Let me tell you something most septic companies will not: there are two types of people in this reality. Those who believe septic systems are merely “subterranean tanks for waste,” and those who’ve had raw sewage gurgling into their yard at 2 AM. I learned this difference the difficult way in 2005—waist-deep in muck, freezing in a Washington rainstorm, as my family and I assisted a veteran installer fix our family’s collapsed system. I was a teenager. My hands were raw. My pants were ruined. But that night, something crystallized: This is not just digging. It’s people’s lives we’re safeguarding.

The majority of companies start by maintaining tanks. We began by creating them—from scratch. Back in the early 2000s, when other kids were gaming on Xbox, Art Nikolin (our operations head) and his brothers were carving out trenches under the careful eye of a septic expert their dad hired. Day after day, that installer recognized something in us. Possibly it was our fierce refusal to walk away when a PVC pipe exploded at 9 PM. Or how we’d argue about soil percolation rates like kids argue about pizza toppings. By 2008, we were not just laborers—we were certified installers. But here is the kicker: we learned this craft in reverse.

Look, 90% of septic companies start with maintenance. They understand how to pump a tank but couldn’t tell you why the drain field collapsed three years after setup. We got our hands muddy from the bottom up. No joke. I recall this one rough summer—2006, I think—when we constructed 17 systems across Snohomish County. One customer’s yard had soil like granite. The “expert” crew before us gave up. But our guide taught us a method: soak the ground overnight, dig at dawn. We completed by noon. That system? Still working without issue 18 years later.

Skip ahead to 2023. We get a phone call from a desperate homeowner in Woodinville. Their recently installed septic system—put in by a “cheap” crew—collapsed during Thanksgiving dinner. Raw sewage oozed into their yard. The company ghosted them. We got there at 10 PM. Art took one glance at the tank location and groaned. “They put it uphill the house? Gravity ain’t gonna work that way, people.” By sunrise, we’d redesigned the whole layout. Spared them $20K in landscaping repairs too.

This is what makes Septic Solutions LLC apart: we build systems like we are gonna depend on them. Because actually, we did. That original tank we installed as teens? Our family relied on it for a long time. Every pipe we installed, every tank we placed, had personal stakes. When you’ve eaten dinner 10 feet above a septic field you installed, website you never cut corners.

Let’s get honest—septic work ain’t appealing. But there is an craft to it. In 2015, we accepted a horror show job near Lake Stevens. Rocky terrain. Shoestring budget. Three other companies said it was impossible to be done without blasting. We put in a week carefully digging around stones, adjusting the drain field inch by inch. The client teared up when we finished. Not because it was budget-friendly—but because we saved her century-old oak tree.

Our advantage? We aren’t not just installers. We’re storytellers of soil. We know which brands of PVC break in Washington’s winter cycles (stay away from the blue-striped material). We have memorized which counties have clay that’ll clog a drain field in 5 years. Hell, we even improved our tank baffles in 2019 after seeing how grease buildup destroys pumps. Minor tweak. Major impact. Maintenance guys love us for it.

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

Let me share the brutal truth: the majority of septic failures happen because someone skipped a step. Didn’t test the soil thoroughly. Used inferior tanks. Miscalculated the water table. We’ve fixed countless of these failures. And each and every time, we record another lesson. Like in 2022, when we decided on adding double risers to every job. Why? Because Randy, our head tech, got tired of watching homeowners ruin their lawns during checks. Now maintenance is a quick job.

I won’t lie—this work takes a toll on you. Art’s got a picture from our initial commercial job in 2009. We look like babies playing in Tonka trucks. Now, we have wrinkles from studying at soil reports and laugh lines from clients who turned into friends. Like the retired couple in Bothell who demand we stay for lemonade after all service calls. Or the brewery in Everett whose tank we improved last fall—they named a beer “Septic Solutions Sour.” (It’s… an interesting taste.)

So yes, we aren’t not the cheapest. Or the showiest. But when a storm knocks out power and your tank’s backing up? You will not care about discounts. You’re going to want the guys that have been there, done that, and still smell like lingering regret. The team that answers at 2 AM because we have all been that homeowner standing ankle-deep in disaster.

In retrospect, it seems funny. That installer who trained us as kids? He stepped away years ago. But his lessons still resonate in our heads every single time we break ground. “Go deeper,” he’d say. “Future you will thank past you.” As it happens, he wasn’t just talking about septic tanks.