No two days are alike for Zach and Josh Munson at Premier Sewer and Septic Service.

It’s not uncommon for septic system installers to branch out into excavation, pumping and maintenance services. However, the Sandwich, Illinois, company’s small but mighty team of seven takes it further with sewer hydrojetting, camera inspections and drain cleaning.

“Our most popular services are pumping and rodding. That’s always the first step when somebody’s having a problem with their septic tanks. Sometimes those jobs trail into septic replacements,” says Josh Munson, co-owner of Premier.

While septic tank installations are only one of their specialties, Premier takes immense pride in their work, handling the entire process from designing, permitting and grading.

Head start

The Munson brothers were born and raised in Sandwich, and began helping with the family excavation and septic pumping business at a young age. They gravitated toward the work quickly.

“We started working with our parents early on, driving and cleaning the trucks, loading material. We’ve been around it our entire lives,” says Josh.

“Growing up, a local excavation business always had its excavation equipment sitting outside,” recalls Zach Munson, co-owner of Premier. “When I was little, I’d ask my mom to slow down so I could look at it out of the window.”

After years of working in the family business, the brothers decided to forge their own path in 2011. They started a drain cleaning service with restored drain rodders, a truck and the shirts on their backs. As the drain cleaning business grew, certain jobs would call for digging organically making excavation a part of their services.

“The gentleman that owned the local excavation shop was kind enough to either rent us his excavation pieces or come help us dig when we would run into a sewer or septic system that needed to be dug up,” Zach says.

In the beginning, they didn’t even have a place to call headquarters. “We started from absolutely no money. Scratch. It was just the two of us working out of my garage,” Josh says. “In 2012, we made the ‘big step’ of renting a storage unit for a couple of months. Our office was our kitchen table in the apartment we rented together.”

Premier quickly graduated from the storage unit to renting a local shop until 2021, when the brothers purchased the excavation shop that Zach admired as a kid from the man who had lent a hand with excavation jobs. They had come full circle.

Full service

Today, Premier’s business is composed of 33%-45% septic system installations and repairs, 50% drain cleaning and pumping, and 10% miscellaneous jobs such as repairs on inlet lines, distribution boxes and risers.

“Our work is 75% residential, but we also service a lot of businesses for sewer and septic repairs,” says Josh. “We’ve worked with correctional facilities, hospitals and industries like that. We install all types of systems; they seem to come in waves. One year, we will do a lot of conventional systems, the next, aerobic. We’ve installed above-grade systems. It just depends on what the site calls for.”

Premier is active throughout the septic installation process. They inspect the job site, sample the soil composition, design the systems and fill out the permit packet before any digging occurs. When Premier needs a treatment system and a lift station, they typically specify SYBR-AER by SBR Wastewater Technologies or Infiltrator Water Technologies tanks.

Despite Premier’s drain cleaning and septic pumping services keeping them busy, the team averages thirty septic tank installations annually with a staff of seven. If the site is within an hour’s drive from Sandwich, Premier will take it on.

“Among the four guys that work in the field with Zach and me, Tom S. has been with us for 12 years doing septic installs, repairs and service. Greg F. drives the pumper truck,” says Josh. “And we have Kami W. in the office.

“Most of our jobs are higher-end housing, challenging lots or people who are building their own house and value quality,” Josh adds. “We have several surface discharge systems coming up that require permitting through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. I believe we do more challenging systems than our local competitors.”

Detail-oriented

There are many septic installers in Premier’s territory outside of Chicago. Attention to detail is how they feel they set themselves apart.

“We care about the product that’s put in; that it’s going to last. I never want to go back and dig something up that I installed a month ago because I didn’t take the time to use stone, or a joint didn’t get glued,” says Josh.

Not only is that mindset efficient from a business standpoint, but it’s more about the customers. “We want to give the customer the best product possible. Even when we’re onsite, we try to keep the job site clean. We put trash where it belongs, we do a nice job backfilling,” explains Zach. “Small things like that are what make us different in the market.”

This intentional care has led Premier to be trusted with more complex installations in the area.  

“We work with a lot of tight spaces, where we have to design and install in a very small area,” Zach says. “Two years ago, we did an above-grade system and had to break some bedrock to get the tank in. We thought it was going to be a miserable job, but two and a half days later, it was beautiful. It turned out to be a good time.”

Help wanted

Being so diverse in their offerings, Premier struggles to hire folks with experience in all their services. This means neverending training, whether onboarding or continuing education, which can take them away from operating their business.

“Our biggest challenges are finding people who want to do this work and already have experience in this industry,” says Zach. “If you run a good company and you’re looking in the right places, you will find quality people. But you’re probably not going to find quality people who also have years of experience in drain cleaning, pumping and septic installations.”

Premier cites the rising cost of doing business as another common headwind for septic installers.

“The overhead is huge. Fleet plating and insurance, employee benefits and fuel add up. Plus, machines, materials and tanks are more expensive since COVID.”

Equipment matters

The group always considers the site conditions when working on a design. This has led them to use a wide variety of well-known septic tanks such as Clearstream Wastewater Systems, Multi-Flo, SYBR-AER by SBR Wastewater Technologies, Jet Inc. systems and Infiltrator Water Technologies systems.

“We have three excavators. A 2018 Bobcat E 20 for small repairs, with the tracks. It’s a pretty sweet little unit,” says Josh. “We use it for putting risers on and digging up tanks. We have a 2018 Takeuchi TB260, which is great for sewer repairs and waterlines. We recently purchased a 2024 John Deere 85 P-Tier because we’re running into a lot of installations with seepage beds that require more material to be moved and multi-tank systems where there’s more excavation.”

For backfilling and grading, Premier relies on a 2018 Takeuchi TL12R2 loader on tracks.

“That thing is an absolute monster of a skid-steer.”

Slow and steady

Premier has steadily grown over the past 15 years, from two brothers in a garage to a full-service septic pumping, repair and installation business. With plenty of years ahead of them, the Munson brothers plan to keep growing all aspects of their septic and drain cleaning business.

“We’re planning on purchasing a Takeuchi TL8R2, so that we have both a big and small skid loader to accommodate different access conditions and expand our service area now that we have a couple more guys working for us,” says Josh.

Premier anticipates purchasing another pump truck in the next couple of years, too, along with another rodding van and jetter. Regardless of how much Premier expands, they’re never far from their beginnings.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve operated out of that storage unit, but I drive by it every day.”