If you just bought land in Okanogan County
You have five acres and a plan. What you probably do not have is a clear picture of the order things happen in, who issues what, or which of it can run at the same time. Most people find out the expensive way — by doing step four before step one.
What happens first
Before almost anything else, you need Site Analysis approval from Okanogan County Planning & Development. It is the gate. The Building Department cannot issue a building permit without an approved, signed Site Analysis form, and the Health District will not start your septic permit without one either.
After that the pieces are the well, the septic system, the road approach, the building permit, power, the electrical permit and your physical address. Some of that runs in parallel. Some of it strictly does not.
The septic system is where people get stuck
This is the sequence the Okanogan County Public Health District publishes, and the part worth reading twice:
- Get Site Analysis approval from Planning & Development.
- Submit the septic application to Public Health with the fee, a parcel sheet from the Assessor's site, the property owner consent form and a site plan.
- Dig test holes, six feet deep by three feet wide, sloped or stepped at one end so somebody can safely climb in and out — in the proposed drain field area.
- Call for the site and soil evaluation. Inspection days are fixed: North and Mid County are Monday and Wednesday. South County and the Methow are Tuesday and Thursday.
- They send back a design spec telling you what type of system your soil will take.
- The system gets designed, reviewed and approved before any permit is issued.
- Install, final inspection with 48 hours notice, and a record drawing filed within 30 days.
Step three is the one nobody expects. The county will not send anybody out to look at your ground until there are proper test holes in it, in the right place, dug to spec. That is not a shovel job. That is what our excavator is for, and putting them in the wrong spot costs you an inspection cycle.
Who you will be dealing with
We have been through this enough times to tell you who to call and roughly when. The numbers are worth having in one place:
| What | Who | Number |
|---|---|---|
| Site Analysis, physical address | Planning & Development | (509) 422-7160 |
| Building permit | Building Department | (509) 422-7110 |
| Septic, water adequacy | Public Health District | (509) 422-7140 |
| Road approach permit | Public Works | (509) 422-7300 |
| Power | Okanogan County PUD | (509) 422-3310 |
| Power (Methow) | Okanogan County Electric Co-op | (509) 996-2228 |
| Electrical permit | WA Labor & Industries | (800) 753-6506 |
County process as published in September 2026. It changes, so call and confirm before you rely on it.
Where we come in
Earlier than most people expect. Before the excavator, before the first load of gravel, often before you have spoken to the county at all. If you have just closed on a piece of ground and you are not sure what the first phone call even is, that is the point to pick up the phone.
From there we take as much or as little of it as you want. The ground is ours either way: test holes where the designer needs them, the road approach so a truck can actually get in, the building pad level and compacted, access cut so the well rig can sit flat. But we can walk you through the paperwork side of it too, if you want the help. Which form, in what order, and what each office needs before the next one will talk to you. None of it is a mystery to us any more, and knowing the order saves people weeks.
We will also tell you who else to call. We have worked alongside most of the drillers, framers and concrete crews in this county, and we will not send you to somebody we would not use ourselves.
