Updated from early 2009

Note that Ground Water Science is still standing after the credit and cash flow problems of 2008-2009.

When credit and bond markets stall in such a dramatic way as they did in 2008-2009, projects and cash flow of consulting firms can run dry too. If you are relying on consulting firms to assist you with projects, and you are selecting these partners to work with you, you want to know: "Will they be around to see the project through?" Wellfields, for example, can take several years to plan and bring into service.

Some consulting firms are consolidating into mega-organizations, relying on "economies of scale" to provide hydrogeologic services, for example. If a project needs a hydrogeologist in Ohio, for example, their guy in Tampa, FL will do the job. They don't need to have one on staff up there in the Buckeye. Ohio does not have geologist licensing. Organized engineers and disorganized geologists made sure of that. This arrangement can work for you, but you can get the idea that the service can be rather impersonal and hands-off. 

Some mid-sized firms are going to be hurting. They have enough "overhead" that they have significant fixed costs that must be covered one way or another. 

What about Ground Water Science? Partly through design and partly through circumstances, we are as lean as it gets. We have relatively few long-term fixed costs. We consist of owners. If things go dry, we all go dry. However, we have resources and plan to be here until we're too old to function. Your writer has been working as a consultant in the ground water field since the early 1980s, with Comeskey joining me in 1996. This is really all I know, other than farming and trades. I've seen the inside of cubicles and ... well ... that's not going to happen. Comeskey is likewise well-suited to this life. He would only change it for something involving fewer human interactions...

So we're going to be here. That's STILL true, not early in crisis bravado. You can count on that. If you look at some of our example projects, this very thin organization "plays above its weight class" because we are curious, committed to finding solutions and Renaissance Men - not narrowly focused on one skill set. We also build teams of the people needed for a task. We suffered financially in 2009, no doubt, but we are weathering the crisis. 

And with a thin organization of veterans devoted to problem solving, you get: The concentrated attention of +30-year veterans, a real value! So, by all means, give us a call or email if you are anticipating a ground water project, large or small.