What Is the Septic
Contractor Class Code?
It depends on the line of insurance and on your state. General liability has clean septic classifications. Workers compensation does not have a single national one, and anyone who gives you one off a website has not checked your state.
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The longer answer
With the sources, so you can check us.
General liability has real septic classes
The classification table carries separate classes for septic tank systems cleaning and for septic tank systems installation and servicing, with sewer cleaning and sewer mains construction separate again. All are rated on payroll, per $1,000.
Workers compensation is operation-dependent
Classification follows the operation performed rather than the trade name. Cleaning, excavation and tank setting can land in different codes, and state bureaus do not all classify septic work the same way.
The commonly repeated code is not in the bureau text
Wisconsin’s rating bureau publishes its class descriptions openly. The street cleaning code lists “cess pool cleaning” and “sewer cleaning” among its operations. The exact phrase “septic tank cleaning” does not appear. The equation you see online comes from agency websites rather than bureau filings.
What to do about it
Split your payroll by operation so each portion is rated at its own class rate. The rule is unforgiving: any operation for which separate payroll records are not maintained is assigned to the highest rated classification at that job.
Sources: Wisconsin Compensation Rating Bureau, class descriptions
What this means for your business
- The classification table carries separate classes for septic tank systems cleaning and for septic tank systems installation and servicing, with sewer cleaning and sewer mains construction separate again. All are rated on payroll, per $1,000.
- Classification follows the operation performed rather than the trade name. Cleaning, excavation and tank setting can land in different codes, and state bureaus do not all classify septic work the same way.
- Wisconsin’s rating bureau publishes its class descriptions openly. The street cleaning code lists “cess pool cleaning” and “sewer cleaning” among its operations. The exact phrase “septic tank cleaning” does not appear. The equation you see online comes from agency websites rather than bureau filings.
- Split your payroll by operation so each portion is rated at its own class rate. The rule is unforgiving: any operation for which separate payroll records are not maintained is assigned to the highest rated classification at that job.
Answered by Septic Cleaning Insurance Group
We only write this trade, and we read the policy before we sell it. More on the operations we insure and the coverage behind them.
Straight answers, no insurance-speak
Completely. They are separate classification systems. General liability has clean septic classes for cleaning and for installation and servicing. Workers compensation classification follows the operation performed and varies by state bureau.
It runs both ways and both are expensive. You can overpay for years, or underpay and receive an audit bill you did not budget for. Correcting it changes the multiplier on every future year, not just this renewal.
Because it depends on your state bureau and on which operations you actually perform, and a wrong code published confidently is worse than no code. We will look up your state rather than repeat what circulates online.
Possibly not. These answers describe standard forms and common rules; your policy may carry endorsements that change the result either way. Send the declarations and endorsement schedule and we will tell you what your form does.
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