I need to explain you something most won’t say: sewage is intriguing. No, really. When other kids were burning through summers at the pool in 2008, my family and I were up to our waists in clay, studying a weathered installer named Carl curse at a crooked septic tank. Dad believed it would build character. Turns out, he was correct—though I certainly didn’t thank him when I missed the entire soccer season. But that time? It rewired us. While other companies were just pumping tanks, we were figuring out to build them from the earth up. Actually.

This is the septic truth few people admits: anyone can dig a hole. But creating a system that endures 30 years? Now that’s art blended with science, with a splash of determination. I learned that the tough way in 2015 when we got cocky. Built a system near Mount Rainier using “textbook” techniques. Six months later, the client contacted us—voice shaking—about sewage gurgling up like a horror movie. As it happened, “normal” does not cut it when the groundwater table serves up curveballs. We tore it out, absorbed the $12k loss, and spent the next winter getting licensed in hydrogeological assessments. Lesson carved into our bones: certifications are not paperwork. They become armor.

At Septic Solutions LLC, we live this stuff. Not symbolically—though Carl did cut his thumb open that first summer showing us pipe welding. (“Hold it steady, kid!”) Our team does not just have licenses; we have got obsessed. Washington State requires installers to clock 24 hours of continuing education. Our lead designer, Marco? He does 24 hours every quarter. Why? Because in 2019, we faced a disaster job near Woodinville where three “qualified” companies had thrown in the towel. The soil was like wet cement, and the homeowner was on verge of suing the world. Marco grabbed his International Association of Plumbing Officials (IAPMO) manuals—yes, he reads them for fun—and redesigned the whole drainage field using a uncommon pressure distribution method. Two years later, that client sent us a Christmas card with a photo of her blooming garden… right over the septic field.

But I’ll get honest for a second. Certifications are worthless if your crew views them like decorations. Our edge? All tech at Septic Solutions has personally messed up. Big time. Like me in 2015. Or Jake, our repair guru, who got wrong a tank baffle issue in 2021 and had to grovel to a irate grandma in Snohomish. (He now leads our “Baffles 101” workshop.) Mistakes are our best instructor—which is why we’re zealots about cross-training. Our installation team observes repair crews all winter. Why? Because witnessing how systems collapse teaches you how to build them better.

You looking for proof? Check with the Hendersons. In 2022, they acquired 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 showed up, looked at the permits, and noticed something strange: the original 1998 installer had not once updated their certification for sand filter systems. As it happened, a basic recirculating sand filter retrofit—which our NSF/ANSI 40 certified team does regularly—spared them $18k. They’ve become now newsletter subscribers. Yes, we have a septic newsletter. Please don’t laugh—2,300 people read it.

Let me share the kicker: professionalism ain’t what you flaunt. It becomes what you grind through. I still remember Mom’s face in 2010 when we got our first business license. “You’re gonna squander those college brains on sewage?” she lamented. But this job? It feels alive. Soil changes. Codes transform. And when you find yourself buried in a trench at 3 PM on a Friday, rain soaking your collar, you realize certifications aren’t about pride. They are about keeping somebody’s basement from turning into a biohazard.

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

So absolutely. If you want a new septic system, six other companies will happily take your money. But if you want a crew that has messed up, evolved, and geeked out over wastewater flow rates at 2 AM? We are the ones with mud under our nails and reference books in our trucks. Because in this business, the best credentials do not hang on walls. They are buried in the ground—operating.