How Remove The Tank works
What we are
Remove The Tank is a lead-matching service — in industry terms, a performance-marketing business. We publish the cost data, the calculators, and the guides. The intent is that when you're ready for a real quote, we introduce you to a contractor — and that part is not live. No contractor network is signed, so today a request gets a reply from us, not an introduction to anyone. The contractors we work with are independent businesses. They are not our employees, our subcontractors, or our partners in the work. They carry their own licenses, their own insurance, and their own responsibility for the job.
Here is the intended business model in one sentence: contractors pay us for the introductions we send them, which is how this site would earn money without charging homeowners anything. Nothing has been paid to us yet, because nothing has been introduced yet. When it happens, that payment will not change your price — the contractor quotes the job on its merits, and you're free to compare their quote against anyone else's.
What we'll check before any introduction
No homeowner's information has gone to a contractor, because there is no contractor network yet. When there is, these are the four things we'll check first. None of this replaces your own diligence — the checklist tells you what to verify yourself — but it filters out the operators who fail the basics.
When it starts, vetting will be a snapshot, not a warranty. Licenses lapse, insurance policies change, and a contractor's conduct on your specific job is between you and them. Verify the paperwork yourself before signing, and ask the contractor the nine questions on the checklist — a legitimate operator answers all of them without hesitation.
| What we check | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| Licensing | The business holds the licenses required to perform tank removal and closure work in New Jersey. |
| NJDEP compliance posture | The contractor works within NJDEP rules — proper closure procedures, documented disposal, and correct handling if contamination turns up. |
| Insurance | The business carries liability coverage, so an accident on your property is the contractor's insurer's problem, not yours. |
| Permit handling | The contractor pulls the municipal permits the job requires rather than leaving that to you or skipping it. |
What we don't do
- We don't perform tank work. No excavation, no closure, no remediation — ever.
- We don't set or guarantee prices. The figures on this site are informational ranges; the contractor's quote is the contractor's quote.
- We don't guarantee outcomes, and we can't grant eligibility for any state fund, grant, or insurance claim.
- We don't take payment from homeowners. You never owe us anything.
The sequence
- You use the tools or submit the estimate form — tank status, municipality, and what triggered the decision.
- We review the submission and reply within one business day. If something is unclear, we may follow up by email or phone. Today the sequence stops here.
- Not running yet: we match you with an independent, licensed, NJDEP-compliant contractor serving your county, and ask your permission before sending anything to them.
- Not running yet: the contractor contacts you directly and quotes the job after a real assessment — usually a site visit, because no honest number exists without one.
- You decide. There is no obligation, and no cost to you either way.
What happens after you accept a quote — permits, excavation, soil sampling, closure report — is covered in the timeline guide.
Why the tools are free and honest
The cost estimator, the remove-vs-close calculator, and the leak-risk tool exist to set expectations before anyone quotes you. That serves our interest as much as yours: an informed homeowner is a better match, wastes less of a contractor's time, and is less likely to be talked into work they don't need. Where the honest answer is "don't spend money yet," the tools say so — run the remove-vs-close calculator or read the no-trigger situation page and you'll see "not yet" is a real output, not a sales funnel dead end.
Any contractor — matched through us or found anywhere else — who pitches "free, state-funded" removal deserves scrutiny. NJDEP warns about this pitch directly; the fund it relies on is backlogged and its non-leaking program has been suspended since 2011. The grant reality is here.
What happens to your information
Details you submit through the form are used to reply to you, and for nothing else. They are not sent to a contractor — there is no contractor network yet, and if that changes we will ask you before sharing anything. We don't sell lists and we don't run ad retargeting. The full policy is short and worth the two minutes: privacy.