Let me explain something most septic companies won’t: there are two kinds of people in this reality. Those who think septic systems are just “underground boxes for waste,” and those who’ve had raw sewage gurgling into their property at 2 AM. I learned this distinction the difficult way in 2005—waist-deep in mud, freezing in a Washington rainstorm, as my brothers and I aided a grizzled installer fix our family’s failed system. I was a teenager. My hands blistered. My jeans were destroyed. But that moment, something crystallized: This is not just manual labor. It’s people’s lives we’re preserving.

The majority of companies kick off by servicing tanks. We launched by constructing them—actually. Back in the early 2000s, when most kids were gaming on Xbox, Art Nikolin (our operations head) and his siblings were carving out trenches under the careful eye of a septic pro their dad hired. Project by project, that installer saw something in us. Perhaps it was our fierce refusal to give up when a PVC pipe burst at 9 PM. Or how we’d argue about soil absorption rates like kids debate pizza toppings. By 2008, we weren’t just helpers—we were licensed installers. But here is the twist: we learned this trade from the ground up.

See, 90% of septic businesses launch with pumping. They understand how to service a tank but couldn’t tell you why the absorption area collapsed three years after installation. We got our hands filthy from the ground up. Literally. I remember this one rough summer—2006, I believe—when we put in 17 systems across Snohomish County. One client’s yard had soil like bedrock. The “pro” crew before us gave up. But our mentor taught us a method: soak the ground overnight, dig at dawn. We finished by noon. That system? Still working flawlessly 18 years later.

Skip ahead to 2023. We get a phone call from a terrified homeowner in Woodinville. Their recently installed septic system—constructed by a “cheap” crew—went belly-up during Thanksgiving dinner. Raw sewage oozed into their garden. The company ghosted them. We arrived at 10 PM. Art took one glance at the tank placement and sighed. “They put it uphill the house? Gravity doesn’t work that way, friends.” By sunrise, we’d redesigned the whole layout. Spared them $20K in landscaping restoration too.

This is what puts Septic Solutions LLC unique: we build systems like we’re the ones gonna depend on them. Because in a way, we did. That first tank we installed as youngsters? Our family depended on it for a decade. Every pipe we laid, every tank we positioned, had skin in the game. When you’ve actually eaten dinner 10 feet above a septic field you installed, you don’t cut corners.

Let’s get real—septic work ain’t glamorous. But there’s an skill to it. In 2015, we tackled a disaster job near Lake Stevens. Rocky terrain. Shoestring budget. Three other companies claimed it couldn’t be done without explosives. We spent a week hand-digging around boulders, repositioning the drain field precisely. The client teared up when we finished. Not because it was cheap—but because we saved her century-old oak tree.

Our edge? We are not just installers. We’ve become historians of soil. We know which brands of PVC crack in Washington’s temperature cycles (stay away from the blue-striped brand). We have memorized which counties have clay that’ll choke a drain field in 5 years. Hell, we even redesigned our tank baffles in 2019 after observing how grease buildup destroys pumps. Small tweak. Huge impact. Maintenance guys love us for it.

You want stats? Okay. Since 2010, 92% of our systems have survived 10+ years without significant issues. But numbers won’t stink when things go wrong. Ask Mrs. Henderson from Monroe. Her previous installer used substandard aggregate that transformed her leach line into a cement-like tomb. We used New Year’s Day 2021 breaking it out. She sent us cookies for a whole year.

Here’s the harsh truth: homepage nearly all septic failures occur because someone missed a step. Did not test the soil properly. Used substandard tanks. Got wrong the water table. We’ve personally fixed dozens of these failures. And every time, we record another insight. Like in 2022, when we began adding double risers to each install. Why? Because Randy, our senior tech, got sick of watching homeowners wreck their lawns during inspections. Now maintenance is a quick job.

I can’t lie—this work takes a toll on you. Art’s got a picture from our first commercial job in 2009. We look like babies playing in Tonka trucks. Today, we’ve developed wrinkles from studying at soil reports and laugh lines from clients who turned into 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 branded a beer “Septic Solutions Sour.” (It is… an interesting taste.)

So absolutely, we aren’t not the lowest priced. Or the showiest. But when a storm cuts power and your tank’s flooding? You will not care about deals. You’ll want the crew who have been there, done that, and still smell like lingering regret. The team that picks up at 2 AM because we’ve all been that homeowner trapped ankle-deep in catastrophe.

Looking back, it seems funny. That installer who taught us as kids? He stepped away years ago. But his words still echo in our heads each time we disturb ground. “Dig deeper,” he’d say. “Future you will thank past you.” As it happens, he hadn’t been just talking about septic tanks.