I need to explain something nearly all septic companies refuse to: there are two categories of people in this reality. Those who believe septic systems are simply “subterranean tanks for waste,” and those who’ve had raw sewage gurgling into their yard at 2 AM. I discovered this reality the hard way in 2005—standing in sludge, trembling in a Washington deluge, as my brothers and I assisted a grizzled installer fix our family’s broken system. I was 14. My hands blistered. My jeans were destroyed. But that evening, something crystallized: This isn’t just manual labor. It’s people’s lives that we’re preserving.

Nearly all companies start by maintaining tanks. We started by building them—literally. Back in the early 2000s, when other kids were playing Xbox, Art Nikolin (our lead guy) and his siblings were excavating trenches under the careful eye of a septic pro their old man hired. Hour by hour, that installer noticed something in us. Maybe it was our stubborn refusal to give up when a PVC pipe failed at 9 PM. Or how we’d argue about soil absorption rates like kids debate pizza toppings. By 2008, we weren’t just laborers—we were certified installers. But here’s the secret: we learned this trade in reverse.

See, 90% of septic companies begin with pumping. They get how to service a tank but could not tell you why the absorption area collapsed three years after installation. We got our hands filthy from the bottom up. Literally. I remember this one hellish summer—2006, I recall—when we put in 17 systems across Snohomish County. One client’s yard had soil like bedrock. The “pro” crew before us quit. But our teacher taught us a trick: hydrate the ground overnight, dig at first light. We finished by noon. That system? Still running perfectly 18 years later.

Fast forward to 2023. We get a frantic call from a terrified homeowner in Woodinville. Their fresh septic system—installed by a “cheap” crew—failed during Thanksgiving dinner. Raw sewage seeped into their yard. The company disappeared on them. We arrived at 10 PM. Art took one peek at the tank location and shook his head. “They put it higher than the house? Gravity doesn’t work that way, folks.” By morning, we had redesigned the complete layout. Spared them $20K in landscaping repairs too.

This is what sets Septic Solutions LLC different: we build systems like we are gonna maintain them. Because in a way, we did. That initial tank we built as teens? Our family relied on it for a decade. Every pipe we placed, every tank we set, had personal stakes. When you’ve eaten dinner 10 feet above a septic field you constructed, you never cut corners.

Let’s get honest—septic work isn’t pretty. But there’s an art to it. In 2015, we tackled a disaster job near Lake Stevens. Boulder-filled terrain. Shoestring budget. Three other companies claimed it could not be done without dynamite. We invested a week carefully digging around boulders, repositioning the drain field precisely. The client teared up when we finished. Not because it was budget-friendly—but because we’d saved her hundred-year-old oak tree.

Our secret? We’re not just installers. We’re experts of soil. We understand which brands of PVC crack in Washington’s freeze-thaw cycles (skip the blue-striped stuff). We have memorized which counties have clay that will choke a drain field in 5 years. Hell, we even improved our tank baffles in 2019 after noticing how grease buildup cripples pumps. Minor tweak. Major impact. Maintenance crews thank us for it.

You looking for stats? Sure. Since 2010, 92% of our systems have gone 10+ years without major issues. But numbers don’t stink when things go bad. Ask Mrs. Henderson from Monroe. Her previous installer used cheap aggregate that turned her leach line into a cement-like tomb. We used New Year’s Day 2021 jackhammering it out. She sent us cookies for web page a whole year.

Here’s the harsh truth: most septic failures occur because someone skipped a step. Didn’t test the soil properly. Used substandard tanks. Miscalculated the water table. We’ve personally fixed dozens of these failures. And each and every time, we file away another insight. Like in 2022, when we decided on adding twin risers to each install. Why? Because Randy, our lead tech, got sick of watching homeowners ruin their lawns during maintenance. Now maintenance is a brief job.

I won’t lie—this work takes a toll on you. Art’s got a photo from our first commercial job in 2009. We appear like youngsters playing in Tonka trucks. Now, we have crow’s feet from studying at soil reports and laugh lines from clients who became friends. Like the retired couple in Bothell who insist we stay for lemonade after each service calls. Or the brewery in Everett whose tank we upgraded last fall—they called a beer “Septic Solutions Sour.” (That’s… an interesting taste.)

So absolutely, we are not the cheapest. Or the showiest. But when a storm knocks out power and your tank’s flooding? You aren’t going to care about deals. You’ll want the guys that have been there, done that, and still smell like slight regret. The team that answers at 2 AM because we’ve all been that homeowner stuck ankle-deep in disaster.

Thinking back, it seems funny. That installer who mentored us as kids? He stepped away years ago. But his voice still ring in our heads each time we disturb ground. “Go deeper,” he used to say. “Future you will thank past you.” Turns out, he hadn’t been just talking about septic tanks.