Let me share you something most won’t say: sewage is captivating. I mean it. When other kids were frittering away summers at the pool in 2008, my family and I were up to our waists in clay, watching a weathered installer named Carl swear at a off-center septic tank. Dad figured it might build character. Turns out, he was spot-on—though I didn’t thank him when I missed the entire soccer season. But that season? It transformed us. While other companies were just maintaining tanks, we were learning to build them from the ground up. Actually.

Let me share the septic truth few people admits: anyone can dig a hole. But constructing a system that endures 30 years? That’s art mixed with science, with a splash of grit. I found out that the hard way in 2015 when we got overconfident. Installed a system near Mount Rainier using “textbook” techniques. Six months later, the client called us—voice trembling—about sewage gurgling up like a nightmare. Apparently, “standard” does not cut it when the groundwater table throws curveballs. We tore it out, absorbed the $12k loss, and invested the next winter getting licensed in hydrogeological assessments. Reality 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 teaching us pipe welding. (“Hold it steady, kid!”) Our team doesn’t just have licenses; we’ve got obsessed. Washington State requires installers to clock 24 hours of ongoing education. Our lead designer, Marco? He does 24 hours each quarter. Why? Because in 2019, we faced a horror job near Woodinville where three “qualified” companies had failed. The soil was like wet cement, and the homeowner was on edge of suing everybody. Marco retrieved his International Association of Plumbing Officials (IAPMO) manuals—yes, he devours them for fun—and reimagined the entire drainage field using a uncommon pressure distribution method. Two years later, that client mailed us a Christmas card with a picture of her blooming garden… right over the septic field.

But let’s get honest for a second. Certifications are useless if your crew treats them like wall art. Our secret? Every tech at Septic Solutions has individually messed up. Big time. Like me in 2015. Or Jake, our repair specialist, who got wrong a tank baffle issue in 2021 and had to apologize to a furious grandma in Snohomish. (He now runs our “Baffles 101” workshop.) Mistakes are our best teacher—which is why we’re fanatics about cross-training. Our installation team follows repair crews each winter. Why? Because seeing how systems fail teaches you how to build them better.

You need proof? Ask 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 total replacement. We arrived, looked at the permits, homepage and spotted 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 all the time—spared them $18k. They’re now newsletter subscribers. Yes, we have a septic newsletter. Don’t laugh—2,300 people read it.

Let me share the kicker: professionalism isn’t what you show off. It’s what you work through. I still remember 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 feels alive. Soil changes. Codes transform. And when you are knee-deep in a trench at 3 PM on a Friday, rain drenching your collar, you understand certifications were never about pride. They’re about keeping somebody’s basement from becoming a biohazard.

We got walls of certificates—WSDA, OSHA, you name it. But the one I’m proudest of? The personal note from Carl after he quit. “Didn’t thought you punks would survive longer than me.” Neither did we, old man. We didn’t either.

So absolutely. If you need a new septic system, six other companies will eagerly take your call. But if you want a team that has stumbled, learned, and gone crazy over wastewater flow rates at 2 AM? Look for the ones with dirt under our nails and manuals in our trucks. Because in this industry, the best qualifications do not hang on walls. They are buried in the ground—working.