Let me share you something most won’t say: sewage is captivating. No, really. When typical kids were frittering away summers at the pool in 2008, my siblings and I were up to our shins in clay, watching a weathered installer named Carl curse at a misaligned septic tank. Dad believed it would build character. Turns out, he was right—though I did not thank him when I lost the entire soccer season. But that time? It transformed us. While other companies were just maintaining tanks, we were discovering to build them from the ground up. Literally.

Here’s the septic truth few people admits: any fool can dig a hole. But constructing a system that survives 30 years? That is art blended with science, with a splash of grit. I discovered that the difficult way in 2015 when we got overconfident. Installed a system near Mount Rainier using “industry standard” techniques. Six months later, the client contacted us—voice trembling—about sewage erupting up like a disaster film. As it happened, “conventional” won’t cut it when the groundwater table delivers curveballs. We ripped it out, took the $12k loss, and invested the next winter getting qualified in hydrogeological assessments. Truth carved into our bones: certifications aren’t paperwork. They’re armor.

At Septic Solutions LLC, we breathe this stuff. Not metaphorically—though Carl did slice his thumb open that first summer teaching us pipe welding. (“Hold it steady, kid!”) Our team doesn’t just have licenses; we’ve got addicted. Washington State demands installers to clock 24 hours of continuing education. Our lead designer, Marco? He does 24 hours per quarter. Why? Because in 2019, we hit a horror job near Woodinville where three “licensed” companies had failed. The soil was like concrete soup, and the homeowner was on edge of suing everybody. Marco retrieved his International Association of Plumbing Officials (IAPMO) manuals—yes, he reads them for fun—and reconfigured the whole drainage field using a rare pressure distribution method. Two years later, that client mailed us a Christmas card with a photo of her blooming garden… right over the septic field.

But let me get raw for a second. Certifications are worthless if your crew views them like wall art. Our edge? Each tech at Septic Solutions has personally screwed up. Seriously. Like me in 2015. Or Jake, our repair expert, who got wrong a tank baffle issue in 2021 and had to apologize to a irate grandma in Snohomish. (He now teaches our “Baffles 101” workshop.) Mistakes are our best professor—which is why we’ve become fanatics about cross-training. Our installation team shadows repair crews each winter. Why? Because witnessing how systems break teaches you how to create them better.

You need proof? Talk to the Hendersons. In 2022, they purchased a “dream” cabin near Snoqualmie Pass—only to discover the existing septic system was a time bomb. Three companies quoted them $35k+ for a total replacement. We came in, looked at the permits, and caught something strange: the original 1998 installer had not once updated their certification for sand filter systems. As it happened, a basic recirculating sand filter retrofit—which our NSF/ANSI 40 certified team does weekly—kept them $18k. They’re now newsletter subscribers. Yes, we have a septic newsletter. Don’t laugh—2,300 people read it.

This is the reality: professionalism is not what you display. It’s what you work through. I still think of Mom’s face in 2010 when we got our first business license. “You are gonna squander those college brains on sewage?” she groaned. But this job? It is alive. Soil shifts. Codes transform. And when you find yourself stuck in a trench at 3 PM on a Friday, rain soaking your collar, website you realize certifications are not about pride. They’re about keeping somebody’s basement from turning into a biohazard.

We have got displays of certificates—WSDA, OSHA, you list it. But the one I’m proudest of? The scribbled note from Carl after he left. “Would never have thought you punks would outlast me.” Same here, old man. Not in a million years.

So yes. If you need a new septic system, six other companies will eagerly take your business. But if you want a team that’s messed up, adapted, and geeked out over wastewater flow rates at 2 AM? Look for the ones with mud under our nails and manuals in our trucks. Because in this trade, the best certifications don’t hang on walls. They’re buried in the ground—working.