I need to share with you something you won't hear from nearly all septic companies: I've been waist-deep in raw sewage since I was a preteen years old. Looks glamorous, right? Back in the summer of '98, my brothers and I thought our parents had lost their minds. Instead of signing up for webpage little league like regular kids, we were excavating trenches for our family's new septic system under the scorching Washington sun. We had no idea those wounds would transform into our blueprint.

This is the ugly truth the majority of companies will not admit: Septic work ain't just about hardware. It's about knowing what goes on underground after the equipment leaves. The majority of folks enter this business through maintenance vans. We? We began with shovels in our hands and mud up to our knees.

I'm never forget the day our installer, old Gus Petrovich, tossed me a level and declared, "Young man, if you can't lay pipe straight, you're gonna drown somebody's lawn in waste by Tuesday." He was not wrong. We spent three days that July wrestling with a challenging clay bed near Redmond—excavating, measuring, groaning, repeat. But here comes the twist: Gus kept bringing us to jobs all over Snohomish County. By 15, I could identify a failing drain field from 50 yards.

That is the DNA of Septic Solutions LLC. While competitors were busy buying fancy trucks, we were understanding why systems really fail. Like that nightmare project in '03 where we watched a "expert" crew install a tank with no regard for soil percolation. Three months later? Yard looked like a marsh. We promised then: No half-measures. Ever.

Skip ahead to 2009. My brother Art (you'll see his name all over our permits) practically bankrupted us demanding on verifying three times every perc test. "Think about the swamp house," he used to growl. We ate ramen for six months. But when the crash hit? Our systems kept functioning while others collapsed. Suddenly, "Nikolin boys" became a thing mentioned between contractors.

This is where we are different: We create systems like we're going to have to fix them ourselves. Because you know what? We typically do. Last Thanksgiving, Mrs. Callahan in Woodinville phoned in crisis about a holiday backup. Art drove out in his turkey-stained shirt. As it happened her "self-maintaining" system installed in 2015 had a filter not a soul told her about. We did not just fix it—we taught her grandson how to clean it.

You believe this is standard? Not a chance. The majority of companies prefer you on a $200/month care plan. We'd rather you understand your system. Like that time we sketched drainage diagrams on Dave Miller's kitchen table in Everett while his kids added crayon clouds. Why? Because when Dave's willow tree roots attacked his leach field last spring, he caught the soggy grass before it turned into a disaster.

Our secret sauce? It's not secret at all. It's in the rough hands. In the way Art still takes the phone at (425) 553-3422 directly. In the Instagram reel where my nephew cringes at a DIYer's "gravel-free drain field masterpiece" (@septic_solutionsllc—subscribe for laughs and real tips). You'll see it in the YouTube video where we time-lapsed a 72-hour install in relentless Kirkland rain (@septicsolutionsllc).

But let me share the actual magic: We have turned all mistake into your gain. That green disaster in Bothell? Taught us to add root barriers standard. The "ghost flush" mystery in Sammamish? Now we install effluent filters on all job. Even our tanks are special—we spec stronger concrete after witnessing how Pacific Northwest winters crack cheaper models.

Do not just take my testimony for it. Ask the ex- Boeing engineer who challenged us to manage his sloping lot in Duvall. "No way," said three companies. We created him a pressurized system that has outlasted two of his cars. Or the young family in Monroe whose builder installed an too-small tank—we rebuilt their entire layout during a blizzard without breaking their budget.

This isn't corporate fluff. These are 25 years of frozen fingers, misread soil reports, and relentless pride in doing it correctly. We've cried over collapsed trenches in January downpours. Cheered when our sand-filter system preserved a historic Carnation farmhouse. Even laid to rest our favorite shovel (RIP #3) with Viking funeral honors after it broke during an brutal granite battle.

So if you are scrolling through septic companies questioning who will not evaporate after the check clears? Think about the boys who still remember their first lesson from Gus: "A solid system hides. A superior system works while hiding." We never just create this business—we grew it from the ground up, one honest hole at a time.

Your turn. Tell me what your system hiding?