FXBG Neighbors Podcast
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
FXBG Neighbors Podcast
EP #2 Demystifying Septic Systems: What Every Homeowner Should Know
Get ready to challenge your perceptions about septic systems as David Stewart, owner of Dominion Septic, joins us for an enlightening episode. David, with a robust background in soil science, sheds light on the critical maintenance that septic systems require to function efficiently. If you’re a homeowner who thinks that once the system is installed, you're in the clear, this episode is for you!
David discusses the most frequent misconceptions he encounters, such as the idea that septic systems don't need regular maintenance. He encourages homeowners to view their systems actively instead of treating them as forgotten fixtures. Packed with valuable tips, this episode provides insights into what products can safely be used with septic systems, and why some common household practices can backfire dramatically.
For first-time homeowners, David stresses the importance of conducting thorough inspections before making a purchase, helping listeners feel empowered to avoid potentially costly mistakes. With years of experience and a wealth of knowledge, this episode serves as a powerful guide for anyone who wants to understand and care for their septic system properly.
Join us and arm yourself with the knowledge needed to manage your home better! Subscribe now, share your thoughts, and feel free to reach out to Dominion Septic for personalized assistance in keeping your system healthy for years to come.
Dominion Septic, Inc.
David Stewart
info@dominionseptic.com
(540)737-1008
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbors Podcast of Fredericksburg. Welcome, David Stewart with Dominion Septic. How are you today?
Speaker 3:I'm doing great, thank you.
Speaker 2:Dominion Septic. How are you today? I'm doing great, thank you, awesome, awesome. So I appreciate you joining us on the Fredericksburg Neighbors podcast. So why don't we start by sharing with the listeners all about Dominion Septic? Tell us about your business.
Speaker 3:Fantastic. Well, thank you for having me on your podcast. This is really exciting. Dominion Septic is a local company based out of Southern Fauquier County. We service about eight surrounding counties. As a general rule we'll go out further if we need to. We do specialize in mainly alternative systems. They all need maintenance on a regular basis, so we provide operation and maintenance contracts for those systems. I specialize in problematic systems, failing systems. Sometimes they can be fixed. I have the know-how to make the decision of whether it can be fixed or it has to be replaced. We get a lot of calls, second, third opinions hey, can we fix this? Like I said, that's one of my expertise. We do a lot of repairs on existing systems. We do new home installations, complete revamps of old homes. We pretty much we do design consulting. We do everything except pump out septic tanks. We do not have pump trucks. That's pretty much the only thing we don't do at the moment.
Speaker 2:Excellent, excellent, okay, awesome. Thank you for sharing that with us. So tell us how did you get involved in septic systems? Tell us about your journey.
Speaker 3:Well, it's kind of a long story but I'll try to condense it. When I was in high school I was involved with FFA and one of the competitions I did with them was souls judging. And I grew up in an agricultural community. I was very interested in farming agriculture, soil. So I was accepted at Virginia Tech, got into their soil science program, loved it Immediately. As a freshman I made the Virginia Tech Soul Judging team. I learned so much with Virginia Tech Soul Judging I was doing some advanced aspects of Soul Science before I even took the classes. So it was a struggle at first because it was just so overwhelming but I'm so glad I did it.
Speaker 3:I did well with the soil judging team, graduated from Tech in 96 with a degree in crop soil environmental science with an emphasis in soil science and a minor in environmental science. So while I was at Tech during the summers and breaks from school I worked for a local soil consultant where I grew up and I didn't know much about drain fields at the time but I could evaluate soil and that's what they needed. They needed expertise with that. So I spent a lot of time just evaluating soils for drain field applications. A lot of time just evaluating soils for drain field applications and that's kind of where I really got started. When I was at college, some of my professors consulted on the side and I would work with them, learning all I could about soils and their use for on-site septic systems. And when I graduated tech, I got an opportunity with Fauquier County as a soil technician to help with updating their soil survey. One of the jobs that came along with that was assisting the local health department with problematic sites or very marginal sites for drain fields, and so I was able to gain more experience, and you know what does it take to make a drain field work. I did that for a few years, left the county, went to the private side working for Fraser Consultants. I spent several years there, learned a lot about the drain film industry from a private side, came back to the county and served as the county soil scientist for a short bit and then joined my predecessor, Danny Hatch, with full-time designing drain field throughout the Fredericksburg area.
Speaker 3:We grew rapidly in design work. We saw we started designing more and more of these alternative systems you hear about that, that's, any system that that may require a treatment pre-treatment level, more so than just a regular, what they call a conventional drain field. And we started to see issues with these systems. Like man, they're not doing too well. Well, they needed maintenance. There was no laws in place that required it. Sure, the manufacturers recommended it, but there was nothing to force individuals to service their systems and they started having a lot of problems. So I said, man, we we've got to do something to. There's an opportunity here to to to service these systems and make sure all the hard work we did doesn't you know, it was for nothing. So we started a business Dominion Septic it's all in the name and it was a hard journey.
Speaker 3:There was nowhere to get formal training. You know, like with HVAC and electrical and plumbing, there's lots of schools to go to to learn all this, but there's no. At the time there was no school to learn septic. So it was a long, hard battle, a lot of hard work to determine you know what to do for these systems and you know, over time we have slowly, slowly grown. It's been a very slow process, but now we're in a good situation where we've gained a lot of knowledge. You know, a lot of this is years of experience. There are places to get some training, but you know that just kind of teaches you the basics. It's really on the job is where you learn to be an expert. So that's my journey.
Speaker 2:Amazing. It's such a unique situation. Not not many business owners have to kind of create a industry of their own kind of like like you did, so congratulations on all your success. That's amazing, uh, so can you tell us um? Are there any myths or misconceptions that you hear about your industry or about your services?
Speaker 3:well. Septic systems tend to be neglected. They're out of sight, out of mind. People think, oh it's, I don't need to do anything, that they kind of feel like they live on a sewer a sewer system versus an onsite septic system and they just flush and forget these systems. All systems in general need some level of maintenance. The more complicated they are, the more maintenance they require. You know, a minimum of once a year. We have a lot of customers that join up with us when they have a problem. They're so thankful, fix it and we're maintaining it. And then maybe they come on some hard times or they just feel like, ah, I can get by a couple of years without you know paying for another maintenance visit and and they ignore us for a while. But they usually end up calling us back when they have a problem that could have been prevented. You know, with. Just regular maintenance ends up costing them more in the long run. So that's the number one myth is you don't need service every year, but you really do.
Speaker 3:It's important to be conscientious of what you flush down the drain. It's not a complete waste disposal system. It's very sensitive. It's a living system. So everything you put down the drain ultimately affects the outcome. For example, fat soils and greases. You should not put that down your drains. It can clog your indoor plumbing but when it reaches the septic tank it definitely causes havoc. We get a lot of calls. My septic's backing up in causes havoc. We get a lot of calls. My sewage septic is backing up in the house. We go out the grease is clogged up their piping. We fix it. But we tell them, hey, don't put grease down the drain. Well, I don't put grease down the drain, we're looking at it. So you can't add that one. Harsh chemicals Again, it's a living system. You wouldn't put harsh chemicals in your body. Don't put it into the septic system. Use septic safe products, which that term is very unspecific, let's just say. But you could certainly reach out to us and we can give you some some, some pointers in person.
Speaker 3:Food disposals most every home is built now with a garbage disposal. We don't recommend you use that. Some customers think that it's made for all their potato pills and carrot pills and everything. Your system is not really designed to handle that. Your septic becomes then becomes a very expensive trash can and you're gonna need to pump it out quite frequently. Septic tanks tend to work better if you don't pump them as frequently. You know, like, don't pump them every year. It takes time for that tank to what we call mature with the proper bugs and types of bacteria. Another one some of the old timers think you could just put some bread yeast down the drain or, I've heard, throw a dead chicken in your septic tank. I've heard a lot of crazy stories. And then you've got people that say I've been here for 40 years, never pumped the tank, never had a problem Well, not a problem that they're aware of. But when we dig in and see that their septic system is about 10% from being a complete failure, they regret making those decisions. So those are just a few.
Speaker 2:So interesting, I know. When I first bought my own home at age 25, you know the house had well and septic no one educated me on how to take care of the system. And five years later, after not doing anything to it because young and dumb didn't know how to take care of the system, and five years later, after not doing anything to it because young and dumb didn't know how to do anything to it, it was a very, very expensive repair. So what advice do you have for people like me who are moving into their first home and they have no idea? Should they reach out to you pretty quickly after they move in just to get on a maintenance plan? What would you suggest?
Speaker 3:Well, to start with, before anyone buys a home, you need a complete, thorough inspection not a walkover inspection, not kind of a partial inspection.
Speaker 3:It needs to be looked at top to bottom. It costs a little more money to do this, but it will potentially save you a ton of money in the future. So that's number one. We see too many homebuyers, especially when it was like a mad dash to buy homes, nobody was given study periods and people were just buying because if they didn't buy it, someone else would get it and they wouldn't get anything. It's crucial you do a complete, detailed inspection of that septic system top to bottom. That's number one. Number two educate yourself. We have a lot of resources at our own, our website, dominionsepticcom, that tell you about do's and don'ts. Take a peek at it. Takes you 10 minutes to read through it. Try to absorb that information and then you can always call us with questions.
Speaker 2:Awesome, thank you. I wish I had met you back when I was 25 and bought my first house. It would have saved a lot of money.
Speaker 3:So we hear that all the time.
Speaker 2:I imagine. So tell us, what do you do for fun? When you're not we're not working on your business, what are you doing?
Speaker 3:Well, I love to spend time with my wife. She's my favorite person. Those of you- listening right now.
Speaker 2:Who don't already know?
Speaker 3:David is my husband, so he has to say that. No, it's true, we love to travel, we love to experience fine dining and I like to hunt a little bit when I get the chance. But and then work. I work all the time. I do enjoy work. I enjoy solving problems. That's why, I mean, I'm college educated in a blue collar world, but I love what I do. I have a passion for it. I want to fix things. We get to see some really difficult issues with septic and you know we don't always have the immediate answer, but we keep working at it until we get it solved. And that's the part I like. I do not like a monotonous type of job. I want to do something different all the time and experience and learn, accept challenges. You know, sometimes we do some jobs that nobody wants to touch and I'm like I'll do it, you know, because it's a challenge, it's fun.
Speaker 2:You're good at problem solving.
Speaker 1:Well, I try to be good at it.
Speaker 2:So we're going to get a little personal. So can you describe a hardship or life challenge that you rose above and can now say that that challenge made you better or stronger?
Speaker 3:Yes, In the early years of starting the business, I tried hiring some people to work for me and learn. It didn't work out. I went through a couple of different individuals that had potential, but it didn't work out. So I took it over upon myself and was doing everything. I then started to hire some employees.
Speaker 3:Well, the downturn hit in 08 and it was tough. I didn't know what we were going to do. Nobody had money, Nobody could afford anything. We had a business. I had employees that I was responsible for. I could have easily fired them, let them go on unemployment, but that would not have helped their family situation, so I chose to keep my employees.
Speaker 3:I went about 10 months, 11 months, without a paycheck, lived off of savings scraped by, you know, made sacrifices everywhere I could, but I wanted to keep my employees. I wanted them to get they got paid. Um, and it was hard. It was a life lesson to never give up. Keep going. Um. If you're good at what you do and you believe in yourself, um, keep going. You believe in yourself, keep going. You will get through it. And we did. We managed to get through it and, like I said, we've slowly grown. We've not been a fast grower. We've been slow and steady every year. Some people asked me about my financials and I said dude, we keep growing every year. It's little by little and I would love to be one of these big companies that makes bukus of money, but we're slow and steady and we give honest days, work and fair prices for the level of expertise we have prices for what we, for the level of expertise we have.
Speaker 2:It's a testament to your strength and integrity that you made it through that. To the other side and you know some some businesses make the mistake of growing too quickly and overextending themselves, and then you know they end up failing. So you've clearly grown the right way, so congratulations.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:So what is something that you wish our listeners knew about your business?
Speaker 3:I would say, the biggest. You know what separates us from all the other companies out there. I mean, I was one of probably three in the beginning in our area that did this type of work and we all collaborated together. Most of my competition I have a good rapport with Most of my competition I have a good rapport with there's a lot of fly-by-nights out there that we don't is. You know that expense comes at a price. It took us a long time to gain the expertise we have. We get called many times behind other people that couldn't figure the issue out and in 15 minutes we're like oh, here's the problem and it's done, and so I want everyone to know that we have a high level of expertise to offer. That's, that's the value. Does that answer your question?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. I mean you get what you pay for Right, and and the fact that you know you have a degree in soil science from Virginia Tech, I mean that that alone builds a foundation for you being able to go in behind some of the other companies that couldn't figure things out. So, yeah, that's definitely a big differentiator with your competition.
Speaker 3:Something else is so, of course. I have a formal education in soil science, but I'm a licensed designer, alternative designer. I'm a licensed alternative installer I'm sorry I'm jibber jabbering. I'm a licensed. I have so many licenses I have to think about it. I'm a licensed alternative operator. I'm a licensed contractor, I'm a licensed, certified professional soil scientist. The list goes on. So I've done my due diligence to to become licensed in everything that's pertinent to my industry, to add to the level of expertise.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. That's amazing. So if our listeners want to connect with you and learn more about Dominion Septic, where can they find you?
Speaker 3:DominionSeptic. com. That's dominionseptic. com. That's the best way. And then you know we're always a phone call away.
Speaker 2:Awesome.
Speaker 3:Thank you, david for joining me on the podcast and sharing your expertise with us. I appreciate it. Thank you, it was such a pleasure you having me.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to fxbgneighborspodcast. com. That's fxbgneighborspodcast. com, or call 540-534-4618.