Allow me to tell you something most won’t say: sewage is intriguing. No, really. When typical kids were frittering away summers at the pool in 2008, my siblings and I were up to our knees in clay, watching a grizzled installer named Carl curse at a misaligned septic tank. Dad believed it’d build character. Apparently, web site he was right—though I certainly didn’t thank him when I skipped the complete soccer season. But that time? It transformed us. While other companies were just pumping tanks, we were figuring out to build them from the ground up. Actually.

Here’s the septic truth nobody admits: anyone can dig a hole. But creating a system that endures 30 years? That is art blended with science, with a dash of stubbornness. I found out that the tough way in 2015 when we got arrogant. Installed a system near Mount Rainier using “industry standard” techniques. Six months later, the client called us—voice shaking—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 qualified in hydrogeological assessments. Lesson carved into our bones: certifications ain’t just paperwork. They become armor.

At Septic Solutions LLC, we bleed this stuff. Not metaphorically—though Carl did cut his thumb open that first summer training us pipe welding. (“Maintain it steady, kid!”) Our team doesn’t just have licenses; we have got consumed. Washington State mandates installers to clock 24 hours of further education. Our lead designer, Marco? He does 24 hours each quarter. Why? Because in 2019, we faced a nightmare job near Woodinville where three “licensed” companies had given up. The soil was like liquid rock, and the homeowner was on verge of suing everybody. Marco grabbed his International Association of Plumbing Officials (IAPMO) manuals—yes, he devours them for fun—and reconfigured the complete drainage field using a specialized pressure distribution method. Two years later, that client delivered us a Christmas card with a picture of her thriving garden… right over the septic field.

But I’ll get raw for a second. Certifications are worthless if your crew sees them like decorations. Our secret? Each tech at Septic Solutions has individually failed. Seriously. Like me in 2015. Or Jake, our repair guru, who botched a tank baffle issue in 2021 and had to make amends to a angry grandma in Snohomish. (He now runs our “Baffles 101” workshop.) Failure is our best teacher—which is why we’ve become obsessed about cross-training. Our installation team follows repair crews every winter. Why? Because witnessing how systems collapse teaches you how to create them better.

You want proof? Talk to the Hendersons. In 2022, they bought a “dream” cabin near Snoqualmie Pass—only to learn the existing septic system was a disaster waiting. Three companies quoted them $35k+ for a complete replacement. We arrived, looked at the permits, and spotted something strange: the original 1998 installer had failed to updated their certification for sand filter systems. Turns out, a simple recirculating sand filter retrofit—which our NSF/ANSI 40 certified team does all the time—spared them $18k. They are now newsletter subscribers. Yes, we have a septic newsletter. Please don’t laugh—2,300 people follow it.

Let me share the reality: professionalism is not what you display. It is what you work through. I still think of Mom’s face in 2010 when we got our first business license. “You are gonna waste those college brains on sewage?” she groaned. But this work? It is alive. Soil shifts. Codes transform. And when you are buried in a trench at 3 PM on a Friday, rain soaking your collar, you discover certifications aren’t about pride. They’re about keeping a family’s basement from transforming into a biohazard.

We got walls of certificates—WSDA, OSHA, you list it. But the one I’m proudest of? The scribbled note from Carl after he quit. “Never thought you kids would survive longer than me.” Same here, old man. We didn’t either.

So absolutely. If you need a new septic system, six other companies will gladly take your money. But if you want a crew who has failed, learned, and geeked out over wastewater flow rates at 2 AM? We’re the ones with dirt under our nails and manuals in our trucks. Because in this industry, the best certifications never hang on walls. You’ll find them buried in the ground—operating.