Good day. We wanted to share with you a recent conversation GreenTRAX had with a customer about a short notice tank removal.
By seeing what other customers deal with in terms of removing their heating oil tanks, we hope this will help you in making your own decision.
Let me set the scene. It’s a Friday afternoon at around 3:30 PM. In fact, it was the last phone call of the week for GreenTRAX. This writer was the only one in the office at the time and was getting ready to leave for the weekend.
The phone rings.
“Good afternoon, Greentrax.”
“Hello, I was calling to speak with someone about a buried oil tank removal at a property I am buying.”
“Sure, I can help you with that. Where is the property located?”
“On the Eastern Shore.”
“When are you going to settlement?”
“Well, that’s the thing. We are supposed to settle on Tuesday.”
“This coming Tuesday? That’s in 2 days!”
“Yes, I know. I just got off the phone with my homeowners’ insurance company and while they were reviewing the documents to get ready for settlement, they saw the property still had a buried oil tank, which they don’t allow. In order to go to settlement I have to get the underground heating oil tank removed.”
“Ok, well unfortunately that’s not going to happen. You will have to postpone settlement. We can work with quick time frames, but not 2 days. I have to send you a proposal – which I can do now – and we’ll need it signed before we can schedule the work. Then we have to call Miss Utility (by law they have 48 hours to mark the property), so even if I called right now, they wouldn’t mark it by Tuesday.
Then we have to schedule the job and do the work onsite – which, yes, we can do in a few hours. However, even if your tank is clean and not leaking, we still have to send a soil sample to the lab for testing. That testing process can be rushed. Then I have to put a closure packet together for you to show your mortgage company & home insurance company that everything is clean.
The closure package will have pictures of the entire job, including the soil testing results showing that the soil is clean and the tank was not leaking, a write-up of everything we did and more. Again, all of that can be rushed but it still takes a little bit of time.
So, sorry to say but 2 days isn’t going to happen. And if we remove the tank and find it is leaking and there is contaminated soil to remediate… that takes additional time to deal with since the entire process is required by the Maryland Dept. of the Environment.
Let me get the property address to start.”
“It’s blah, blah street, blah blah city, blah blah zip code.”
“That address sounds familiar. Didn’t we speak about this job about a month or so ago?”
“Good memory. Yes, I called and spoke to you before I put the contract in on the property.
I should have listened to you the first time when you explained to me that it is normally the seller’s responsibility to pull the tank, and that I should check with my mortgage company and home insurance company to see if they were OK with the buried oil tank.
I didn’t, so now I am in a rush. I have movers coming and no place to go – I have to settle on this house ASAP.”
“No problem. We will take care of it. I can get everything done and get the paperwork to you by the end of the week, so if you can just push the settlement just 3 days until Friday afternoon, we will make it happen. You can Count of GreenTRAX.”
How To Avoid A Rushed Tank Removal
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a short version of an actual conversation GreenTRAX had with a customer. Unfortunately, it’s not the only conversation like this we have had in our 30 years’ experience in the oil tank business.
When you call us, please do not be in a rush and expect to get all the information you need in 30 seconds and hang up. We’re here to help you by giving you correct and proper information, to talk to you about the process, and to answer your questions.
Call us when you have at least 15-20 minutes to talk. Because if all you are doing is calling multiple places to get the cheapest price, that is not going to help you in the end.
I can give you a dirt cheap price and tell you nothing you really need to know and get you off the phone in 20 seconds. However, that price doesn’t include everything we know you really need, and will want, and that doesn’t give us time to explain what we do and answer any questions you have. Again, we are here to help you through the process of a buried oil tank removal or tank abandonment in place.
How GreenTRAX Helps With Buried Oil Tank Removals
Especially if you are buying or selling a property, there is information you NEED to be aware of, including the problems you may run into during an oil tank removal, what issues make the job take longer, and what steps the Maryland Dept. of the Environment requires.
It’s also very important to understand how that work can carry over between the old owner and the new owner. When you call us, we put our experience to work for you. We want to help you avoid pitfalls and problems we have seen other people deal with.
Some of the pitfalls from hiring the wrong company or rushing your tank removal? At a minimum, you could be looking at environmental damage to the groundwater, your drinking well water, your basement, and even your property. It’s important you get this right, so take the time to call us and get your facts sorted out.
We have oil tank removals down to a science. Given our three decades of experience, we are the most efficient and most helpful residential oil tank removal company in Maryland. If you’re looking to discuss your project, call us today and we’ll provide you with a no-cost proposal. In many cases, we can get that proposal to you the same day, and we don’t require you to take time off of work to meet with us.
For the Maryland company that specializes in residential tank removals, call GreenTRAX at (410) 439-1085.
