I need to share you something unpopular: sewage is intriguing. I mean it. When other kids were frittering away summers at the pool in 2008, my siblings and I were up to our waists in clay, watching a weathered installer named Carl swear at a off-center septic tank. Dad believed it’d build character. As it happened, he was correct—though I certainly didn’t thank him when I missed the entire soccer season. But that time? It changed us. While other companies were just maintaining tanks, we were learning to build them from the dirt up. Literally.

Here’s the septic truth no one admits: any fool can dig a hole. But building a system that lasts 30 years? That’s art mixed with science, with a hint of grit. I discovered that the difficult way in 2015 when we got arrogant. Put in a system near Mount Rainier using “textbook” techniques. Six months later, the client contacted us—voice quivering—about sewage bubbling up like a disaster film. As it happened, “normal” doesn’t cut it when the groundwater table serves up curveballs. We tore it out, ate the $12k loss, and invested the next winter getting qualified in hydrogeological assessments. Truth carved into our bones: certifications aren’t paperwork. They are armor.

At Septic Solutions LLC, we bleed this stuff. Not figuratively—though Carl did cut his thumb open that first summer showing us pipe welding. (“Maintain it steady, kid!”) Our team doesn’t just have licenses; we’ve got obsessed. Washington State mandates 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 nightmare job near Woodinville where three “qualified” companies had thrown in the towel. The soil was like concrete soup, and the homeowner was on verge of suing everyone. Marco grabbed his International Association of Plumbing Officials (IAPMO) manuals—yes, he reads them for fun—and reconfigured the whole drainage field using a specialized pressure distribution method. Two years later, that client delivered us a Christmas card with a picture of her flourishing garden… right over the septic field.

But let’s get raw for a second. Certifications are useless if your crew sees them like trophies. Our advantage? Each tech at Septic Solutions has themselves failed. Badly. Like me in 2015. Or Jake, our repair expert, who misdiagnosed a tank baffle issue in 2021 and had to apologize to a irate grandma in Snohomish. (He now teaches our “Baffles 101” workshop.) Failure is our best teacher—which is why we are obsessed about cross-training. Our installation team shadows repair crews all winter. Why? Because observing how systems collapse teaches you how to build them better.

You looking for proof? Talk to the Hendersons. In 2022, they purchased a “ideal” cabin near Snoqualmie Pass—only to discover the existing septic system was a time bomb. Three companies quoted them $35k+ for a full replacement. We arrived, looked at the permits, and caught something strange: the original 1998 installer had never updated their certification for sand filter systems. Apparently, a straightforward recirculating sand filter retrofit—which our NSF/ANSI 40 certified team does regularly—kept them $18k. They’re now newsletter subscribers. Yes, we have a septic newsletter. Do not laugh—2,300 people read it.

Let me share the reality: professionalism is not what you show off. It becomes what you sweat through. I still remember Mom’s face in 2010 when we got our first business license. “You’re gonna throw away those college brains on sewage?” she lamented. But this work? It’s alive. Soil evolves. Codes evolve. And when you are buried in a trench at 3 PM on a Friday, rain penetrating your collar, you discover certifications were never about pride. They exist about keeping a family’s basement from becoming a biohazard.

We got walls of certificates—WSDA, OSHA, you name it. But the one I am proudest of? The handwritten note from Carl after he left. “Would never have thought you kids would survive longer than me.” Neither did we, old man. We didn’t either.

So yeah. If you require a new septic system, six other companies will eagerly take your money. But if you want a group who has failed, learned, web site and obsessed over wastewater flow rates at 2 AM? We’re the ones with dirt under our nails and reference books in our trucks. Because in this industry, the best qualifications do not hang on walls. They are buried in the ground—operating.