The Pros & Cons of Working with a Small Environmental Firm (Like Us)

The Realities of Working with a Small Environmental Consultant

Here's something we get all the time: “Wait... you’re a small firm?”

People are surprised when they realize we’re not some massive national consulting company with hundreds of employees scattered across dozens of offices. And we get it. Our website is pretty comprehensive, and our online presence is pretty polished (high-five marketing team!) (*high-fives self*).

But the secret's out: the truth is, we’re small (for now), and we aren't afraid to admit it.

Being a small firm comes with benefits that big firms just can’t offer. It also comes with trade-offs. And because we believe in being upfront with clients (even when we're telling them the reasons we're not a good fit) here’s a completely honest breakdown of what it’s like to work with a small environmental consulting firm, and with RMA specifically.

If you want to talk through whether we’re the right firm for you, contact us here.

Table of Contents

• General Pros of Working with a Small Environmental Firm
• RMA-Specific Pros
• General Cons of Working with a Small Environmental Firm
• RMA-Specific Cons
• Is a Small Firm Right for You?

General Pros of Working with a Small Environmental Firm

Working with a small crew can have huge benefits. It all depends on what you value, however.

• Personal touch - Most small firms treat you like a person, not a project number. You’re not handed off between departments. You’re not managed by a rotating cast of support staff. You actually get to build a relationship with the people doing the work.
• Direct access to experts - You usually don’t need to go through an admin or junior associate to get to someone who knows what they’re doing. With a small firm, the people answering your emails and showing up on-site are the same ones making decisions and solving problems.
• Faster decisions - No “let me check with corporate.” Small firms tend to move quicker because there’s no giant approval process. Things don’t sit on a manager’s desk for a week. If something needs to be done, it gets done.
• Flexible and adaptable - Smaller teams can often pivot quickly. Whether it's a sudden change in your schedule, a new compliance concern, or just a shift in priorities, a small firm can usually adjust without too much hassle.
• Stronger working relationships - When you work with the same small group of people over time, things run more smoothly. There’s less repeating yourself. They remember your site. They understand your goals. It’s easier to build mutual trust, even if you don’t plan to keep them around forever.
• More transparency - Most small firms are more upfront because they have to be. You’re more likely to hear the truth about what you need, what it’ll cost, and how long it will take, even if it’s not always what you want to hear.
• Fast response times - With fewer layers, you’re more likely to get a call back the same day. Questions don’t get lost in a ticket system. You can usually get someone on the phone who knows what’s going on.
• Less expensive - Smaller firms don’t have massive overhead to cover, and you’re not paying for layers of management. That usually means more reasonable pricing, especially for businesses that don’t need a huge corporate consulting experience.

RMA-Specific Pros

We're pretty good, but we're not perfect. Here's a few things we think are positives about working with us.

• You actually get to know us - With a handful of employees, you’ll probably work with one person as your project lead and be closest with them, but you’ll probably also brush shoulders with all of (or almost all of) our firm.
• We’re a family business - Not all employees are family, but our owners are still here working day-to-day as our lead consultants. Our reputation isn't about making shareholders happy, it’s about our legacy. We try to go the extra mile to make sure that our name is associated with high-quality work.
• We’re transparent - Whether that’s on our pricing, realistic timelines, or even when it hurts us, like telling you we’re not the right fit. Our goal isn’t to “sell you,” it’s to help. And sometimes that means not working together.
• Seasoned professionals - We don’t take college kids and stick them on the front lines to ChatGPT your questions behind the scenes. We’ve all been here for years (or decades) doing this exact work day in and day out. All of our work is done in-house, and in extremely rare situations where we need to involve outside hands, you’ll know.
• Custom solutions - Because we’re not a massive corporation dealing with thousands of clients, we don’t standardize every document we deliver or every program we build. We’re flexible and tailor each job to your specific operation. No cookie-cutter stuff.
• We’re regular people - We don’t talk like lawyers or textbooks. We make speling mistakes and have normal lives outside work, just like you do! What we do well is to break down complex environmental regulations in a way that actually makes sense so you’re not left scratching your head or Googling acronyms after every call.
• We work nationwide (even though we’re small!) - Don’t let our size fool you! We have clients all across the U.S. (and beyond), and we’ve developed remote and hybrid services to support them without wasting time or money.
• We’ve worked with some really large clients - If you’re ruling us out because you have dozens of facilities, not so fast! We’ve been there, done that. Who, you ask? Sorry - we're serious about confidentiality (and we won't spread your business either!), so you'll just have to take our word for it. But rest assured, we know how to scale our work to fit more complex operations.
• We don’t want to work for you forever - We get enjoyment out of building programs that companies can actually use without us. We're flattered if you don't want to see us go, but we don’t set clients up to be dependent on us forever.
• We actually care about your success - Seriously! If you're successful and happy with us, happy customers tend to be repeat customers! We want you to succeed! Heck, some of our clients are now long-term friends! We like to see you win. Not because it helps us hit some quota, but because we genuinely care about seeing good businesses succeed.

General Cons of Working with a Small Environmental Firm

Let's not sugarcoat it, working with a small firm has its downsides.

• Limited capacity - Small firms may not be able to take on huge volumes of work all at once. If you need a lot done very quickly, they might not have the bandwidth.
• No national physical presence - A smaller firm might not have someone local to every one of your sites. That could mean more travel costs or remote work depending on where you're located.
• Fewer backup staff - If someone’s out sick or on vacation, timelines can shift. There’s not always a huge team available to jump in and cover every gap.
• Not all services may be in-house - Smaller firms generally specialize in a few areas, meaning they might need to outsource certain tests, sampling, or technical work, especially for very niche or specialized services.
• Less brand recognition - You might have to convince internal stakeholders or executives that this unknown small firm is legit, especially if they’re used to hiring bigger names.
• Limited after-hours support - Don’t expect a 24/7 helpline or instant client portal access. If you need help at midnight, it may have to wait until the morning.
• Not always scalable for huge projects - It might take longer for a small firm to ramp up for multi-site initiatives or extremely fast-paced projects.

RMA-Specific Cons

We're not a perfect fit for everyone - we get that! Here's some of the downsides with us.

• We can be booked up - We don’t have hundreds of employees ready to field every job. And during busy reporting seasons (or just randomly) we might not have enough space to take on a new client immediately. Our turnaround time could go from a couple of days to a few weeks all depending on our workload.
• We’re picky about who we work with - Since we have limited bandwidth, we can’t take every project that knocks on our door, and we’re okay with that. We’re not trying to grow just for the sake of growth. When we say yes to a job, it’s because we believe in the work, the client, and our ability to deliver.
• We aren’t the cheapest firm - Even though we’re “little guys” relatively speaking, we hold ourselves to high standards. We've been at this for decades, take training all the time, don't hire junior staff, and we don't rush through things - we do them meticulously and right. And that means that sometimes our price tag is a little higher than the other small firm down the street.
• We're East-Coast based - Again, for the right job we can and will work across the country (and do all the time), but generally, we work around our offices on the East Coast. It’s less travel, more work getting done in the office, and less expensive for our clients.
• We might not offer every service you’re after in-house - Whether that’s help from an engineer for the construction of a new facility, remediation or wetlands delineation, environmental law, or complex analytical testing - we don’t do it all. We'll be upfront about it though, and more often than not, we know someone we can work alongside, or we'll just send you their way if we don't have anything to offer.
• We ask our clients to be involved - Now, that doesn’t mean we’re going to ask you to run your own calculations or figure out which permits to apply for. We’ll hold your hand through everything... but we aren’t a totally hands-off firm. If you aren’t willing to respond to emails and answer questions from time to time, we won’t work well together. We need your input to do our jobs.

So, Is a Small Firm Like RMA Right for You?

Working with a small environmental firm isn’t always the perfect fit, but when it is, it can make all the difference. You’re not dealing with bureaucracy, you’re not getting passed between departments, and you’re not stuck with generic solutions. You’re working with real people who know what they’re doing and care about doing it well.

At RMA, we bring experience, flexibility, and straight talk to every project we take on. We’ll tell you if we’re the right fit - and we’ll also tell you if we’re not. No pressure. No nonsense.

If this sounds like the kind of partnership you’ve been looking for, reach out to us here. Let’s talk through your challenges and figure out what makes the most sense for you.

We’re here to help you get compliant, stay compliant, and move forward with confidence.