Service Area · Kempton, Indiana
Excavation & Demolition in Kempton, Indiana
Kempton is the smallest town in Tipton County, 288 people on a sixth of a square mile out in western Jefferson Township. Its history matches our trade better than any town we serve. The most lucrative industry here was tilemaking, and the Kempton Tile Factory turned out the clay drainage tiles that helped make the county's swampy till plain farmable. Most Kempton-area work is rural: septic systems, tile outlets, ponds, barn pads, and field entrances on flat ground that has been managed by buried tile for a century. Our Arcadia shop is about eighteen miles southeast.
About 18 miles northwest of the shop. Western Jefferson Township farm country.
What we do in Kempton
The services this town actually calls for, and the local reason why.
Know your town
The history under Kempton and why it matters when we dig.
Born with the railroad
Kempton appeared in 1875, the same year the Lake Erie & Western Railroad came through, on land owned by its namesake David Kemp. Henry Hays built the first house and ran a grocery out of it. By 1914 the town had grown to about 700 people with a bank, a newspaper, and three churches. Rail towns rise fast, and the LE&W corridor still shapes lot lines and old fill around the town's edges.
The town that made drainage tiles
Kempton's most lucrative industry was tilemaking. The Kempton Tile Factory made the clay drainage tiles that farmers buried to help dry out Tipton County's flat, swampy till plain. The ground around Kempton is farmable because someone put drainage in it, and much of that drainage is now a century old. Finding, fixing, and replacing it is our kind of work.
Smaller now, but the ground still needs work
From about 700 people in 1914 to 288 at the 2020 census, Kempton has consolidated the way a lot of rail-era farm towns have. What's left is durable: a community center, century-old building stock, and working farmland in every direction. For dirt work, that means demolition of aging outbuildings, septic replacements on rural properties, and drainage that is due for its second century of attention. We treat western Jefferson Township as regular territory.
Kempton Permits
Who issues what inside Kempton limits, and when the county takes over.
Kempton has no town permit program and no town website. Everything structural routes through the Tipton County Planning Department (765-675-6063), which issues the county Improvement Location Permit for buildings, additions, and demolition scope. Driveways and field entrances on county roads take the county Highway Department's right-of-way permit (765-675-4508). The handful of town-maintained streets are town clerk/board territory, and the Jefferson Township Trustee can route you when no number is published. We make those calls ourselves. Septic systems permit through the Tipton County Health Department, tile and regulated-drain questions belong to the County Surveyor and Drainage Board, and IDEM's construction stormwater rules apply at an acre of disturbance. None of it is complicated once you know the map, and knowing the map is part of the service.
Kempton town clerk/board: town-street driveways (no published number; Jefferson Township Trustee can route: 765-490-4124): Driveway & right-of-way permits
Septic permits: Tipton CountyTipton County Health Dept ↗Building & demolition permits: Tipton CountyCounty Planning Dept: Improvement Location Permits ↗Driveway & right-of-way permits: Tipton CountyHighway Dept: right-of-way permit available: county roads; town-maintained streets go through the town office above ↗Drainage & regulated drains: Tipton CountySurveyor's Office & Drainage Board ↗Pond permitting: Tipton CountySurveyor / Drainage Board: pond outlets into regulated drains ↗Stormwater & erosion control: statewide (IDEM)IDEM Construction Stormwater General Permit (CSGP): 1+ acre disturbance, or less within a larger common plan of development ↗Pond permitting: statewide (IDNR)IDNR Division of Water: floodway construction, lake & dam permits ↗Tipton County websiteCounty-level permits & resources ↗Not sure which office has your parcel? The free address checker reports the exact permitting jurisdiction for any Central Indiana address.
Kempton FAQs
My ground outside Kempton stays wet every spring. Can you find and fix the tile?+
That is the signature Kempton-area job. This county was largely swamp until drainage channels and clay tile, much of it made right here, dried it out. A lot of that tile is now a century old: crushed runs, root-blocked lines, and buried outlets nobody has seen in decades. We locate the existing tile, repair or replace the failed sections, and re-establish outlets. If the outlet ties to a regulated drain, the County Surveyor gets a call first, and we make it.
Who gives me a permit for a pole barn or pond outside town?+
The Tipton County Planning Department (765-675-6063). Kempton has no permit program of its own, so the county's Improvement Location Permit covers structures, and ponds get a drainage review when outlets touch regulated drains. It is a straightforward process with the right paperwork, and we handle the filing on most jobs so you're not learning county procedure on your own time.
Can you cut a new field entrance off a county road?+
Yes. It takes a right-of-way permit from the Tipton County Highway Department (765-675-4508), which covers the apron, the culvert spec, and sight-line requirements. We pull the permit, set the culvert, and build the entrance to spec so it drains instead of ponding. Field entrances are small jobs that go wrong in expensive ways when the culvert is undersized. Ours aren't.
Is my Kempton property on sewer or septic?+
It depends on where you sit. Kempton has municipal sewer infrastructure on record (a lift station, force main, and gravity sewer), so in-town properties may well be on town sewer, while rural properties around Kempton run on septic. The town has no utility web presence, so we confirm per parcel with town and county records as part of any project that touches wastewater. If you're on septic and it's original to an older house, plan on a soil evaluation and county Health Department permit when replacement time comes. We handle both.
Do you actually come out this far?+
Eighteen miles from our gate is a normal run for us. We treat the west side of Tipton County as regular territory: same equipment, same permits handled, same schedule as a job in Arcadia. Call 317-416-2606.
Nearby towns we serve
Ready to break ground in Kempton?
Our shop is minutes away in Arcadia. Straight answers, real equipment, done right.