Service Pumping & Drain Co., Inc.

"Your industry isn't the most glorious job on the planet." A customer wrote that in a 2023 review of Service Pumping & Drain — right before calling the technician who cleaned his system the most professional service person he'd dealt with in any industry. That gap, between the work and the way people talk about it, is the through-line here. The North Reading company hauls non-hazardous liquid waste: septic pumping, grease traps, catch basins and storm drains, holding tanks, pipeline video inspection, high-pressure jetting. It says it started in 1927 in Wakefield with a horse and wagon, that Dick Mottolo bought it in 1972 when it was two employees and two pump trucks, and that his daughter Lara took over as president and owner in 2021; the company describes itself as family-owned and woman-owned. Its BBB page dates the business to 1972, counts 31 employees, names Lara J Mottolo as president, and carries an A+ with accreditation since August 2024 and no complaints listed. The Google average is 4.5 across 17 ratings, and the written history runs 2022 through 2026. What customers describe is rarely a crisis — it's a schedule. In March 2026 a customer wrote that the company cleans grease traps at all three of their school locations and that scheduling and payment are both easy; a 2022 reviewer said their traps get pumped monthly and the staff stays responsive. A first-time septic customer in 2023 wrote that the technician took his time explaining how the whole system operates. Crew members get named — Stephen, Sean, Fernando — which is unusual in a trade where nobody usually notices who showed up. The complaint worth knowing about is a 2024 one-star review from someone who found the company pumps after hours only for commercial customers. If you're a homeowner and the worry is a tank backing up at 11pm, ask about that before you need to. The credentials listed on the company's own site — OSHA 10, TWIC, confined-space entry, and two Massachusetts statewide contracts, TRD01 and TRD02 — are its own claims rather than anything confirmed here. This reads as a maintenance-contract outfit more than an emergency one: restaurants, schools and property managers on a pumping schedule, plus homeowners who can book a daytime septic cleaning. Confirm residential coverage and after-hours terms when you call, and get the scope of the pumping in writing.