SPOTLIGHT Q&A: For this month's spotlight we spoke with Joshua Guina who together with his father Andrew own and operate A Advanced Septic and Construction Services out of Washington State.

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2. SPOTLIGHT
A ADVANCED SEPTIC AND
CONSTRUCTION SERVICES
F
or this month's spotlight we spoke with Joshua Guina hard knocks way of learning. It was a time where in the
who together with his father Andrew own and operate construction world it seemed like the only way you got a
A Advanced Septic and Construction Services out of lesson was from your Forman yelling and screaming at you.
Washington State. I find it important to note that because as he grew up in our
Can you tell me a little bit about your background? Can you
say a few words about your education and training? How did
you into the business? Why did you get into the septic tank and
other related businesses and services? What did you do before
you started your own business? How does what you did before
you startedyour own business inform and influence your current
business in the liquid waste industry?
Andrew grew up a pastor's son and around 18 found
himself on the end of a shovel learning the dirt working
industry. He grew up in an era that many of us refer to the
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industry he spent 18 years working for the largest company
in our area doing construction, drain field work, and waste
hauling. What Dad has always made clear is that we get to
learn from all our experience that we encounter both good
and bad. It's in those lessons that we have built this incredibly
blessed and thriving company. It's in those lessons where
he decided that we were going to have a company that our
employees could "work to live not live to work". We have a
culture in our company where yelling is not an acceptable
way of communicating. Dads' education came from on the job
training over the last 32 years in this industry.
MAY 2016 AMERICAN LIQUID WASTE 7

3. :- .
He has been committed to constant personal growth
through other avenues of training such as the WWETT
conferences, training classes provided by our local health
departments, and has traveled all over to find other areas
of training. We also belong to Washington onsite sewage
association where we not only participate in the classes
as a company but Andrew is an active teacher in all areas
of our industry.
Q. Tell us about the history ofthe company.
A Advanced Septic and Construction was started out
of a garage in 2006 by Andrew Gunia, Joshua Gunia and
my wife Michelle Gunia. Michelle was central in starting
A Advanced because without her our company would
not be what and where it is today. Michelle went to
collage to become a contract specialist, and then got
her Master's Degree, all of which she used later on to
become a prized asset to another company. Michelle
put into place many of the systems upon which our
company still operates. It was Michelle that helped name
our company. In addition to all of her fundamental hard
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4. work in multiple companies. As far as my back ground goes
I knew from the time I was a boy that I was going to be in
this industry and I knew that I was going to be an owner
of a company in the waste hauling industry and that I
would be a leader in our industry. I like, my father, got my
education from being in the trenches. I started sweeping
the shop around 13 and never missed an opportunity to
go to a job site or be present next to my father any time
there was an industry meeting or a teaching opportunity. I
started working for my father full time when I was 16 years
old and never stopped since. In 06 I had the opportunity
to become a partner in our company. One thing I will note
in my education is that I had many leaders in our industry
that have been there for me as mentors and have taken
the time with me along the way to keep me grounded
and have been there to mentor me and in all that I have
gotten my education in a way that I may have never gotten
in a traditional schooling. From the start our company
has been focused primary around the onsite industry. We
specialize in drain field restoration first and our c~mpany
then branched out from there. We started with a few great
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5. loyal employees, got our first pump truck (silver bullet) and
our first mini excavator. From there we never stopped. Our
vision has always been to provide fantastic customer service
at a fair price.
We have a few values that we live by in our company and it
makes up the culture of our company 1) Be safe 2) do quality
work 3) be happy. What we figured out was by living by those
values and breeding a culture with our employees that live by
those values we found that is has led to exceptional customer
service. When you follow those 3 values then the profit will
follow.This is our mission statement.
Q. What is your business model? How have you structuredyour
business? What plans, models, or organizations, configurations,
did you envision when you thought about how you wanted to set
up your business structure?
We knew early on that our company would be a company
where our employees were going to be jewels not tools.
We are a family owned and operated company so we have
relationships with our employees and their families. We
10 AMERICAN LIQUID WASTE MAY 2016
knew in our ten year goals when we started that we wanted
to be around 30 or so employees that had backgrounds
and specialized in different areas of the industry. We just
celebrated our ten year anniversary and have achieved those
goals and many more. We envisioned a cutting edge company
that would be using the best of equipment available and
that attention to the customer details was going to be of the
upmost importance. We knew at the time that things like
GPS on all of our trucks, camera equipment for our truck's,
being well connected with our local health departments and
organizations were all going to be part of long term success.
In terms of business structure as it relates to services, we
knew that we were going to be a emergency response type
company. We put together a team that understands that
when a home owner or a commercial account is out of service
with a alarm sounding or a backup happening that we will
and do whatever it takes to get them in service as quickly
as possible. We knew in our long term goals as a company
that we were going to be a full services company that could
be one stop shopping for plumbing septic and construction
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6. needs to both residential and commercial accounts. We knew
that to have several small excavators ranging from 4klbs
to 20klbs would be needed. We bought things like pump
trucks, dump trucks, dozers, loaders, street sweepers, jetting
equipment, and all the tools in-between.
Q. Tell us about all ofthe different services that you offer.
Which division is the most successful? Why do you think that is
the case?
Our company took time to become full service. We now
operate with many divisions in our company. Services that we
provide to list a few are pumping and servicing septic systems
both in residential and commercial, we are a full service septic
company first so with that we risers septic systems, jett drain
fields, install outlet baffle filters, repair broken septic tanks, we
trouble shoot failed septic systems and alarms, we specialize
in taking a 20 plus year old failed septic system and typically
in one day can repair it meeting health department guide
lines and give the systems another 20 years of usage without
destroying their yard and can often complete a repair i.n one
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day using terralift technology and other tools of the trade.
We are a bio-microbics dealer in multiple counties and offer
a full range of services from trouble shooting to installation
to distribution of the product to other competitors. We have
a division that is dedicated to operation and maintenance
of existing septic systems. We pump both commercial and
residential systems for county and municipalities. We do
asphalt repairs, tree removal, block wall install, water line
replacement and locate of leaks, we do site development and
utility installation, and a lot of other services.
The septic installation and drain field rehab division of the
company is by far the most profitable part of the company
specifically the rehab work has the best margins. 60 percent
of the work done in our company comes from our septic
related work and that's where we focus 90% of our advertising
and is the foundation that our company was built on.The
construction part of our company makes up the other 40% left
over and its very intentional in how we are structured it has
the least amount of margins but is a necessary evil in our long
term success and we separate ourselves from our competitors.
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7. We are very satisfied in the ratio and look to maintain it.
Q. What are some of the distinguishing features and services of
your company that are unique and that no other local company
has, so that you can deliver the greatest value to customers at a
price-point cost comparable to, or lower than, your competition?
We have one main thing that separates us from everyone
else. That is our drain field restoration. Most companies in
our area will not repair existing failed systems. Many don't
even want to trouble shoot them to find out why they failed
and if there is a simple fix. Others have chosen simply not to
invest into the equipment and education that is necessary to
fix these systems. We invest heavily into our employees and
their education and give them the best equipment possible
to perform the task and in return there happy which then
results in great customer service. That in its self allows for us
to be extremely competitive still allowing us to give back to
those in need such as elderly widow and the single moms
of the world. So from start to finish we can take a call in the
morning have it dispatched to one of our 4 pump trucks and
have the system pumped and trouble shot by the afternoon
and in most cases have a crew performing the repair work
within a few days of the initial call, the entire time leaving
the customer in service and allowing them to live there lives
12 AMERICAN LIQUID WASTE MAY 2016
to the fullest at the same time often saving them 15 to 20
thousand dollars in replacement of their drain fields.
Q: How do you identify and respond to existing/new market
segments that provide the best opportunities for growth and
why? Tell us about the company's growth model. What growth
potential do you see for your business; for each division ofyour
company?
We identify new markets by providing a safe place for our
staff friends and family to give us new ideas. It seems simple
but we learned that not all business give their staff safe
places to throw out new ideas. Some of greatest moments
have come from ideas that dad and myself did not come
up with. We put these ideas into a think tank kind of, we
bounce these ideas off of others in our company others in our
industry and other trusted business owners and operators.
We try to find holes in the ideas and then as a team find
ways to make them work. We found a company called Valor
marketing that has been incredibly helpful along the way
as it relates to our marketing and new ideas to connect with
our customers. Those are all part of how we have been able
to maintain controlled growth at 28% growth year after year
since the beginning. In order to have maintained this kind
growth over the last ten years we had to put together a team
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8. that had our same core values, the team had to care about
our customer, we often question ourselves when making a
decision on behalf of our customer and the question is if this
was our grandmother is this what we would be doing for her.
When you can answer that question with yes then it's easy
to feel comfortable with the decisions we make. It applies
because we use that as a reminder that we would rather make
a little from every customer that we do business with and
make a little over a life time then a lot in a onetime event. It's
proven it's self over and over again. We are able to continue to
reduce our advertising because our word of mouth referrals
continue to grow. It's the best kind of advertising there is,
it's what allows us to grow at such a rapid rate. When we
started in 06 it was right before the recession hit. We watched
companies all around us lose everything they had spent life
died. 1can't remember if the saying came from one of my
dad's many catch phrase but it is something that we have
lived by and that is "if you are not growing you are dying".
We have seasons to every one of our divisions, sometimes
its winter for the construction side other times it's the end
of summer and who wants to spend their vacation and kids
school money on fixing or maintaining their septic system.
Not many. So as we study our trends we have found ways to
fill those predictable times. In some cases it may be we load
up that time with maintenance pumping and work maybe we
stall a construction job that works for our customer and will
be a perfect build thought the winter.We have learned to be
flexible and to plan for the rough times of the year. Those are
the things that contribute to that kind of growth.
time's working for. It was a time that we had to make some Q: Tell us about who works for the company? How many
tough choices. The choices that we made were to believe and employees? How is your managerial and employee structure
trust in our heavenly father and to be good stewards of what organized and implemented?
we were given. Obviously we had to do our part, so we got We have around 30 employees. Jackie is our office manager
busy figuring out how we were going to survive and thrive and runs the company in our absence. Jackie is the back
through this time. The answer came through diversification bone of the company. So in the end Jackie looks after the
it was that that allowed us to grow when others around us entire company. We have Lamarr who is in charge of dispatch
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9. as his primary job. Lamarr had been in the industry for over
20 years. Leanne is a CSR and is also very good at what she
does. Between the three of them they answer all the calls and
take care of the day to day actions. Bob Howard is our lead
estimator and is our sale manager followed by Scott who is
our project estimator and then Eric who is in charge of our
commercial accounts.Tyson Wood is our superintendent who
makes the impossible possible each and every day. Jeremiah
Gunia is a part owner now in the company and is our field
supervisor in our septic division and also operates our bio-
microbics sales and maintenance division.Tom Armijo is an
equipment operator. Jerry is a pump truck driver, Andrew
Bailey is a dump truck driver.Taylor Beaulieu is the Forman
on the drain field rehab crew. Aaron is the labor on the rehab
crew. Tom Beaulieu is in charge of our Handy man services.
Joe is a dump truck driver and moves our heavy equipment as
well as in charge of our fleet maintenance, Damon is a pump
truck driver, Jason is a operator in our construction division,
Matt June is a pipe layer, ian is a pipe layer/ operators,
Camron is a laborer in the septic division as well as keeps
us looking classy by maintain the fleet washing. Justin is
pump truck driver I dump truck driver, Robert is a operating
Forman for both divisions, Matt Vis a pump truck driver and
14 AMERICAN LIQUID WASTE MAY 2016
specializes in our commercial step pumping. Bill W is our
facilities manager and Gus works in the shop and finally Dean
Bogart is what keeps us running every day. Dean is the shop
Forman and does all our mechanical work, fabrication work
and everything in between. I hope I didn't leave any one out.
One of the things we have created in our business model is
that everyone has their area of expertise and allows us to be
great in lots of different areas.
Q: How do you boost efficiency in yourjobs and your workers?
How do you boost morale in your workers? What do you expect
of them? Who trains them? Tell us about the training process
for the different roles and responsibilities your employees have
working for the company. What particular employee challenges
do you face?
Efficiency and moral seem to go hand and hand with our
company. Early I mentioned that our employees are jewels
not tools and with that we pride ourselves in taking care of
our employees. Our employees get paid top wages in their
fields, they have medical, dental, vision, secondary insurance
such as Aflac are also available to them at a highly negotiated
rate for them. We match up to 3% in a simple Ira for those
after a year of employment. We also invest heavily in to good
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10. quality equipment so that they rarely have equipment
break downs. Our staff gets privileges such as using our
equipment to work at their own homes and there family
houses. Our biggest struggle with employees is hiring
qualified employees. It's brutal trying to find good drivers,
operators, laborers. So we lean heavily on the benefits of
working for a family owned and operated business as well
as in some cases sign on bonus
Q. Tell us about your fleet ofvehicles.
We currently operate four pump trucks and are looking for
our fifth one with a tanker. Our first truck was purchased in
06 from FMI in Portland Oregon. Dad had this truck custom
built. Ten years later and it's still our show truck. It's a 2000
Freight liner century class. It has a 3600 gallon aluminum
Beall tank on it. Our next truck was purchased in 2011 and
is a 2003 freight liner century class. It has an Erickson 3600
gallon steel barrel. Next one was purchased in 2013 and is a
1999 Sterling with a Erickson 3000 Gallon steel tank. Lastly
we purchased a 2011 Peterbilt 365 with a steel 4750 gallon
tank on it. We use Varco hoses on all our trucks ranging from
2inch to 6inch and we carry around 160ft of 3inch hose on
every truck. All of our pump trucks run with Masport pumps.
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With every truck we have added fresh on-board water after
purchase.They all have 3200 psi on board jetters. We also
have crust busters on all but one of our trucks.
We have grown into a large fleet of trucks, with lots of
equipment, and tools. We run primarily dodge trucks for our
sales rigs. For small service trucks we have 8 Dodges that
range from half ton to one ton and are a mix of diesel and
gas. We have 2 fully enclosed vans that are set up to perform
our operation and maintenance part of our septic business.
We have 4 fully enclosed 24ft long box trucks that are
diesel and operate on Freightliner M2 chassis. These semis
are used in the construction field and we learned early on
that our equipment lasts longer. There are 3 dump trucks,
Internationals and Freightliners ranging from one that is
a 5 yard to two of them that are 12 yard dumps. There are
some 10 or more trailers ranging from 8ft long to 30ft long
trailer; some fully enclosed and others that have the ability
to carry 50klbs. We have a few Fords, a 5500 mechanics
truck and a 3500 Forman truck.We have street sweepers
pull behind air compressors to power wheel barrows, pull
behind dewatering pumps. In all we have around 32 trucks
and trailers which equates to over 140 tires on the ground at
any given time.
MAY 2016 AMERICAN LIQUID WASTE 15

11. Q: We are interested in your client base. How many clients
would you say you serviced or pumped monthly? Yearly? What
kind ofbusiness action does each division do monthly? Yearly?
We have a great group of customers and it continues to
grow. We see roughly around 3500 customers a year and haul/
pump around 2 and a half million gallons a year. Dad always
said never keep all your eggs in one basket so we used that
thought process to be diversified in all of our divisions so
we have many ongoing contracts with both residential and
commercial accounts. Some of our residential contracts are
simple year to year contracts where we inspect and maintain
their system. We probably have over 400 of them yearly. Our
commercial contracts are with the parks departments, local
counties with step systems again both in commercial and
residential. One day we may be pumping 20, 2-compartment
1000 gallon septic tanks spread out through a development
and the work can be done with one pump truck, the next
day we could be pumping a commercial system that is 30000
gallons and needs 4 trucks at one time pumping all the same
time. It can be quite the dispatching headache.
company from 3 of us 10 years ago with nothing to where we
are today. Our first 9 months in business we figured out how
to pull off 640k and at the end of last year we managed to
run about 5.7 million through the books. We measure in big
windows most of the year but we have always tracked what it
takes per day to keep the doors open.
Q: How much liquid and/or solid waste do you collect and
dispose of? Where do you dispose it? How does the whole
disposal process work in your particular municipality or state?
Our septic hauling division handles over 2.5 million gallons
a year and even that may be light because some of our large
commercial accounts we get paid by the gallon to haul away
but the customer pays for the disposal and so it's not tracked
through our system. Our sewage goes to several locations
throughout the counties we operate in. Most of our sewage
gets pumped from the individual sites and then hauled to one
of our two offices where we have 21000 gallon holding tanks
from there we have a company that hauls for us as much as
7 or more loads a week from us and then treats it and land
applies it on tree farms. We have 3 more municipal dump
Q: What about your revenue stream? What was it when you locations that range in price for disposal and range from 20 to
started? What is it now? What kind ofbusiness growth does your 40 miles away. []
company experience? What about each division? How did you
reach the high points ofbusiness growth and development?
What about the low points? What did you do about it?
It's taken about everything that we have made to take our
16 AMERICAN LIQUID WASTE MAY 2016
You can find out more information on A Advanced Septic by
visiting their website at: http://www.aadvancedservices.com
STORY BY MARK JOSEPH MANION
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