Midwest is definitely a family business. Alex started pumping with his father, Billy, and it only took one septic installation job for him to go out on his own and bring aboard his brothers to fill his crew. From left, Sawyer, Niles, Billy and Alex Sollazzo. (Photos by Scott Morgan)
Midwest Septic & Excavating do big things with a small crew. The team, from left, include Keaton Owens, Sawyer Sollazzo, Alex Sollazzo and Niles Sollazzo.
Alex Sollazzo held three jobs between graduating high school and going to work for his father’s business, Norm’s Pumping & Septic Service, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. It took a single septic system installation to convince him to launch Midwest Septic & Excavating in nearby Neola in 2021, when he was just 21 years old.
Five years in, Sollazzo admits his sense of urgency might have resulted in some early missteps, but those incidents have only sharpened his focus on quality work and top-notch customer care.
Sollazzo’s father, Bill, worked for Norm’s as a side gig while Sollazzo was still in high school. He worked with his father after school and on weekends, and his father bought the business just as he graduated. After being employed as a plumber and concrete cutter, Sollazzo went to work for his father full time, but the job was short-lived.
“I worked on one job as a favor to a local septic installer,” he says. “I was only there for the installation of the laterals — I didn’t even see the tank put in. But I enjoyed it. My dad said he couldn’t see why we couldn’t do this ourselves.”
They reckoned that the area had plenty of roofers and other trades, but no company in the area that specialized only in septic system installations and repairs. After a handful of system installs under the Norm’s brand, Sollazzo’s father encouraged him to establish his own business.
To start, his father bought a Kubota KX40-4 mini-excavator with 0% down and Sollazzo began making double payments on it. He completed Iowa’s two-day Certified Installer of Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems credential and started work immediately, offering septic system design, installation, repair and excavation services.
He took on the company’s first 10 or 15 septic installs on his own. He’ll admit, however, that he sometimes had to learn the ropes the hard way.
“On one job, I was just too tired to check my grade on the outlet,” he says. “I laid out all the header pipes, all the chambers and the trenches. When I went to hook the outlet to the D-box, the D-box was higher than the tank. Once the chambers get a little dirt on them, you can’t really save them, so I just ripped them all out and reset the whole system. I was furious with myself, but I couldn’t leave that for the customer.”
On another project, Sollazzo backfilled a septic tank with local heavy clay and tamped dirt around the sides as best he could with a shovel.
“A week later, we got a heavy rain and the tank wound up floating out of the ground,” he recalls. “I dug it all back out and laid a bed of 3/4-minus gravel and also used it as backfill. Ever since that day, that’s how we backfill all of our tanks.”
Sollazzo believes that even making mistakes early on — and fixing them quickly at no cost to the customer — has helped to build his reputation in the area.
“I’m an anxious person, and that may be a good thing,” he says. “The moment I hear something might be wrong, I’m driven to go out and fix it right away. That’s worked in my favor. We advertise on social media, but word-of-mouth counts for much more around here.”
A few months in, Sollazzo hired his brothers, Niles and Sawyer, to help him. “They had just gotten out of high school, and they’ve been working for me ever since,” he says. “Over the years, my brothers have learned the trade, and I consider them my foremen. I don’t even dig anymore. They do all the excavating.”
Sollazzo has since hired two additional workers, split into two teams with a brother in charge of each. He’s also rapidly expanded his equipment inventory.
The business operates three excavators — a 2024 John Deere 75 P-Tier, a 2022 E60 Bobcat and a 2018 Kubota K008-3. Three skid-steers include a 2025 Bobcat T770, a 2025 John Deere 325G and a 2019 Kubota SVL75-2. He also operates three Chevy 3500s (2015, 2018 and 2025), a 2003 Chevy 2500 and a 2019 Ford F-550.
Midwest also owns a 2012 Sullivan air compressor and HammerHead Mole pneumatic drill, used to bore water service lines for other contractors.
Midwest buys most of its concrete tanks from Precast Concrete in Creston, Iowa. Septic systems and supplies are primarily sourced from Winsupply in Council Bluffs. The company installs a lot of Infiltrator products including Arc 36 leaching chambers that have performed well over the years.
Sollazzo operates in a service radius of about 45 miles from home base and currently installs between 80 and 100 septic systems each year. The local market largely demands traditional septic systems — about 70% of the company’s installs.
Although Iowa state code requires contractors to first offer traditional treatment systems wherever possible, Sollazzo is seeing more demand for advanced treatment units and media filter systems. That’s especially true in Council Bluffs, where small lots and easements from wells require them.
“We work closely with the county on small-lot installations to determine what we can install before sending the homeowner an estimate,” Sollazzo says. “ATU systems are first approved by the state and then on a county-by-county basis. We were approved in Pottawattamie County for Premier Tech Ecoflo biofilters with UV disinfection or tertiary treatment systems, and we’ve just been approved for Infiltrator ECOPODs, which gives homeowners more choices.”
He currently shares an equipment yard with his father’s company in Council Bluffs on a former motocross track once owned by his grandparents. He shares office space with a friend, who operates a fence rental company.
“Along with two other business owners, we bought a whole block at the end of a dead-end road, and we’re planning to build a big, shared shop of 100 by 150 feet there for all of our businesses,” Sollazzo says.
Over the next 10 years, he wants to grow the business and have his brothers take over some of the work he now does, including providing estimates and reaching out to customers.
“Eventually, I want to buy out Norm’s Pumping & Septic Service and operate it as part owners with my brothers,” he says. “My dad is very old-school and intends to keep working for the rest of his life, so he can work for us as much or little as he wants. I think it’s his therapy to drive that pump truck.”
Sollazzo plans to attend the WWETT Show in 2027 for the first time.
“I’m eager to see the new equipment and learn about the installation techniques other installers use,” he says. “I’m also looking to research different options for scheduling and communications software.”
In the meantime, Sollazzo says he’s enjoying every day in the business he’s chosen.
“I’m not very good at small talk, but it’s different when I get to talk about something that I’m passionate about,” he says. “I love talking to customers, teaching them about their septic systems, offering fair deals and following that up with honest service.”
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