When the onsite system serving Sloan Swendsen’s home failed and he could not even get an installer to look at his problem, he decided to solve it himself.

Already familiar with equipment and construction, he learned how systems work and why his failed, studied Alaska’s onsite regulations, and found and installed a long-term solution. He also changed career paths.

Today, from an office in Juneau, his business, Juneau Septic Services Inc., serves a 60-mile-long, 1-mile-wide strip along Alaska’s southwest coast. Here, the climate is temperate rain forest with weather similar to that in Seattle, Wash. That changes about a mile inland, limiting his service area.

Although diversified within the onsite industry, Juneau Septic is intensely focused on onsite projects — both installation and pumping. “Other excavators treat onsite systems as a sideline; they are not focused on this business niche,” Swendsen says. “We do it all, and both sides generate business for the other. For me, this dual path has been the right way to go.”

Diverse requirements

Self taught, Swendsen is always learning. “If I find a site that needs a specific technology with which I am unfamiliar, I study the technology, get the necessary training, and become qualified to do the installation,” he says. “I am fully aware and conscious of each site’s unique needs. There is no margin for error.”

Alaska’s diverse climate and geology have caused the state Department of Environmental Conservation to establish several subsets of regulations to meet varied site conditions. In Swendsen’s area, all absorption areas must be of a type classified as engineered. While an engineer may be involved in the design, the engineer seldom visits the site: Distance and cost work against that.

The regulations in the Juneau area specify a minimum 300-square-foot absorption area for a two-bedroom house. Each additional bedroom requires another 150 square feet. The typical absorption area size is 25 by 35 feet. Onsite systems in the area must include an advanced treatment unit.

With a shortage of habitable land, most lots are small, many only about 10,000 square feet. Annual rainfall in the range of 150 inches results in water tables between 36 and 48 inches below grade. “These conditions converge and create significant challenges to proper system performance,” Swendsen says.

Learning from experience

He often encounters old absorption areas that are inundated, and often there is little available space for a replacement. “Inadequate absorption area square footage is not the only cause of failure, but it is clearly a leading factor,” he says. In many cases, a repair strategy must deal with space limitations and water table issues.

Swendsen’s experience living with a repaired system gives him several advantages. “I know how comforting it can be when the installer or pumper shows up just a few hours after getting a panic call,” he says. He does his best to respond to urgent calls on the same day, and he is always on site no later than the next day.

He also understands the essential role homeowner education plays in system life. He sees every customer contact as a potential teaching moment.

Swendsen has found success installing multi-component repair systems. In a 6-foot-deep excavation, he places 6 inches of coarse aggregate and then a 2-foot sand layer. On this porous yet stable foundation, he places drainfield chambers (Infiltrator Systems Inc.). Six inches of coarse aggregate follows. Two feet of frost-permeable topsoil provides the final cover. The effluent that reaches this absorption area has been processed through an advanced treatment system (Orenco Systems Inc.).

Opportunities in pumping

The majority of systems Swendsen pumps are not properly operated or maintained, and some were not properly constructed in the first place. Before he can fix a system, he must understand the problem.

To find the problem at one commercial facility, he added a CCTV inspection system to his toolbox. At the facility, he found sewer and drain line cross connections, an overloaded advanced treatment unit, and a marine discharge that was not meeting its permit requirements.

“We proposed adding a Bord na Mona peat filter followed by UV lamp disinfection,” he says. Working with the Department of Environmental Conservation, Swendsen secured the necessary modification permits. This was the company’s first Bord na Mona installation, and the first in Alaska.

Marine discharge systems release highly treated effluent to the Pacific Ocean, or to the many bays and inlets in the area. Swendsen finds that many of these systems are also operating well below regulators’ expectations. Seeing that about 90 percent of marine discharge systems included an advanced treatment unit, he learned how to service them and so opened a new line of business.

No quick fixes

Swendsen does not try to compete on low price. The company instead sells reliability, performance and system longevity. Swendsen did not want a quick fix with a limited service life in his backyard, and knows his customers don’t either. “We put systems in properly so that they do last,” he says.

Meeting the regulations does not ensure a quality installation. Working closely with the Department of Environmental Conservation Swendsen has built a trusting relationship. When unexpected issues arise, or when a by-the-book repair solution simply does not fit the regulations, he works with the regulators to solve the problem and eliminate a potential source of pollution.

“Uncovering buried surprises is an everyday occurrence,” Swendsen says. “Documenting what you uncover is an everyday necessity.” He takes pictures of everything, especially on challenging and constrained sites. He photographs key aspects of every system before they are covered, so that he has an archive for each job (which ideally he will never need to reopen).

Focused resources

Swendsen’s partner, Jason Tarver, handles the business paperwork. Tarver is a full-time firefighter whose work schedule — 24 hours on, 48 hours off — limits his availability in the field.

Juneau Septic’s first acquisition was a 1982 International vacuum truck that Swendsen used to solve his own problem. A 2001 tracked excavator with an articulating knuckle soon followed. “The knuckle greatly reduces the number of times the machine must be repositioned on a job site, but it also reduces the machine’s lifting capacity,” Swendsen says.

Other equipment includes a 1982 International single-axle dump truck rated at 26,000-lbs GVW, and a 2009 Yanmar backhoe. To move material on a job site, a Yanmar self-propelled tracked wheelbarrow is available. The next acquisition will be a six-wheel-drive vacuum truck for reaching treatment tanks in difficult locations.

The company has grown by steadily responding to market opportunities. Keeping installation, maintenance, and repairs under one roof helps keep cash flowing year-round. “As long as you do everything in compliance with the regulations, are conscientious about the quality of materials and workmanship, and are honest with all parties, success will be part of every installation,” Swendsen says. It’s an approach he shares with his customers every day.