Let me explain something the majority of septic companies will not: there are two types of people in this world. Those who think septic systems are merely “subterranean tanks for waste,” and those who have had raw sewage gurgling into their backyard at 2 AM. I learned this difference the difficult way in 2005—standing in sludge, shivering in a Washington rainstorm, as my family and I aided a veteran installer repair our family’s collapsed system. I was fourteen. My hands blistered. My jeans were destroyed. But that evening, something crystallized: This ain’t just digging. It’s folks’ lives we’re safeguarding.

Most companies start by maintaining tanks. We launched by creating them—actually. Back in the beginning of the 2000s, when most kids were playing Xbox, Art Nikolin (our operations head) and his siblings were excavating trenches under the experienced eye of a septic veteran their dad hired. Hour by hour, that installer recognized something in us. Perhaps it was our fierce refusal to quit when a PVC pipe failed at 9 PM. Or how we’d sit and argue about soil absorption rates like kids discuss pizza toppings. By 2008, we weren’t just laborers—we were qualified installers. But here’s the kicker: we learned this business backward.

Understand, 90% of septic operations launch with pumping. They get how to pump a tank but could not tell you why the leach field collapsed three years after construction. We got our hands muddy from the ground up. Actually. I think back to this one hellish summer—2006, I believe—when we constructed 17 systems across Snohomish County. One customer’s yard had soil like bedrock. The “professional” crew before us quit. But our teacher taught us a trick: hydrate the ground overnight, dig at sunrise. We wrapped up by noon. That system? Still working without issue 18 years later.

Fast forward to 2023. We get a frantic call from a panicked homeowner in Woodinville. Their fresh septic system—put in by a “cheap” crew—collapsed during Thanksgiving dinner. Raw sewage leaked into their garden. The company ghosted them. We showed up at 10 PM. Art took one peek at the tank placement and groaned. “They put it uphill the house? Gravity does not work that way, folks.” By dawn, we had redesigned the whole layout. Protected them $20K in landscaping repairs too.

This is what sets Septic Solutions LLC apart: we create systems like we are gonna maintain them. Because in a way, we did. That initial tank we put in as kids? Our family used it for a decade. Every pipe we laid, every tank we placed, had skin in the game. When you have eaten dinner 10 feet above a septic field you constructed, you never cut corners.

Let’s get straight with you—septic work isn’t appealing. But there’s an art to it. In 2015, we took on a horror show job near Lake Stevens. Rocky terrain. Shoestring budget. Three other companies insisted it couldn’t be done without dynamite. We invested a week hand-digging around rocks, fine-tuning the drain field inch by inch. The client got emotional when we wrapped up. Not because it was affordable—but because we saved her century-old oak tree.

Our edge? We’re not just installers. We’ve become storytellers of soil. We understand which brands of PVC fail in Washington’s winter cycles (stay away from the blue-striped brand). We memorized which counties have clay that’s gonna destroy a drain field in 5 years. Heck, we even improved our tank baffles in 2019 after seeing how grease buildup ruins pumps. Small tweak. Massive impact. Maintenance teams thank us for it.

You looking for stats? Fine. Since 2010, 92% of our systems have lasted 10+ years without significant issues. But numbers won’t stink when things go bad. Ask Mrs. Henderson from Monroe. Her former installer used cheap aggregate that converted her leach line into a solid tomb. We dedicated New Year’s Day 2021 breaking it out. She delivered us cookies for a twelve months.

Here’s the brutal truth: the majority of septic failures occur because someone skipped a step. Didn’t test the soil thoroughly. Used inferior tanks. Misjudged the water table. We’ve personally fixed dozens of these messes. And every time, we file away another lesson. Like in 2022, when we began adding twin risers to all job. Why? Because Randy, our senior tech, web page got sick of watching homeowners wreck their lawns during checks. Now maintenance is a brief job.

I won’t lie—this work wears on you. Art’s got a photo from our initial commercial job in 2009. We appear like kids playing in Tonka trucks. Now, we’ve developed laugh lines from peering at soil reports and laugh lines from clients who are now friends. Like the senior couple in Bothell who insist we stay for lemonade after each service calls. Or the brewery in Everett whose tank we improved last fall—they named a beer “Septic Solutions Sour.” (It is… an interesting taste.)

So yes, we are not the lowest priced. Or the showiest. But when a storm cuts power and your tank’s flooding? You won’t care about coupons. You’ll want the team that have been there, done that, and still smell like lingering regret. The team that responds at 2 AM because we have all been that homeowner trapped ankle-deep in catastrophe.

In retrospect, it seems funny. That installer who taught us as kids? He retired years ago. But his words still echo in our heads every single time we open ground. “Push deeper,” he used to say. “Future you will thank past you.” Turns out, he was not just talking about septic tanks.