Allow me to explain to you something you will not hear from nearly all septic companies: I've been elbow-deep in raw sewage since I was a preteen years old. Sounds glamorous, right? Back in the heat of '98, my family and I thought our mother and father had gone and lost their minds. Instead of registering for little league like typical kids, we were carving out trenches for our family's new septic system under the brutal Washington sun. Who knew those blisters would transform into our blueprint.

Here's the harsh truth nearly all companies will not admit: Septic work is not just about equipment. It's about understanding what happens underground after the equipment leaves. Most folks start in this business through maintenance vans. We? We began with tools in our hands and muck up to our knees.

I will never forget the day our installer, old Gus Petrovich, homepage handed me a level and barked, "Boy, if you cannot lay pipe straight, you'll drown somebody's lawn in crap by Tuesday." He sure wasn't wrong. We spent three days that July wrestling with a stubborn clay bed near Redmond—digging, measuring, swearing, repeat. But here comes the surprise: Gus kept taking us to jobs all over Snohomish County. By 15, I could recognize a deteriorating drain field from 50 yards.

This is the DNA of Septic Solutions LLC. While others were busy buying expensive trucks, we were learning why systems actually fail. Like that disaster project in '03 where we witnessed a "expert" crew install a tank with no regard for soil percolation. Three months later? Backyard looked like a marsh. We swore then: No half-measures. Not once.

Skip ahead to 2009. My brother Art (you will see his name all over our permits) almost bankrupted us requiring on triple-checking every perc test. "Remember the swamp house," he used to growl. We ate instant noodles for six months. But when the downturn hit? Our systems kept working while others failed. All at once, "Nikolin boys" became a thing whispered between contractors.

Here's where we're different: We construct systems like we will have to fix them ourselves. Because here's the thing? We typically do. Last Thanksgiving, Mrs. Callahan in Woodinville rang in crisis about a holiday emergency. Art rushed out in his dinner-soiled shirt. Turned out her "no-service" system installed in 2015 had a filter nobody told her about. We did not just fix it—we showed her grandson how to clean it.

You assume that is standard? Not a chance. The majority of companies prefer you on a $200/month maintenance plan. We would rather you understand your system. Like that time we mapped out drainage diagrams on Dave Miller's kitchen table in Everett while his toddlers added crayon clouds. Why? Because when Dave's willow tree roots invaded his leach field last spring, he caught the wet grass before it developed into a disaster.

Our magic formula? It ain't not secret at all. It's in the rough hands. In the way Art still takes the phone at (425) 553-3422 himself. In the Instagram reel where my nephew groans at a DIYer's "stone-less drain field masterpiece" (@septic_solutionsllc—follow for laughs and solid tips). It is in the YouTube video where we time-lapsed a 72-hour install in torrential Kirkland rain (@septicsolutionsllc).

But this is the actual magic: We have turned each mistake into your benefit. That green disaster in Bothell? Taught us to add root barriers automatically. The "mysterious backup" mystery in Sammamish? Now we install effluent filters on all job. Even our tanks are different—we spec stronger concrete after observing how Pacific Northwest winters destroy cheaper models.

Please don't just take my testimony for it. Ask the ex- Boeing engineer who challenged us to handle his sloping lot in Duvall. "Impossible," said three companies. We created him a pressurized system that 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 ain't corporate fluff. These are 25 years of frozen fingers, confusing soil reports, and stubborn pride in doing it right. We've cried over caved-in 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 shattered during an legendary granite battle.

So if you are scrolling through septic companies wondering who isn't going to evaporate after the check clears? Think about the boys who still know their first lesson from Gus: "A solid system hides. A superior system works while hiding." We didn't 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?