www.onsiteinstaller.comPROMOTING WASTEWATER TREATMENT QUALITY AND PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE

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Onsite Septic Solutionstackles challenging siteswith new treatment technologiesPage 24

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EXPOISSUE

Abandoning Old SystemsPage 14

Disinfection TechnologyPage 20

Advanced System for aGolf CoursePage 36

BoldSteps

o matter the technology,one installer must be firstin a locale to jump out of

the comfort zone. In Wyevale, Ont.,that installer is Kirk Hastings, 35,owner of Onsite Septic Solutions.

Since its inception in 2001, thecompany has gained a reputationfor accomplishing installations thatother contractors write off as impos-sible because of small or inaccessiblesites. Many jobs arrive by word-of-mouth, but business initially was driven by the good reputationof Ross Hastings Construction, asmall gravel and topsoil businessthat Hastings runs with his father.

“Dad laid a solid, ethical foun-dation, and it was up to me to carryon his standard of quality work andupholding our word,” says Hastings,who also owns Hastings Construc-tion and Excavating.

The defining moment in thedevelopment of Hastings Construc-tion came in 1999, when Hastingsturned to alternative technologyand tertiary treatment systemsinstead of installing just conven-tional stone and pipe drainfields.Two years later, he stepped fartheraway from the excavation world

and started Onsite Septic Solutions.“Focusing directly on the waste-water industry was the turningpoint in my career,” he says.

It’s new to usHastings, a member of the

Ontario Onsite Wastewater Associ-ation (OOWA) and NOWRA, wasthe first and only contractor in hisarea to install effluent filters andaccess risers to grade until Ontario’sbuilding code made them mandatoryon Jan. 1, 2007. He says installersof conventional systems avoidedeffluent filters because they requirefollow-up maintenance.

Normally, conventional systemsin his area receive service only ifhomeowners call for a pump-out orhave a problem. Hastings, however,started a database that informs conventional system owners whentheir effluent filter should becleaned and the tank pumped.

In 2000, Hastings became thefirst local installer to use chambersfrom Infiltrator Systems Inc. andAdvanced Drainage Systems Inc.“Our McCloskey 512 screeningplant produces acceptable sand and gravel for installations, but not

washed material,” he says. “Thearea’s supply of pre-washed stone islimited and hard to get. Chambersare an excellent substitute anddon’t require heavy equipment totransport them.”

Besides using aggregate andsand mined in the family’s quarry,Hastings blends and screens hisown soil for backfill.

Hastings’ construction back-ground fed his interest in advancedtreatment units. He wondered,since new houses are expected tolast more than 60 years, why hewas installing wastewater systemsthat lasted only 20 years.

Another spark was environ-mental awareness. Hastings lives on the southeast shore of Georgian

installerprofile

Onsite SepticSolutions, Wyevale, Ont.

OWNER: Kirk Hastings

FOUNDED: 2001

EMPLOYEES: 6

SPECIALTIES: Tertiary treatmentand limited-access installations

AFFILIATIONS: Ontario OnsiteWastewater Association,NOWRA, Midland BuildersAssociation, CanadianStandards Association

WEB SITE:www.onsiteseptic.com

Onsite Septic Solutions takes the lead in its area by tacklingchallenging sites with the latest in treatment technologies

By Scottie Dayton

Bold Steps

N “I have four licensed practi-tioners who can legally assumethe supervisor role, but becauseI own the company, I feel mostcomfortable onsite. And this isthe work I enjoy the most.”— Kirk Hastings

★

Bold Steps

Onsite Septic equipment operator Mac McGilltransports a biofilter enclosure along the eastshore of Georgian Bay. From left, Kirk Hastings,Andy Reid from Brooklin Concrete Products, and Brian French ensure safe passage.

Bay, home to one of the world’slargest freshwater beaches, stretch-ing 48 miles. Georgian Bay is partof Lake Huron, and that closenessto the Great Lakes combined withthe area’s high water table makeevery installation an environmentalissue.

Moving far ahead of the compe-tition, Hastings decided to installpretreatment systems, then size thedrainfield to the treatment tank’scapacity. Most installers, followingthe building code, use a system’sminimum flow to size the drainfield.

Proper combinationHastings was the first to install

foam-based biofilters from WaterlooBiofilter Systems Inc.; peat-basedEcoflo biofilters from Premier Tech Environment Ltd.; andSingulair aerobic treatment unitsfrom Norweco. Systems containing mechanical components always

receive backup alarms, sometimeswith telemetry. (Hastings also is theonly area installer using telemetry.)

Although manufacturers trainnew installers on their systems andsend a representative to assist withthe first installation, few installershave followed his lead. “The major-ity are excavating contractors whowant to provide turnkey services,”Hastings explains. “They do the siteprep, excavation, and add the waste-water system to complete the circle.

“The problem is that construc-tion contractors are always trying tomeet erratic trade schedules andcan’t devote the necessary time towastewater systems,” he adds. “Inthe installation business, however,the scheduling usually wrapsaround the installer. I find it mucheasier to manage my time and, asan efficient planner, I am reapingthe benefits, as are my customers.”Ninety percent of his installationsare residential, and 10 percent arecommercial.

While advanced treatment unitsand low-profile septic tanks thatrequire shallower excavations haveenabled Hastings to install systemson compact lots or those with highwater tables, getting to them is

Kirk Hastings, owner of Onsite SepticSolutions, gets installations other contrac-tors write off as impossible. A recentexample was a home on Gull Island inGeorgian Bay. The house was perched ona hill 35 feet above the beach.

Hastings contemplated using heliumballoons to ferry the plastic septic tankfrom shore to shore, but a MythBustersepisode proved that the idea wasn’t plausible. “We had a dry summer, and byfall the water in the bay was down severalfeet,” he says. “Gradually, a small, 300-foot long sandbar emerged, connectingthe island to the mainland.”

A rubber-tracked mini-excavator

crawled over the sandbar — glacial tilltopped with a massive rock garden — tothe base of the hill. “The bright side wasthat the boulders had no sharp edges, sothey didn’t damage the tracks,” saysHastings. “However, we couldn’t use thesandbar as a road. It was just too hard onthe equipment.”

Using the excavators, they constructeda 6-foot-wide road up the hill to the site.Meanwhile, Hastings donned hip wadersand pushed the 1,800-gallon plastic septic tank across the bay. The water was3 feet deep. “Gull Island was definitelyone site in which no other installers wereinterested,” says Hastings.

Where No Others Dare

Mac McGill transports a1,800-gallon polyethyleneseptic tank through naturalshoreline surrounding awork site.

Upper photo: Mac McGill (left)installs a time-dosed pump systemas Kirk Hastings assists. At right, a3-inch polyethylene sewer line isinstalled behind a high-pressurehorizontal drilling head.

Al Lalonde (back left) and MacMcGill construct a force main,while Kirk Hastings (in excavator)consults with property owner.

often the greatest challenge. Near Georgian Bay, most soils

are sandy. To increase traction andreduce the odds of bogging down inthe sand, he ordered a John Deere544, 4-wheel-drive front-end loaderwith extra-wide tires. Other companyvehicles have tracks instead of wheels.

“Tracks also minimize the impacton the owner’s property,” Hastingssays. “Because lots are usually narrow and cramped, we switchedour excavation equipment to compact zero-tail swing. Even our34,000-pound excavator has it.”

Onsite Septic has three JohnDeere excavators, one 4-axle andone 3-axle Freightliner dump truckwith pup trailer, a Ford F-350 SuperDuty pickup truck, two Ford F-150pickup trucks, and a John Deere450 bulldozer.

Making life easierAn integral part of Onsite

Septic’s success is Cathy Marcellus,whom Hastings hired as his part-time bookkeeper in 1997. As thebusiness grew, she stepped into therole of office manager, too.

Marcellus shared Hastings’enthusiasm for the wastewaterindustry and became a licensedonsite system inspector certifiedwith the province. She also learnedto design systems from practicalapplications within the businessand through a provincial accredita-tion testing facility. (Ontario doesnot require an engineering licenseto design systems or sign thedesigns of someone who is not anengineer.)

Hastings, who is trained as aheavy-equipment diesel mechanic,and his lead man, Allan “Bubbles”Lalonde, maintain all the equip-ment and do about 30 percent of the repair work in a new 60- by 100-foot building. It containsoffices, a training area, lockers forsix full-time employees, a washstall, maintenance area with heatedfloor, and space to park equipment.

Hastings, however, has a hardtime foreseeing expanding beyondhis present capabilities. “We installabout 100 systems a year, which is enough work to keep one crewbusy,” he says. “I have no interestin going beyond that because I liketo be involved in the installations. I have four licensed practitioners

who can legally assume the supervi-sor role, but because I own thecompany, I feel most comfortableonsite. And this is the work I enjoythe most.”

Since onsite education is in itsinfancy in Ontario, an even biggerobstacle to expanding Onsite Septicis hiring competent help. Hastings’solution is to sit on OOWA’s boardof directors and work on trainingprograms. He also sits on the tech-nical committee of the CanadianStandards Association for testingthe performance equivalency ofseptic tanks.

Meanwhile, he and Lalonde seekout easier, more productive ways to install systems. In one instance,Hastings took advantage of theland’s natural 6-foot drop to installa 3-inch PVC pipe. Access to thesite was limited, so he hired a utilitycontractor to horizontal directionaldrill 200 feet from the road to thehomeowner’s back yard.

The boring rig, from HapampLtd. of Elmvale, Ont., had an elec-tronic eye that maintained a precise2 percent grade from the septic tankdown to the drainfield. The innova-tive approach left the landscapinguntouched and added another firstto Onsite Septic’s record.

Beating the coldInspiration for another first

came from Hastings’ next-doorneighbor, a spray foam insulatingcontractor, who built an ice-fishingigloo by spraying urethane foam

over a wood frame. Hastings figuredthat if the foam kept the ice fisher-men warm, it would work on micro-organisms, too.

“Bacteria going dormant inbiofilters is a major issue, especiallywhere systems are exposed to win-ter’s northwest wind coming off thebay,” he says. “I must provide thebugs with a blanket.” Instead of thestandard Styrofoam board, whichdoesn’t create a perfect seal, Hastingssprayed 3 inches of foam over theseptic tank and biofilter, sealing allthe crevices and narrow spots. Thesystem is in its first winter.

Hastings has believed in alter-

nating drainfields ever since helearned about the concept at aNOWRA training seminar. “I’mhaving a hard time implementingthe idea because our building codehas size and length requirementsfor leachfields,” he says. “Maybe,working through OOWA, we canchange that.” Already, the local muni-cipalities enforcing the building

code consult regularly with Hastingsand Marcellus, and ask their opin-ions about other installations.

Being one of the only tertiarytreatment installers in the area,Onsite Septic gets the contracts fornew subdivisions requiring suchtreatment. Hastings also is a partnerin Westridge Development Corp.The company is three-quarters ofthe way through developing a 42-lot subdivision approved for indi-vidual conventional onsite systems.

By leaving his comfort zone,Kirk Hastings has found his calling,and in the process, is lifting up theentire wastewater industry in hispart of Ontario. ■

From left, MacMcGill, Al Lalonde,and Kirk Hastingsinstall a drainfield.

Mike Pauze, Kirk Hastings, andAndy Reid from Brooklin ConcreteProducts guide a biofilter enclosureinto place.

A conventional septic system isinstalled using chambers on alimited-access site.

MORE INFO: Premier Tech Env. Ltd.418/867-8883www.premiertech.com

Waterloo Biofilter Systems519/856-0757www.waterloo-biofilter.com

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Reprinted with permission from Onsite Installer™ / February 2007 / © 2016, COLE Publishing Inc., P.O. Box 220, Three Lakes, WI 54562 / 800-257-7222 / www.onsiteinstaller.com