Allow me to share with you something you aren’t going to hear from the majority of septic companies: I’ve actually been waist-deep in raw sewage since I was a preteen years old. Looks appealing, right? Back in the blazing days of ’98, my brothers and I thought our mother and father had completely lost their minds. Instead of signing up for little league like typical kids, we were carving out trenches for our family’s new septic system under the brutal Washington sun. We had no idea those wounds would transform into our blueprint.

Let me share the harsh truth the majority of companies refuse to admit: Septic work ain’t just about hardware. It’s really about understanding what occurs underground after the backhoe leaves. Nearly all folks enter this business through maintenance vans. We? We began with tools in our hands and mud up to our knees.

I’m never forget the day our installer, old Gus Petrovich, threw me a level and barked, “Young man, if you are unable to lay pipe straight, you’re gonna drown somebody’s lawn in waste by Tuesday.” He was not wrong. We dedicated three days that July fighting with a challenging clay bed near Redmond—digging, measuring, groaning, repeat. But here comes the surprise: Gus kept taking us to jobs all over Snohomish County. By 15, I could identify a dying drain field from 50 yards.

This is the DNA of Septic Solutions LLC. While rivals were busy buying fancy trucks, we were learning why systems actually fail. Like that nightmare project in ’03 where we watched a “expert” crew install a tank with zero regard for soil percolation. Three months later? Property looked like a marsh. We vowed then: No shortcuts. Not once.

Fast forward to 2009. My brother Art (you’re going to see his name all over our permits) nearly bankrupted us requiring on thoroughly testing every perc test. “Think about the swamp house,” he used to growl. We ate cheap food for six months. But when the downturn hit? Our systems kept working while others collapsed. Overnight, “Nikolin boys” was a thing shared between contractors.

Here’s where we are different: We build systems like we’re going to have to fix them ourselves. Because you know what? We typically do. Last Thanksgiving, Mrs. Callahan in Woodinville called panicking about a holiday overflow. Art rushed out in his gravy-covered shirt. Apparently her “self-maintaining” system installed in 2015 had a filter not a soul told her about. We did not just repair it—we taught her grandson how to clean it.

You believe this is standard? Think again. The majority of companies prefer you on a $200/month maintenance plan. We’d rather you understand your system. Like that time we drew drainage diagrams on Dave Miller’s kitchen table in Everett while his children added crayon clouds. Why? Because when Dave’s willow tree roots invaded his leach field last spring, he noticed the soggy grass before it turned into a disaster.

Our special ingredient? It’s not secret at all. You’ll find it in the calluses. In the way Art still answers the phone at (425) 553-3422 himself. In the Instagram reel where my nephew cringes at a DIYer’s “stone-less drain field masterpiece” (@septic_solutionsllc—check us out for laughs and legit tips). It’s in the YouTube video where we condensed a 72-hour install in pouring Kirkland rain (@septicsolutionsllc).

But here’s the real magic: We have turned every failure into your advantage. That mossy disaster in Bothell? Made us to add root barriers by default. The “phantom flush” mystery in Sammamish? Now we install effluent filters on each job. Even our tanks are different—we spec heavier concrete after observing how Pacific Northwest winters crack cheaper models.

Please don’t just take my statement for it. Ask the retired Boeing engineer who challenged us to tackle his sloping lot in Duvall. “No way,” said three companies. We constructed him a pressurized system that has outlasted two of his cars. Or the young family in Monroe whose builder installed an inadequate tank—we rebuilt their entire layout during a snowstorm without busting their budget.

This is not business fluff. It’s 25 years of frozen fingers, misunderstood soil reports, homepage and stubborn pride in doing it properly. We cried over collapsed trenches in January downpours. Celebrated when our sand-filter system saved a historic Carnation farmhouse. Even buried our favorite shovel (RIP #3) with Viking funeral honors after it snapped during an brutal granite battle.

So if you are scrolling through septic companies questioning who won’t disappear after the check clears? Consider the boys who still remember their first lesson from Gus: “A decent system hides. A superior system works while hiding.” We didn’t just create this business—we grew it from the ground up, one honest hole at a time.

Your turn. What’s your system hiding?