Allow me to tell you something most won’t say: sewage is fascinating. No, really. When other kids were frittering away summers at the pool in 2008, my siblings and I were up to our waists in clay, studying a weathered installer named Carl curse at a crooked septic tank. Dad figured it would build character. Apparently, he was spot-on—though I didn’t thank him when I missed the whole soccer season. But that season? It rewired us. While other companies were just maintaining tanks, we were learning to build them from the earth up. Literally.

Here’s the septic truth no one admits: anybody can dig a hole. But constructing a system that survives 30 years? Now that’s art mixed with science, with a hint of grit. I learned that the difficult way in 2015 when we got cocky. Installed a system near Mount Rainier using “industry standard” techniques. Six months later, the client contacted us—voice quivering—about sewage erupting up like a horror movie. Apparently, “normal” does not cut it when the groundwater table delivers curveballs. We tore it out, took the $12k loss, and invested the next winter getting licensed in hydrogeological assessments. Reality carved into our bones: certifications ain’t just paperwork. They are armor.

At Septic Solutions LLC, we bleed this stuff. Not figuratively—though Carl did gash his thumb open that first summer training us pipe welding. (“Maintain it steady, kid!”) Our team never just have licenses; we’ve got consumed. 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 nightmare job near Woodinville where three “licensed” companies had failed. The soil was like concrete soup, and the homeowner was on brink of suing the world. Marco pulled out 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, web page that client delivered us a Christmas card with a photo of her blooming garden… right over the septic field.

But I’ll get real for a second. Certifications are meaningless if your crew sees them like wall art. Our secret? Every tech at Septic Solutions has themselves messed up. Badly. Like me in 2015. Or Jake, our repair specialist, who got wrong a tank baffle issue in 2021 and had to apologize to a angry grandma in Snohomish. (He now leads our “Baffles 101” workshop.) Failure’s our best professor—which is why we’ve become fanatics about cross-training. Our installation team observes repair crews all winter. Why? Because observing how systems fail teaches you how to construct them better.

You looking for proof? Ask the Hendersons. In 2022, they acquired a “perfect” cabin near Snoqualmie Pass—only to discover the existing septic system was a ticking bomb. Three companies quoted them $35k+ for a total replacement. We came in, looked at the permits, and spotted something odd: the original 1998 installer had never updated their certification for sand filter systems. Turns out, a basic recirculating sand filter retrofit—which our NSF/ANSI 40 certified team does all the time—kept them $18k. They’re now newsletter subscribers. Yes, we have a septic newsletter. Please don’t laugh—2,300 people follow it.

Here’s the kicker: professionalism is not what you flaunt. It’s what you work through. I still think of Mom’s face in 2010 when we got our first business license. “You guys are gonna waste those college brains on sewage?” she sighed. But this work? It feels alive. Soil shifts. Codes evolve. And when you are knee-deep in a trench at 3 PM on a Friday, rain penetrating your collar, you realize certifications were never about pride. They’re about keeping a family’s basement from turning into a biohazard.

We got collections of certificates—WSDA, OSHA, you list it. But the one I’m proudest of? The handwritten note from Carl after he retired. “Never thought you punks would survive longer than me.” Neither did we, old man. Neither did we.

So yeah. If you want a new septic system, six other companies will eagerly take your call. But if you want a crew that has stumbled, evolved, and geeked out over wastewater flow rates at 2 AM? We’re the ones with mud under our nails and manuals in our trucks. Because in this trade, the best credentials never hang on walls. You’ll find them buried in the ground—operating.