Let me explain something the majority of septic companies refuse to: there are two kinds of people in this world. Those who believe septic systems are merely “buried containers for waste,” and those who’ve had raw sewage gurgling into their property at the dead of night. I discovered this distinction the difficult way in 2005—waist-deep in sludge, freezing in a Washington rainstorm, as my siblings and I helped a grizzled installer restore our family’s collapsed system. I was 14. My hands were raw. My jeans were wrecked. But that moment, something crystallized: This isn’t just dirt work. It’s people’s lives we’re protecting.

The majority of companies begin by pumping tanks. We started by constructing them—from scratch. Back in the beginning of the 2000s, when most kids were glued to Xbox, Art Nikolin (our ops manager) and his brothers were excavating trenches under the careful eye of a septic veteran their father hired. Hour by hour, that installer noticed something in us. Maybe it was our relentless refusal to give up when a PVC pipe failed at 9 PM. Or how we would argue about soil drainage rates like kids argue about pizza toppings. By 2008, we were not just assistants—we were qualified installers. But here is the twist: we learned this business from the ground up.

Understand, 90% of septic operations begin with maintenance. They understand how to pump a tank but can’t tell you why the absorption area went bad three years after installation. We got our hands dirty from the ground up. Literally. I think back to this one brutal summer—2006, I believe—when we constructed 17 systems across Snohomish County. One homeowner’s yard had soil like granite. The “pro” crew before us walked away. But our teacher taught us a trick: hydrate the ground overnight, dig at first light. We finished by noon. That system? Still running without issue 18 years later.

Skip ahead to 2023. We get a call from a terrified homeowner in Woodinville. Their brand-new septic system—put in by a “budget” crew—failed during Thanksgiving dinner. Raw sewage seeped into their yard. The company ghosted them. We showed up at 10 PM. Art took one peek at the tank placement and sighed. “They put it uphill the house? Gravity does not work that way, people.” By dawn, we redesigned the entire layout. Protected them $20K in landscaping restoration too.

This is what makes Septic Solutions LLC apart: we build systems like we are gonna live with them. Because in a way, we did. That original tank we installed as kids? Our family relied on it for a long time. Every pipe we installed, every tank we placed, had our reputation on the line. When you have eaten dinner 10 feet above a septic field you constructed, you don’t cut corners.

Let’s get real—septic work ain’t appealing. But you’ll find an art to it. In 2015, we accepted a horror show job near Lake Stevens. Stone-riddled terrain. Limited budget. Three other companies claimed it was impossible to be done without blasting. We spent a week carefully digging around stones, adjusting the drain field inch by inch. The client cried when we finished. Not because it was affordable—but because we had saved her hundred-year-old oak tree.

Our edge? We are not just installers. We’ve become experts of soil. We understand which brands of PVC break in Washington’s winter cycles (avoid the blue-striped material). We memorized which counties have clay that’s gonna destroy a drain field in 5 years. Shoot, we even redesigned our tank baffles in 2019 after noticing how grease buildup destroys pumps. Small tweak. Major impact. Maintenance guys appreciate us for it.

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

Let me share the ugly truth: the majority of septic failures take place because someone skipped a step. Didn’t test the soil correctly. Used substandard tanks. Miscalculated the water table. We have fixed dozens of these failures. And each time, we record another learning. Like in 2022, when we began adding twin risers to each install. Why? Because Randy, our head tech, got tired of watching homeowners wreck their lawns during inspections. Now maintenance is a quick job.

I can’t lie—this work wears on you. Art’s got a snapshot from our first 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 elderly couple in Bothell who insist we stay for homepage lemonade after all service calls. Or the brewery in Everett whose tank we upgraded last fall—they named a beer “Septic Solutions Sour.” (That’s… an interesting taste.)

So yeah, we aren’t not the cheapest. Or the fanciest. But when a storm kills power and your tank’s flooding? You won’t care about coupons. You’re going to want the team that have been there, done that, and still smell like lingering regret. The team that responds at 2 AM because we’ve personally all been that homeowner trapped ankle-deep in disaster.

Thinking back, it is funny. That installer who trained us as kids? He retired years ago. But his lessons still resonate in our heads each time we open ground. “Dig deeper,” he’d say. “Future you will thank past you.” Apparently, he wasn’t just talking about septic tanks.