Brooks Environmental Consulting Services

Owners: Steven Brooks

Email Address: steve@brooksbecs.com

Address: 105 Dorchester Court, North Charleston, SC 29418

Phone: (843) 607-6848

Website: www.brooksbecs.com

How long have you been in business? 5 years

Number of employees: 2

Please give us a brief description of the business: 

Provide professional consulting services, advice and guidance, regulatory agency coordination, efficient designs, effective project management, and regulatory permit management for projects in the marine environment. Works with projects ranging from private recreational docks, community docks, commercial docks, boat ramps, & erosion control structures to marinas, transportation projects (bridges), dredge projects, and beachfront ocean piers.

What is your business philosophy/mission statement?      

Passionate about the Waterfront and Marine Environment - No job is too big or too small.

Why does this business deserve to be a M&WBE Spotlight Business?

Brooks Environmental Consulting Services is the ONLY minority-owned consulting business in South Carolina that focuses on projects that are situated within the marine environment. It should be showcased as an M&WBE SpotlightBusiness because it is truly a "one-of-a-kind".

Growth: How has this business grown since its establishment (in employees or revenue)? What is the vision and potential for growth in the future?         

The business started by helping individuals and small companies cut through the confusing maze of multiple regulatory requirements, which often resulted in wasted time and effort with waterfront projects. The business has since grown and evolved to a point where I had to consider hiring new people and organizing the business better to handle the increasing volume of work. It is my vision that this business will continue to grow and diversify and serve as a unique self-sustaining employer in the Low Country for driven individuals interested in the marine environment that surrounds us.

What activities does your business engage in to support the broader community? For example: hiring veterans, charity work, volunteerism, etc.

I have hired a woman to help me run the business. I am considering hiring another woman who, like me, has retired from the environmental regulatory field. My business engages in and supports projects that serve the general public. The acquisition of the state and federal permits for the Folly Beach Fishing Pier is one example. My business also maintains good working relationships with local governments and the Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission (CCPRC).

What's one valuable lesson you've learned that you would share with other business owners?

One can never underestimate the importance of networking. If we all work together to help each other, everybody wins.

Tell us an interesting and fun fact about your business:  

Before I retired from SCDHEC in 2018, I made plans to start working with a friend in his environmental consulting business. Tragically, however, he passed away two weeks before I retired. His clients reached out to me to help them through the projects he was working on. It was this chain of events that gave birth to my business. Additionally, when I retired from SCDHEC, I was given a picture of the Morris Island Lighthouse, which is a well known, recognizable fixture in the Charleston area. That picture currently adorns the front page of my business website.