I need to share you something controversial: sewage is intriguing. I mean it. When most kids were binge-wasting summers at the pool in 2008, my siblings and I were up to our shins in clay, observing a veteran installer named Carl swear at a misaligned septic tank. Dad believed it’d build character. Apparently, he was spot-on—though I didn’t thank him when I missed the complete soccer season. But that time? It rewired us. While other companies were just servicing tanks, we were figuring out to build them from the earth up. Actually.

Let me share the septic truth few people admits: any fool can dig a hole. But creating a system that lasts 30 years? Now that’s art mixed with science, with a splash of determination. I found out that the hard way in 2015 when we got arrogant. Built a system near Mount Rainier using “textbook” techniques. Six months later, the client called us—voice trembling—about sewage gurgling up like a nightmare. As it happened, “conventional” won’t cut it when the groundwater table serves up curveballs. We ripped it out, ate the $12k loss, and spent the next winter getting certified in hydrogeological assessments. Lesson carved into our bones: certifications are not paperwork. They’re armor.

At Septic Solutions LLC, we breathe this stuff. Not metaphorically—though Carl did slice his thumb open that first summer training us pipe welding. (“Hold it steady, kid!”) Our team never just have licenses; we’ve got obsessed. Washington State demands installers to clock 24 hours of ongoing education. Our lead designer, Marco? He does 24 hours per quarter. Why? Because in 2019, we faced a nightmare job near Woodinville where three “certified” companies had given up. The soil was like wet cement, and the homeowner was on brink of suing everybody. Marco pulled out his International Association of Plumbing Officials (IAPMO) manuals—yes, he devours them for fun—and redesigned the complete drainage field using a rare pressure distribution method. Two years later, that client delivered us a Christmas card with a snapshot of her blooming garden… right over the septic field.

But let’s get honest for a second. Certifications are useless if your crew sees them like wall art. Our advantage? Each tech at Septic Solutions has individually messed up. Big time. Like me in 2015. Or web page Jake, our repair expert, who misdiagnosed a tank baffle issue in 2021 and had to grovel to a furious grandma in Snohomish. (He now teaches our “Baffles 101” workshop.) Failure is our best professor—which is why we’re zealots about cross-training. Our installation team follows repair crews each winter. Why? Because seeing how systems break teaches you how to build them better.

You want proof? Talk to the Hendersons. In 2022, they acquired a “dream” cabin near Snoqualmie Pass—only to find the existing septic system was a disaster waiting. Three companies quoted them $35k+ for a full replacement. We came in, looked at the permits, and noticed something strange: the original 1998 installer had never updated their certification for sand filter systems. As it happened, a straightforward recirculating sand filter retrofit—which our NSF/ANSI 40 certified team does weekly—saved them $18k. They’re now newsletter subscribers. Yes, we have a septic newsletter. Please don’t laugh—2,300 people follow it.

Here’s the kicker: professionalism isn’t what you show off. It is what you work through. I still think of Mom’s face in 2010 when we got our first business license. “You guys are gonna waste those college brains on sewage?” she lamented. But this work? It’s alive. Soil evolves. Codes update. And when you’re buried in a trench at 3 PM on a Friday, rain drenching your collar, you discover certifications aren’t about pride. They are about keeping somebody’s basement from becoming a biohazard.

We got displays of certificates—WSDA, OSHA, you mention it. But the one I am proudest of? The scribbled note from Carl after he quit. “Would never have thought you punks would survive longer than me.” Same here, old man. Neither did we.

So yes. If you want a new septic system, six other companies will eagerly take your call. But if you want a group that has stumbled, adapted, and gone crazy over wastewater flow rates at 2 AM? We are the ones with earth under our nails and manuals in our trucks. Because in this trade, the best credentials do not hang on walls. They’re buried in the ground—operating.