I need to share with you something you won't hear from most septic companies: I've actually been buried in raw sewage since I was 12 years old. Seems appealing, right? Back in the summer of '98, my brothers and I thought our parents had gone and lost their minds. Instead of registering for web site little league like normal kids, we were carving out trenches for our family's new septic system under the blistering Washington sun. Little did we know those wounds would transform into our blueprint.

Let me share the dirty truth most companies will not admit: Septic work ain't just about hardware. It is about grasping what happens underground after the equipment leaves. The majority of folks enter this business through maintenance vans. We? We started with shovels in our hands and clay up to our knees.

I'll never forget the day our installer, old Gus Petrovich, handed me a level and barked, "Kid, if you are unable to lay pipe straight, you will drown someone's lawn in crap by Tuesday." He wasn't wrong. We invested three days that July fighting with a challenging clay bed near Redmond—shoveling, measuring, groaning, repeat. But here's the kicker: Gus kept inviting us to jobs all over Snohomish County. By 15, I could spot a failing drain field from 50 yards.

That is the DNA of Septic Solutions LLC. While competitors were focused on buying flashy trucks, we were learning why systems actually fail. Like that disaster project in '03 where we observed a "expert" crew install a tank with zero regard for soil percolation. Three months later? Backyard looked like a marsh. We swore then: No half-measures. Never.

Skip ahead to 2009. My brother Art (you will see his name all over our permits) nearly bankrupted us requiring on thoroughly testing every perc test. "Don't forget the swamp house," he would growl. We ate cheap food for six months. But when the downturn hit? Our systems kept operating while others failed. Suddenly, "Nikolin boys" was a thing mentioned between contractors.

This is where we stand different: We construct systems like we're going to have to repair them ourselves. Because you know what? We usually do. Last Thanksgiving, Mrs. Callahan in Woodinville rang freaking out about a holiday backup. Art rushed out in his dinner-soiled shirt. Turned out her "self-maintaining" system installed in 2015 had a filter no one told her about. We never just repair it—we taught her grandson how to clean it.

You think that's standard? Think again. Nearly all companies want you on a $200/month care plan. We would rather you comprehend your system. Like that time we sketched drainage diagrams on Dave Miller's kitchen table in Everett while his children added crayon clouds. Why? Because when Dave's willow tree roots attacked his leach field last spring, he caught the wet grass before it became a disaster.

Our special ingredient? It is not secret at all. It is in the blisters. In the way Art still answers the phone at (425) 553-3422 personally. In the Instagram reel where my nephew cringes at a DIYer's "no-rock drain field masterpiece" (@septic_solutionsllc—follow for laughs and legit tips). It is in the YouTube video where we compressed a 72-hour install in torrential Kirkland rain (@septicsolutionsllc).

But here's the true magic: We have turned every mistake into your gain. That mossy disaster in Bothell? Showed us to add root barriers automatically. The "ghost flush" mystery in Sammamish? Now we install effluent filters on all job. Even our tanks are unique—we spec heavier concrete after witnessing how Pacific Northwest winters destroy cheaper models.

Don't just take my testimony for it. Ask the ex- Boeing engineer who challenged us to handle his sloping lot in Duvall. "Can't be done," said three companies. We created him a pressurized system which has outlasted two of his cars. Or the young family in Monroe whose developer installed an inadequate tank—we rebuilt their entire layout during a snowstorm without busting their budget.

This isn't marketing fluff. It's 25 years of frozen fingers, confusing soil reports, and relentless pride in doing it right. We have cried over collapsed trenches in January rains. Cheered when our sand-filter system preserved a historic Carnation farmhouse. Even interred our favorite shovel (RIP #3) with Viking funeral honors after it broke during an legendary granite battle.

So if you're scrolling through septic companies thinking who isn't going to vanish after the check clears? Think about the boys who still recall their first lesson from Gus: "A solid system hides. A superior system works while hiding." We did not just create this business—we grew it from the ground up, one genuine hole at a time.

Your turn. Tell me what your system hiding?