Soil Solutions

I want to give an update to my previous Soil Solutions review. Darren, one of the owners, followed up with me personally regarding a poor service complaint. Besides offering solutions and follow-​up services to fix the problem (which was substantial settling and erosion on the back fill for a sewer line), he took the time to diagnose what had happened and why I never heard anything back.
Besides his offering a remedy, what I appreciate most is the time he took to contact me and figure out what happened. That says a lot in of itself, and speaks volumes about the values and company culture. Even more, communication was polite and to the point. I firmly believe if I would have made more of an effort to follow-​up my email with phone calls, I would have received the same great customer service with any of their employees and any problems (which can happen) would have been addressed in a timely manner.

After a horrible experience dealing with dishonest sewer plumbing outfits we found Phil from Soil Solutions. He offered to let us observe his work, was easy to understand, respectful, friendly, very professional & honest. He restored our faith in there being an honest company out there. Whitney (Project Manager) was also the same as Phil so again another impressive representation of Soil Solutions staff. I would highly recommend this company!

Soil Solutions came highly recommended to us by our Realtor and Home Inspector. We chose to have them perform the sewer scope, tank locate and radon test during the purchase of our house over the summer. As the radon levels were high we also contracted Soil Solutions for the mitigation.
We appreciated that Soil Solutions staff responded to an issue that arose during the process in a professional manner, putting their customer first. This, combined with the clean and skilled installation of the mitigation system itself, means that we would recommend Soil Solutions to anyone needing professional mitigation and customer service.

Soil Solutions were great. Knowledgeable people, friendly, nice and even cleaned up after themselves. The also came right away and got the job done before a party were planned to have. I highly recommend them.

I found myself in the crappy situation mentioned by Kal C. of being on a party sewer line and being served as a nuisance to the city. I tried fighting it, but that’s another Unilocal review on PDX Environmental Services.
I want to warn you that people are getting jacked on this! Why, because the city is enforcing it and there are a lot of companies out there taking advantage. I got three quotes. One, Sharon Bowell, is a smart PE (professional engineer), and took me seriously when I told her the bids I had gotten so far were exorbitant. The initial bid was 3 grand less — including what I thought would be cheaper — Roto Rooter.
The construction team was very nice, professional and worked v. hard as there were giant bolders beneath the soil. It wound up being a grand more, but within the scope of the original bid and still 2 grand less than competitors.
Her team followed up with me, took picutres and ensured my yard was returned to its original state.
I highly recommend them!

I see a theme with other poor reviews mentioning issues with oil tanks being decommissioned. I’ve only specifically dealt with their sewer scope/​repair services. We did do an oil tank search during a property sale, but no issues were present, so no complaints.
The hands of bureaucracy have officially slapped me. The letters from the city requiring a sewer scope and upgrade have come. We manage a few properties on the same street in NE Portland. I’m sure I’ll get more. Non-​conforming sewer lines be damned.
Soil Solutions is speedy and thorough. If that hand comes down to slap me again, I know I’ll be sending Soil Solutions again. I appreciate the quality of their scopes and the knowledge of their employees. Their reports are easy to follow, and I feel comfortable sending them off to the City without needing further clarification.
If you ever find yourself in a crappy situation (pun intended) with City of Portland Environmental Services, contact Soil Solutions.

I first contacted soil solutions by sending them an email November 1, 2014. I had recently purchased a house, and was told it would be a good idea to get a radon test after the windows were replaced and the holes in the siding patched (it needed a lot of repairs). After two weeks of no response to my initial email inquiring about a radon test, I emailed again on November 14, 2014, and called at 8:30am as well. I spoke with a nice woman for 5 minutes, who told me that the radon test was a free service. I was surprised by this, but it was of course, a pleasant surprise. I told her that I would email her when I was ready to schedule my free test.
I emailed again on November 30^th to find out about the conditions for the test. It turns out that you shouldn’t have a hole in your basement foundation during a radon test, so I said I would email again when the holes had been patched.
I emailed on Dec 12, 2014 to schedule the test. I got a response with a document that outlined the conditions for the test (you have to leave the windows closed, etc.). We did a back and forth of about 6 more emails before someone came out to do the test, so lots was talked about and clarified.
A week after the test, I got an email with my results and a general message like, «We hope you had a good experience.» I thought that concluded our relationship.
One week after that, I get a bill for $ 165 for the radon test. Wut? I was very surprised by this, and responded to Darren Blaine (the accounting person who had sent the bill). I said, «I’m really confused by receiving this bill. In my many emails to Soil Solutions, I was never told that a radon test was $ 165.» I also gave him the date and time of my original phone call in the hopes that the conversation was recorded. I suggested that maybe someone had accidentally given me the wrong information, and Darren’s response was to say «We are a private environmental inspection company and do not test for free.» He also went on to insinuate that I was lying, and that he was «quite confident» that no one had actually told me that it was a free service. I understand that some people lie, but, even if I was lying (I wasn’t), why would you say it like that? People (even employees of businesses) make mistakes. Why not say something along the lines of, «I’m so sorry about this misunderstanding. We will certainly investigate this matter.» How can he be certain of what was said in a conversation he was not present for?
Anyways, I am reasonable, and I understand that I don’t have proof that the person I spoke with told me it was a free service (I was also told they no longer work there). Fine. I can accept that. But, in my many communications with this company, not once (other than when I was told it was free) was payment mentioned. They didn’t have me sign anything.
I asked Darren if it was their normal practice to not tell customers the price of a service until after it was completed, but his response was only, «Do you want to set up a payment plan?» I responded to him that I would really appreciate it if he would answer my question instead of deflecting, and that, yes, I would pay the invoice. He responded to this by saying «You can mail your check to 3540 SE 28^th Avenue, Portland, OR 97 202.» I replied again, telling him that I felt he was being rude for not answering my question. He never responded again.
So that was my experience. I would NOT recommend Soil Solutions. It seems really unscrupulous to provide a service without being up front about the cost. Even if they had never told me it was free (they did), them not telling me how much the service was going to cost until after the fact was extremely unprofessional. I’m also really irritated by the way Darren Blaine spoke (or didn’t speak) to me in his emails. I would not trust them.
Update 2÷28÷2015: At the urging of some friends, I filed a complaint with the Oregon Department of Justice against Soil Solutions. Soil Solutions’ response was to send me a letter, stating the events that had transpired between us (they probably got most of their information from this Unilocal review), and then to add at the end, «A quick google search of Ms. Unger’s reviews of other companies shows a pattern of combative relationships with vendors, complaints about pricing and services after the service has been completed, and an obvious disconnect between what Ms. Unger feels she deserves and what the vendor was contracted to provide.»
So on top of everything else, Soil Solutions decided to use victim-​blaming in an attempt to discredit me. If a business treats me poorly, I’m going to stand up for myself by first attempting to resolve the situation by communicating with them. If that doesn’t work, I am going to do the only thing I can, and leave a review that accurately depicts the events that transpired. Standing up to unscrupulous businesses does not make me combative. It makes me a person with self esteem.

I am surprised by the negative comments of others in regards to soil solutions. I am a realtor and my seller just had soil solutions take care of their underground oil tank decommissioning and DEQ certification. Aaron in the tank division was fabulous to deal with. He was prompt, courteous and extremely professional. The process was a little more involved and my seller had a lot of questions and Aaron was ALWAYS available to answer her questions and carefully explain the next step in the process. All of the people in the tank division were professional as well; they arrived when they said they were going to, were courteous and left no trace of a mess. When the tank was capped and the soil was replaced you would not have known they were ever there. My seller told me that someone at Soil Solutions needed to know what a great job Aaron and the tank team had done. I told her I would happily write a raving review for the tank division at Soil Solutions. When a home seller hears the term contamination it can cause a lot of anxiety and Aaron and the Soil Solutions team were experts at alleviating that anxiety and walking the seller through the process. I would highly recommend them to you and will be sure to recommend them to my future buyers and sellers.

In reply to their response. Sorry, but no you didn’t.
When the sewer scope was completed the homeowner was left without a working toilet. I had a plumber go in and fix it, because I was told that Soil Solutions wouldn’t.
The next day the homeowner was still without a working toilet because the bolts weren’t put back in place (not an issue I was told about, but it turns out Soil Solutions was aware of).
Soil Solutions had someone go over to look at the bolts and said they couldn’t fix it saying the bolts were stripped. I called my plumber back to fix the bolts.
Soil Solutions later that day called and said they were going to fix the bolts (which they failed to do in 2 trips). I said no at this point because the homeowner had been without a working toilet for 2 days. I knew my plumber would fix it, and had zero confidence that Soil Solutions (who caused the problem, and had multiple oportunities to fix it at that poin). It turns out they weren’t stripped, the washers were not put back on, they were placed under the toilet. I told the manager I was unhappy and not going to use Soil Solutions anymore.
The next day I cancelled a appointment with Soil Solutions for them to do radon mitigation on another house. The manager then called me back and said they would do whatever it took to fix the toilet (already fixed by my plumber at this point), then late that day the owner of the company called and said they would fix the toilet. Again, this is 3 days after they broke the only toilet in the house.
If Soil Solutions wanted to make this right, they could re-​imburse me for my out of pocket expense of sending the plumber there twice to fix the problems they causesd, and couldn’t fix themselves.
To recap, they couldn’t properly attach the water supply valve they took off, they broke the water shutoff valve, and they didn’t put the bolts back on the toilet. Easy stuff if you know what you are doing, but they didn’t. I stand by my comment they shouldn’t touch a toilet if they can’t return it to full operation.

I would give Soil Solutions zero stars if that were an option. Soil Solutions lacks integrity and is not willing to stand by their work. If you are thinking about hiring them, think again.
My wife and I bought a house in December and the previous owner, as part of the sales agreement, agreed to have the sewer line replaced. When we moved in we noticed that there was some settling in the front yard in a couple of spots — the fresh soil from the excavation was soggy with rain and had compacted on itself. No big deal, we called Soil Solutions and after a few tries, they came out and filled in their holes.
A month or so later we realized that the landscaping lights in the front yard didn’t turn on. We were new owners, but we could’ve sworn that the lights were on the many times we drove by the house when it was still for sale. A little investigation of the low-​voltage wiring led us to discover that the wiring had been cut when Soil Solutions dug up and replaced the sewer line. Rather than replace or fix the problem, they buried it.
I called and spoke to Todd. I told him that I was going to hire an electrician to fix the wiring and asked them to pay for it. He said technically it wasn’t Soil Solutions fault, but that he would send someone out to fix it. Rather than argue with him on the legitimacy of his claim, I simply accepted his offer. When I came home from work, the lights were on and the damaged wires were buried again. My hope is that they will last for many years to come.
As spring turned to summer, I decided to test out our home’s irrigation system. It took me some time to program, but when I set the thing to turn on, it didn’t start. I had a couple of different contractors come out and none of them could find the main shut off valve. Again, these are typical problems that a new homeowner will face. I should have known better and just focused on the spot closest to the sewer line replacement — experience would’ve told me that the confusion likely had something to do with Soil Solutions. But instead I fumbled around until I found the previous owner’s maintenance guy.
He called me from my front yard one day and said that he had found the valve. Good news. It was buried under 18″ of dirt in (you guessed it) the area where Soil Solutions had replaced the sewer line. I was relieved until he told me that when he turned the valve on, the valve sleeve filled with water. He recommended that I dig up the area and see if I could locate the leak.
I’ve uploaded a picture here. Not 8 inches from the main valve, Soil Solutions’ expert excavators snapped the PVC piping, and then buried their mistake, valve and all. At this point the mess that Soil Solutions had left behind was unbelievable. I called Todd again to tell him that I was going to have the break fixed and I would send him a bill.
Stopping just short of yelling at me on the phone, Todd was rude and impatient and told me that the irrigation break wasn’t their problem. I explained that I simply wanted the issue fixed, and he told me that the contract that was signed excluded Soil Solutions from any damage caused to un-​marked utilities. Understandable, I said, but I hadn’t signed the contract. And regardless, it is Soil Solutions’ job to repair and replace infrastructure in underground locations. To do so and maintain a good reputation for your work, it seems to me that precaution and care would be paramount. If his crew had been careless and destructive during their operation on my front yard, didn’t he feel obligated to fix their mistakes?
Todd said no. He told me that the break was my problem and HONESTLY wished me luck in getting it resolved. I told him that his actions were comparable to an orthopedic surgeon doing an invasive operation on my knee, shattering my femur in the process, sewing me up and sending me on my way. Which I thought was an apt analogy … except surgeons are doctors. With brains.
The fact that Soil Solutions didn’t feel any responsibility to fix their last mistake makes me think they don’t care about customer service or their professional reputation. I wish them well in their efforts to complete as many shoddy, half-​ass jobs as possible in the shortest possible period of time. After all, apparently that’s what people are paying for when they hire Soil Solutions.

Actually, I would not even give them one star… no stars to be exact. A second opinion revealed they had fabricated the report and we did not need to have the extensive work done at all. Rip off guys, dont go there.

We recently sold a house with an in-​ground oil tank. The buyers, not surprisingly, wanted it decommissioned.
I got bids from two different companies (both recommended by my realtor), and chose Soil Solutions because we were impressed with their customer service and the fact that they got their bid to us the same day.
We had the same project manager from start to finish. It was so nice not having to deal with multiple people!
The decommissioning happened while I was at work. I had been worried about what I would find when I got home, since the oil tank was right by a sidewalk, a foundation, and a whole lot of plants, but all I saw when I got home was the tiniest patch of bare dirt where once there had been grass. I was amazed.
My only complaint is that they used my garden hose to do some clean up, and while they shut off my hose wand, they did not completely shut off the water supply. This meant that that night I found water leaking through the hose bib in our finished basement. Luckily, no permanent damage was done, but it was upsetting nonetheless.
I would still highly recommend them, though.

During the home buying process most people figure out that, even with recommendations, it’s hard to find people who are nice, know what they’re doing and don’t charge an excessive amount, so I wasn’t really expecting stellar service for a sewer scope.
I had been given two different recommendations from people as to who to go with for this part of the process and I’m so glad I chose Soil Solutions. They were amazing! The technician was on time and was very professional. He explained the sewer set up in detail and gave me a DVD of the scope.
On top of having a nice tech, the scheduling staff were exceptional. They sent me an email with the scope results, explained the findings and answered some questions I had about the whole thing.
To top it off they charged $ 50.00 less than the other companies I checked out.
Friendly people, professional service. I highly recommend them!

Soil Solutions enjoys the rare good reputation in a business crowded with liars, dimwits and thieves.
I had one experience with them, and it was bad. A tank they had decommissioned started leaking oil 5 years later, and it turned out they had done a quickie job, omitting to cut and cap the supply lines as required by DEQ procedures.
Granted, 5 years had gone by, but they insisted they had done the job by the book and flatly refused to participate in the 2^nd decommissioning. I wouldn’t recommend them.

I’m really hoping that I never have to undergo a colonoscopy. I’m banking on technology improving dramatically before I reach my 50’s. I’ve got 20 years left, so I can afford optimism.
At the moment, we’re trying to buy a house, and it needs a colonoscopy (i.e., sewer scope) of its own prior to closing. Since there’s not an MRI-​style solution for sewer inspections, we need the old fashioned invasive tube-​down-​the-​hole experience. The gang at Soil Solutions were happy to deliver. Yikes.
Seriously… If you need any sewer related work done, these guys are true pros. I even got a DVD video of the sewer scope. I think we’ll show it at the house warming. Isn’t that charming?