Our founder, Eric Hanis, spent 15 years of his career working for medium and large consulting and engineering firms in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas, solving environmental challenges throughout the Midwest.
While sitting in yet another corporate strategy meeting, once again listening to management brainstorm new ways to nickel-and-dime clients, (whether it was new “technology” charges, billing more hours or expanding the scope of work when it wasn’t really necessary), Eric decided he’d had enough of the big-company-culture. He didn’t feel in alignment with the “charge more for less” mentality that was rampant in the business.
As a dedicated professional who deeply understands the stress a client can be under when it comes to their property even without the unexpected, added fees, Eric decided to follow his dream to start Hanis Consulting, where he could set the tone with his clients and make it his mission to provide a quality service with transparency.
Hanis Consulting’s goal is to be a trusted environmental advisor to our clients. We know that trust is built not only through transparency throughout the process on how your investment is working for you, but also by providing consistent communication throughout the project, so you are never surprised or confused.
Therefore, our business model is very simple: do great, thorough work, communicate clearly and transparently with you, the client, and efficiently solve your environmental challenges.
These practices, coupled with our unique creative solutions to environmental challenges build long-term relationships with our clients, resulting in 90% of our clients being sourced from referrals.
Managing environmental risks and liability is not something to just “check a box” on as the consequences can be severe if not done properly. There are typically two mindsets of environmental consultants, and both have the interest of consultant before the client.
There are some firms that win their business with low-ball bids and then take shortcuts to make it profitable, or worse, recommend unnecessary additional work that will cost the client tens of thousands of dollars so they can make up the loss.
Unfortunately, clients that are not accustomed to environmental risk and liability are not aware of the exposure some of these shortcuts create.
On the other hand, almost all consulting work is performed by the hour, similar to attorneys or accountants. This is also bad for the client because the more time the consultants spends, the more they get paid. This incentivizes them to drag out the project and create more work.
What makes Hanis Consulting different is that we will take the time to advise you on your risks and liabilities so that you understand your exposure, even if we did not perform the work for you. Further, we do not “live by the billable hour”.
The benefit of working with us that you will get the attention and quality that you deserve. When we agree to work with you on your challenges, you are not getting your typical firm.
Our number one job is to advise you. Being an advisor, we teach you what you need to know to make an informed decision, break down your challenges into manageable pieces, present options for solutions, and make recommendations for your best interest. We will also communicate with you every step of the way.
To strengthen the relationship, we use value aligned pricing for our proposals in most cases. It concentrates on outcomes, not billable hours. You will know exactly what outcome you will get for what price. If it takes us more effort than expected, then that’s on us. It also motivates us to work efficiently and align our incentives with the clients. You won’t be billed for every time we pick up the phone or send an e-mail.
Eric Hanis has been providing environmental consulting services since 2001. He started his career in the Milwaukee area working primarily on leaking underground storage tank (LUST) sites for an international petroleum company. During his tenure there, he became well-versed in soil and groundwater sampling, and in-situ (in place) remediation systems. He quickly became the field team lead for operating, maintaining and enhancing these systems, as well as the associated data analysis.
After 4 years in Milwaukee, he moved to the Chicago area since the majority of the sites he was working on were within Illinois. After one more year, he moved on to another large national (now international) engineering firm.
Eric quickly moved up the ranks first managing project task, then projects, and eventually moved into a senior technical role during his decade tenure. He became the in-house expert on groundwater and bedrock contamination working on the office's most difficult sites. These sites, including Superfund site, were complex with multiple source areas, comingled plumes, and contaminants that sink in the water (otherwise known as dense non-aqueous phase liquids or DNAPLs).
These sites allowed Eric to hone his investigative and remedial techniques. He employed cutting-edge technologies to adequately characterize bedrock sites and even developed a new process for measuring contaminant levels in real-time during pumping tests.
He eventually moved on to what he thought was greener pastures. It only lasted one year. He found himself sitting on strategy calls on how to milk more money out of clients, dealing with business development managers that would only pursue "whale" clients, and principals that would say whatever they could to talk themselves out of trouble with clients.
He had enough. He gave up his office and his steady paycheck to start Hanis Consulting to treat clients how they should be treated, like partners with a common objective.
