At CHOMEX, we spend a lot of time thinking about what makes a home truly easier to deploy.
The home itself is only part of the equation.
For many rural, off-grid and undeveloped properties, one of the biggest challenges comes after choosing the home: wastewater infrastructure.
A traditional septic system usually requires both a septic tank and a sizeable leach field. That means additional excavation, more land dedicated to wastewater disposal and, depending on the property and soil conditions, potentially tens of thousands of dollars in site work.
For a compact CHOMEX home occupied by only one to three people, that can feel disproportionate.
Fortunately, onsite wastewater technology is evolving.
The Shift Toward Compact Wastewater Treatment
Traditional septic systems rely heavily on the soil surrounding the home to complete the wastewater treatment process.
Wastewater enters a septic tank, solids settle, and the remaining liquid is sent through underground pipes into a leach or drain field. The soil then performs much of the final treatment.
Newer compact and advanced systems take a different approach: more of the treatment happens inside the system itself.
Multi-stage treatment, filtration, biological treatment and other technologies can produce significantly cleaner effluent before it reaches its final disposal or dispersal point.
For small homes, that distinction matters.
Rather than automatically dedicating a large section of a property to a conventional leach field, an approved advanced system may allow for a much smaller wastewater footprint—or, in some jurisdictions and configurations, an alternative method of dispersing treated wastewater.
What Could This Look Like for a CHOMEX Home?
Consider a CHOMEX home designed for one to three occupants.
Compact underground tanks are now available at remarkably small sizes. One example currently on the market has a 274-gallon capacity and measures approximately 68 × 39 × 36 inches.
A larger version offers approximately 396 gallons of capacity while occupying a footprint of only about 80 × 44 inches.
That is a very different proposition from planning a large conventional septic installation around a small modular home.
The opportunity becomes even more interesting when compact tanks are incorporated into properly engineered multi-stage or advanced treatment systems.
For CHOMEX customers building a primary residence, ADU, guest house, vacation property, workforce housing unit or remote home, the wastewater infrastructure can potentially become much more proportional to the size and occupancy of the building itself.
Why This Matters: Space
One of the advantages of a CHOMEX home is its relatively compact footprint.
A conventional leach field can undermine that advantage by consuming a substantial amount of additional property.
And that area isn't simply empty land.
Septic infrastructure can affect where you place the home, driveway, future additions, landscaping and other structures. Properties with poor soils, steep slopes or limited buildable areas can become particularly challenging.
Reducing the wastewater footprint gives homeowners and developers significantly more flexibility when planning a site.
For small lots, that can be just as valuable as the financial savings.
Why This Matters: Cost
Then there is the cost.
A conventional septic project can involve soil evaluations, permitting, engineering, excavation, the septic tank, distribution piping and construction of the drain field.
On difficult sites, engineered septic solutions can become particularly expensive.
That means the wastewater system can represent a surprisingly large percentage of the site-development budget for a small modular home.
Advanced treatment doesn't make those costs disappear. Installation, permitting and an approved method for handling the treated wastewater are still required.
But where local regulations allow a smaller dispersal area or an alternative to a traditional leach field, the potential savings can reach tens of thousands of dollars—particularly on properties where a conventional system might otherwise require extensive excavation or an engineered solution.
That could mean putting $20,000–$30,000 of the project budget toward the home, utilities, solar, landscaping or other improvements instead of a large conventional septic installation in the right circumstances.
A Better Match for Modular Housing
This is what makes the technology particularly relevant to CHOMEX.
Modular housing is fundamentally about doing more with less: less construction time, less material waste, a smaller footprint and a more predictable building process.
The infrastructure surrounding the home should evolve in the same direction.
A compact home shouldn't automatically require infrastructure designed around a much larger conventional residence.
For one- to three-person households especially, properly sized advanced wastewater treatment could become another tool for making small-home development faster, less expensive and possible on a wider range of properties.
One Important Point Before You Buy
A compact treatment system does not automatically mean that you can eliminate a leach field everywhere.
Wastewater disposal is regulated at the state and local level, and requirements vary considerably based on location, soil conditions, groundwater, property size and the treatment technology being used.
Even advanced residential wastewater treatment standards such as NSF/ANSI 40 address treatment performance; they do not automatically authorize a particular method of final effluent disposal.
Some jurisdictions may approve a reduced drainfield or alternative dispersal method. Others may still require a soil absorption system.
So before purchasing any septic tank or wastewater treatment equipment, the system needs to be evaluated against the requirements for the specific CHOMEX installation site.
Small Home. Smaller Infrastructure.
The modular housing industry has made enormous progress in reducing the cost, time and complexity of building a home.
Now the infrastructure around those homes is beginning to catch up.
For CHOMEX, compact wastewater treatment represents something bigger than a new type of septic tank.
It represents another opportunity to make housing easier to deploy, particularly on rural, remote and space-constrained properties.
Smaller home. Smaller wastewater footprint. Lower site-development costs. More possibilities for where you can build.
That is exactly the kind of infrastructure innovation that can make modular housing work better.
