Let me share with you something nearly all septic companies won’t: there are two categories of people in this reality. Those who believe septic systems are merely “subterranean tanks for waste,” and those that have had raw sewage erupting into their property at 2 AM. I discovered this reality the difficult way in 2005—standing in muck, freezing in a Washington rainstorm, as my siblings and I helped a veteran installer restore our family’s failed system. I was 14. My hands were raw. My clothes were destroyed. But that evening, something crystallized: This isn’t just dirt work. It’s folks’ lives we are preserving.

Most companies kick off by pumping tanks. We began by constructing them—literally. Back in the beginning of the 2000s, when other kids were glued to Xbox, Art Nikolin (our lead guy) and his family were carving out trenches under the careful eye of a septic expert their dad hired. Hour by hour, that installer noticed something in us. Possibly it was our stubborn refusal to walk away when a PVC pipe exploded at 9 PM. Or how we would argue about soil percolation rates like kids discuss pizza toppings. By 2008, we weren’t just assistants—we were licensed installers. But here’s the kicker: we learned this craft from the ground up.

Understand, 90% of septic companies start with service. They know how to pump a tank but couldn’t tell you why the absorption area went bad three years after installation. We got our hands dirty from the bottom up. Literally. I think back to this one brutal summer—2006, I believe—when we constructed 17 systems across Snohomish County. One customer’s yard had soil like concrete. The “pro” crew before us walked away. But our teacher taught us a method: saturate the ground overnight, dig at dawn. We wrapped up by noon. That system? Still running flawlessly 18 years later.

Jump to 2023. We get a call from a desperate homeowner in Woodinville. Their brand-new septic system—constructed by a “discount” crew—went belly-up during Thanksgiving dinner. Raw sewage oozed into their yard. The company disappeared on them. We arrived at 10 PM. Art took one peek at the tank positioning and groaned. “They put it higher than the house? Gravity does not work that way, friends.” By dawn, we had redesigned the whole layout. Protected them $20K in landscaping restoration too.

This is what sets Septic Solutions LLC apart: we build systems like we’re gonna maintain them. Because truthfully, we did. That original tank we built as kids? Our family relied on it for a decade. Every pipe we installed, every tank we positioned, had skin in the game. When you’ve eaten dinner 10 feet above a septic field you constructed, you never cut corners.

Let me get straight with you—septic work isn’t glamorous. But there’s an skill to it. In 2015, we took on a disaster job near Lake Stevens. Rocky terrain. Tight budget. Three other companies claimed it could not be done without blasting. We invested a week carefully digging around rocks, fine-tuning the drain field millimeter by millimeter. The client cried when we completed. Not because it was cheap—but because we had saved her century-old oak tree.

Our secret? We’re not just installers. We’re historians of soil. We recognize which brands of PVC fail in Washington’s freeze-thaw cycles (stay away from the blue-striped brand). We memorized which counties have clay that’s gonna 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. Massive impact. Maintenance guys thank us for it.

You looking for stats? Sure. Since 2010, 92% of our systems have lasted 10+ years without significant issues. But statistics do not stink when things go south. Ask Mrs. Henderson from Monroe. Her last installer used substandard aggregate that turned her leach line into a concrete tomb. We dedicated New Year’s Day 2021 jackhammering it out. She mailed us cookies for a year.

Here’s the brutal truth: most septic failures occur because someone ignored a step. Did not test the soil correctly. Used substandard tanks. Got wrong the water table. We’ve fixed countless of these disasters. And each time, we remember another learning. Like in 2022, when we decided on adding twin risers to each job. Why? Because Randy, website our head tech, got tired of watching homeowners ruin their lawns during checks. Now maintenance is a quick job.

I can’t lie—this work takes a toll on you. Art’s got a photo from our initial commercial job in 2009. We seem like babies playing in Tonka trucks. Now, we’ve developed crow’s feet from peering at soil reports and laugh lines from clients who became friends. Like the senior couple in Bothell who require we stay for lemonade after every service calls. Or the brewery in Everett whose tank we upgraded last fall—they branded a beer “Septic Solutions Sour.” (It is… an acquired taste.)

So absolutely, we aren’t not the most affordable. Or the showiest. But when a storm knocks out power and your tank’s flooding? You aren’t going to care about coupons. You’re going to 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 standing ankle-deep in catastrophe.

In retrospect, it seems funny. That installer who mentored us as kids? He stepped away years ago. But his voice still resonate in our heads each time we disturb ground. “Go deeper,” he would say. “Future you will thank past you.” Apparently, he was not just talking about septic tanks.