does: check permit status, pay by credit card, schedule or cancel inspections, and receive issued permits as PDFs. There is no parallel paper counter described anywhere on the septic pages.
The sequence the county publishes is five steps:
| Step | What it involves |
|---|---|
| 1. Site evaluation | Needed for new builds, expansions, or repairs without records — not required if you already have soil results. Site plan and test pits prepared in advance. |
| 2. Water adequacy verification | A public water letter if you are on city or Group A water; a W.A.V. application if you are on a private or shared well. |
| 3. Design | Hire a licensed designer from the county list. Finalize the site plan. Submit the design application. |
| 4. Installation | Hire a licensed installer from the county list. The final inspection must happen before the system is covered. |
| 5. As-built | Submit the as-built drawing per the county checklist. |
Step 4 is the one that costs people money when it is missed. Backfilling before the inspector arrives means uncovering the system again.
Homeowners: what you may and may not do
The county draws the line clearly. On routine maintenance it is permissive — its FAQ allows that a homeowner may do routine O&M work on a simple gravity system, or minor repair work. On transfer inspections it is not: “Homeowners cannot perform property transfer inspections as required under WAC 246-272A-0270.”
The county’s maintenance guidance is short: inspect every 1 to 3 years depending on system type, pump every 3 to 5 years, and keep vehicles, structures and standing water off the drainfield.
What we could not source
- An effective date, adoption date, or resolution number on the fee schedule. We read all five pages. The Environmental Health pages carry no date and no resolution reference of any kind. The figures above are what the county publishes today; we cannot tell you when they took effect or when they next change. Confirm before you write a check.
- A month or day for the 2027 requirement. Skamania says “in 2027.” The statewide date in WAC 246-272A-0270 is February 1, 2027, but the county does not print a date of its own, and we are not going to put one in its mouth.
- When the O&M inspector list will be published. “Updates to this list to follow” is the whole of it.
- Any fee line for a property transfer inspection. The schedule prices an O&M review for existing systems at $105, which is the county’s review of a submitted report — not the inspector’s own charge, which will be a private price once there are inspectors.
- A street address for the Environmental Health Division on the pages we checked. Phone and email are below; call before driving.
- How many on-site systems are in the county. Not published anywhere we could find.
If you are selling in Skamania County
Today, an inspection is recommended and not required, so nothing blocks a 2026 closing. But Skamania has done something most counties have not: it has told you the rule is coming and told you the credential it will accept. The practical read is that the constraint in 2027 will not be the county’s $105 review fee — it will be finding a licensed inspector at all, in a county where the pool has to come from eleven out-of-county pumpers, none of whom currently hold the license.
If you expect to sell in 2027, watching that roster page is worth more than watching the fee schedule.
The practical bits
| Skamania County Environmental Health Division | (509) 427-3900 |
| Scheduling evaluations and inspections | (509) 427-3903 |
| permitcenter@co.skamania.wa.us | |
| Applications | Cloudpermit — us.cloudpermit.com/skamaniacounty |
| Annual installer, pumper or inspector license | $150, plus $50 if renewed late |
Sources
- Skamania County, “Property transfer inspections – REQUIRED 2027” — skamaniacounty.gov
- Skamania County, Licensed Operation & Maintenance (O&M) Inspectors – COMING SOON — skamaniacounty.gov
- Skamania County, On-Site Sewage Program — Septic Systems — skamaniacounty.gov
- Skamania County, Environmental Health & Building Fee Schedule — skamaniacounty.gov
- Skamania County, Licensed Septic System Pumpers — skamaniacounty.gov
- Skamania County, Licensed Septic System Installers — skamaniacounty.gov
- WAC 246-272A-0270, on-site sewage system inspection at property transfer
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does Skamania County require a septic inspection to sell a house?
Not today. The county says an inspection is recommended at this time. But Skamania has published a notice stating that "in 2027, property transfer inspections will be REQUIRED," and that the inspection must be done by a Skamania County Licensed Operation and Maintenance company. The statewide date in WAC 246-272A-0270 is February 1, 2027; the county itself prints only the year.
How much does a septic permit cost in Skamania County?
The design plan review and permit for a residential system under 1,000 gallons per day is 195 dollars, and the soil and site evaluation is 335 dollars, so a new system typically runs about 530 dollars in county fees. Add 265 dollars if you need water adequacy verification on a private or shared well. A licensed designer must draw the system, and that fee is set by the designer, not the county. The 195 dollar figure is the lowest published permit fee we have found in Washington.
Who is allowed to perform a property transfer inspection in Skamania County?
The county says it must be a Skamania County Licensed Operation and Maintenance company, and that homeowners cannot perform property transfer inspections under WAC 246-272A-0270. The county page that is meant to list those companies is titled "Licensed Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Inspectors – COMING SOON…" and contains no names. The county already prices the annual installer, pumper or inspector license at 150 dollars.
How do I apply for a septic permit in Skamania County?
Through Cloudpermit. The county describes no paper alternative on its septic pages. The published sequence is site evaluation, water adequacy verification, design by a licensed designer, installation by a licensed installer, and submission of the as-built drawing. The final inspection has to happen before the system is covered.