Let me share with you something you will not hear from the majority of septic companies: I have been waist-deep in raw sewage since I was a preteen years old. Seems attractive, right? Back in the blazing days of ’98, my brothers and I thought our folks had completely lost their minds. Instead of signing up for little league like typical kids, we were digging trenches for our family’s new septic system under the brutal Washington sun. Little did we know those calluses would transform into our blueprint.

This is the ugly truth the majority of companies refuse to admit: Septic work is not just about equipment. It’s about knowing what goes on underground after the backhoe leaves. Most folks enter this business through service vehicles. We? We launched with tools in our hands and muck up to our knees.

I will never forget the day our installer, old Gus Petrovich, tossed me a level and declared, “Kid, if you cannot lay pipe straight, you’ll drown a person’s lawn in sewage by Tuesday.” He wasn’t wrong. We spent three days that July wrestling with a difficult clay bed near Redmond—excavating, measuring, groaning, repeat. But this is the kicker: Gus kept taking us to jobs all over Snohomish County. By 15, I could spot a failing drain field from 50 yards.

That is the DNA of Septic Solutions LLC. While others were occupied with buying expensive trucks, we were understanding why systems really fail. Like that nightmare project in ’03 where we watched a “professional” crew install a tank with no regard for soil percolation. Three months later? Backyard looked like a wetland. We swore then: No shortcuts. Ever.

Fast forward to 2009. My brother Art (you’re going to see his name all over our permits) practically bankrupted us insisting on verifying three times every perc test. “Don’t forget the swamp house,” he’d growl. We ate ramen for six months. But when the downturn hit? Our systems kept working while others failed. Suddenly, “Nikolin boys” was a thing shared between contractors.

Here’s where we’re different: We build systems like we’ll have to service them ourselves. Because here’s the thing? We often do. Last Thanksgiving, Mrs. Callahan in Woodinville rang panicking about a holiday overflow. Art drove out in his turkey-stained shirt. Turned out her “maintenance-free” system installed in 2015 had a filter nobody told her about. We did not just repair it—we taught her grandson how to clean it.

You believe that is standard? Think again. Most companies push you on a $200/month service plan. We rather you know your system. Like that time we sketched drainage diagrams on Dave Miller’s kitchen table in Everett while his toddlers added crayon clouds. Why? Because when Dave’s willow tree roots attacked his leach field last spring, he spotted the wet grass before it turned into a disaster.

Our special ingredient? It’s not secret at all. It’s in the calluses. In the way Art still takes the phone at (425) 553-3422 directly. In the Instagram reel where my nephew facepalms at a DIYer’s “gravel-free drain field masterpiece” (@septic_solutionsllc—follow for laughs and real tips). You’ll see it in the YouTube video where we condensed a 72-hour install in torrential Kirkland rain (@septicsolutionsllc).

But this is the actual magic: We turned all failure into your benefit. That overgrown disaster in Bothell? Showed us to add root barriers standard. The “ghost flush” mystery in Sammamish? Now we install effluent filters on all job. Even our tanks are special—we spec thicker concrete after seeing how Pacific Northwest winters damage cheaper models.

Don’t just take my statement for webpage it. Ask the ex- Boeing engineer who dared us to tackle his sloping lot in Duvall. “No way,” said three companies. We constructed him a pressurized system that’s outlasted two of his cars. Or the young family in Monroe whose builder installed an undersized tank—we reconfigured their whole layout during a blizzard without breaking their budget.

This is not corporate fluff. This is 25 years of frozen fingers, confusing soil reports, and fierce pride in doing it properly. We’ve cried over collapsed trenches in January storms. High-fived when our sand-filter system rescued a historic Carnation farmhouse. Even laid to rest our favorite shovel (RIP #3) with Viking funeral honors after it snapped during an legendary granite battle.

So if you find yourself scrolling through septic companies thinking who isn’t going to evaporate after the check clears? Remember the boys who still recall their first lesson from Gus: “A solid system hides. A excellent system works while hiding.” We didn’t just establish this business—we developed it from the ground up, one real hole at a time.

Your turn. What’s your system hiding?