Allow me to tell you something you will not hear from most septic companies: I have been buried in raw sewage since I was twelve years old. Seems glamorous, right? Back in the blazing days of ’98, my family and I thought our parents had lost their minds. Instead of registering for little league like regular kids, we were carving out trenches for our family’s new septic system under the scorching Washington sun. Who knew those calluses would turn into our blueprint.

Here’s the dirty truth nearly all companies refuse to admit: Septic work is not just about hardware. It’s about understanding what occurs underground after the equipment leaves. The majority of folks enter this business through service vehicles. We? We began with shovels in our hands and clay up to our knees.

I’m never forget the day our installer, old Gus Petrovich, threw me a level and said, “Boy, if you can’t lay pipe straight, you’ll drown someone’s lawn in waste by Tuesday.” He sure wasn’t wrong. We spent three days that July wrestling with a challenging clay bed near Redmond—shoveling, measuring, groaning, repeat. But here’s the kicker: Gus kept bringing us to jobs all over Snohomish County. By 15, I could spot a deteriorating drain field from 50 yards.

That is the DNA of Septic Solutions LLC. While competitors were busy buying expensive trucks, we were understanding why systems truly fail. Like that nightmare project in ’03 where we observed a “professional” crew install a tank with absolutely no regard for soil percolation. Three months later? Backyard looked like a swamp. We swore then: homepage No shortcuts. Not once.

Skip ahead to 2009. My brother Art (you’ll see his name all over our permits) nearly bankrupted us requiring on verifying three times every perc test. “Remember the swamp house,” he used to growl. We ate cheap food for six months. But when the recession hit? Our systems kept functioning while others failed. Suddenly, “Nikolin boys” became a thing shared between contractors.

Here’s where we’re different: We create systems like we’ll have to repair them ourselves. Because here’s the thing? We typically do. Last Thanksgiving, Mrs. Callahan in Woodinville called panicking about a holiday backup. Art went out in his dinner-soiled shirt. Turned out her “maintenance-free” system installed in 2015 had a filter not a soul told her about. We did not just repair it—we instructed her grandson how to clean it.

You think that’s standard? Not a chance. The majority of companies want you on a $200/month care plan. We’d rather you know your system. Like that time we drew drainage diagrams on Dave Miller’s kitchen table in Everett while his kids added crayon clouds. Why? Because when Dave’s willow tree roots attacked his leach field last spring, he caught the waterlogged grass before it became a disaster.

Our secret sauce? It is not secret at all. It is in the calluses. In the way Art still answers the phone at (425) 553-3422 himself. In the Instagram reel where my nephew facepalms at a DIYer’s “gravel-free drain field masterpiece” (@septic_solutionsllc—subscribe for laughs and legit tips). You’ll see it in the YouTube video where we condensed a 72-hour install in relentless Kirkland rain (@septicsolutionsllc).

But let me share the actual magic: We’ve turned each setback into your gain. That mossy disaster in Bothell? Showed us to add root barriers standard. The “ghost flush” mystery in Sammamish? Now we install effluent filters on each job. Even our tanks are different—we spec thicker concrete after seeing how Pacific Northwest winters destroy cheaper models.

Don’t just take my testimony for it. Ask the former Boeing engineer who challenged us to manage his sloping lot in Duvall. “Impossible,” said three companies. We constructed him a pressurized system that’s outlasted two of his cars. Or the young family in Monroe whose contractor installed an undersized tank—we reconfigured their complete layout during a blizzard without busting their budget.

This is not business fluff. It’s 25 years of numb fingers, misread soil reports, and fierce pride in doing it correctly. We have cried over caved-in trenches in January rains. Cheered when our sand-filter system saved a historic Carnation farmhouse. Even laid to rest our favorite shovel (RIP #3) with Viking funeral honors after it broke during an brutal granite battle.

So if you find yourself scrolling through septic companies thinking who will not disappear after the check clears? Remember the boys who still remember their first lesson from Gus: “A solid system hides. A excellent system works while hiding.” We didn’t just create this business—we grew it from the ground up, one genuine hole at a time.

Your turn. Tell me what your system hiding?