David Mastin (company manager) and Shane Duncan (company owner) of KESS Environmental Services.
Each year, we share with you the stories of other onsite installers. They talk about how they started and grew their businesses, their most challenging jobs, the growth the industry has seen and the struggles it still faces.
Here are some more memorable quotes from those featured installers.
Here are some more memorable quotes from those featured installers.
“It’s not about the competition. It’s about doing the right thing for the customers and the environment. It’s about taking care of the people.”
“At the end of the day, this is where my kids are playing, in the streams and rivers. I don’t know which family doesn’t like going to the beach, and I hate to say it, but we’re north of the beach and that’s where our water ends up. So we’re huge on taking care of our resources because they’re going to take care of us.”
- Shane Duncan, owner of KESS Environmental Services, Opelika, Alabama
“At the end of the day, this is where my kids are playing, in the streams and rivers. I don’t know which family doesn’t like going to the beach, and I hate to say it, but we’re north of the beach and that’s where our water ends up. So we’re huge on taking care of our resources because they’re going to take care of us.”
- David Mastin, company manager of KESS Environmental Services, Opelika, Alabama
Dave Gustafson
“I worked really hard at getting out and dealing with professionals in the field. It was a great way to learn about how systems actually functioned and how to solve problems."
“I find that if you’re laughing a little bit, things tend to sink in a little bit more. I also want to be technically clear and accurate. So I try to walk a line: the technical applied with a taste of humor.”
“I find that if you’re laughing a little bit, things tend to sink in a little bit more. I also want to be technically clear and accurate. So I try to walk a line: the technical applied with a taste of humor.”
- Dave Gustafson, P.E., of the University of Minnesota Onsite Sewage Treatment Program team
Willie Brown
“It’s discouraging to work so long without climbing the corporate ladder. Parents should loosen the reins here and there. Let their kids take over something, and leave a little room for failure once in a while. They are valuable learning experiences.”
- Willie Brown, part owner of Black Mountain Excavating, Payson, Arizona
Partners David Stoltzfus and Ray Harrison
“When the new advanced technology systems came out, a lot of the old-timers were set in their ways and were skeptical of the advances with nitrogen-removal tanks. Dad saw this is what we would be doing in the future ... Advanced systems are pretty much all we install now.”
- Ray Harrison, part owner of Raymond Harrison Septic Services, Chestertown, Maryland
David DiGregorio and T.J. Dell’Arciprete, co-owners
“When we do an install, we’re back at people's houses, touching things up, filling in soil when excavations settle or getting grass professionals in to treat the final landscapes. We do whatever is necessary to make sure the product on top of the ground is just as satisfactory as what’s under the ground.”
- T.J. Dell’Arciprete, part owner of Delaware Valley Septic, Sewer & Storm, Springfield, Pennsylvania
Stuart Meade
“My obsession with details has played out well in my work. I’m always looking for the best possible layout, doing jobs as if they were for my home.”
– Stuart Meade, owner of Meade Septic Design, Goshen, Indiana
Dirtwerx partners Clint Watrich and Josh Melanson
“I’m very good at managing my time. You need the work to support your family, but what does it matter if you provide the big house but aren’t there for your children’s lives?”
“I have a shotgun philosophy where I start pushing on a whole bunch of things, and as one moves, I give it more attention. And I have this problem: I see opportunities everywhere.”
- Josh Melanson, part owner and CEO ofDirtwerx, Vancouver, British Columbia
Kendall and his brother Brandon Unruh, co-owners (along with father, Maynard, not pictured)
“I like the fact that you can be diversified in the business and still be focused on the wastewater niche market. There are a lot of different things you can do and still be just septic and sewer guys.”
- Kendall Unruh, part owner of Western Septic & Excavation, Buhl, Idaho
Fred Rothwell
“In essence, people have a hole in the yard that they’re putting money into. We think they need to know exactly what they’re paying for. We want homeowners to understand what’s going into the ground and that they need to take care of and maintain it.”
– Fred Rothwell, projects manager, Aeration Septic Inc., Canal Fulton, Ohio
Jason Holtvogt
“The wastewater industry is the most down-to-earth environmental protection industry you could be in. We are the actual boots on the ground protecting groundwater in a significant way through the proper treatment of wastewater. When that is recognized, then maybe changes to our industry will happen much quicker than they are now.”
– Jason Holtvogt, owner, Holtvogt Sand and Gravel, Humboldt, Saskatchewan
Charlie Seamon (vice president and owner), Ronnie Thomas (principal owner and consultant) and Mark Burns (owner and president)
“I see [the industry] as improving. It’s constantly growing. Innovative ideas are challenging, but I think we, with close collaboration with academia, can successfully implement those ideas. We’re going to have to do a lot better with taking care of the systems. But the education of homeowners as the end user has advanced tremendously in the last few years, and I look to see that continue to grow.”
