Parker Land Surveying grows business, sows community spirit

Company adds drone surveying to expand list of services offered

Parker Land Surveying, which husband and wife team Steve and Pam Parker launched in August 2008, continues to move onward and upward. 

Working in all facets of construction, fast-growing PLS handles a wide array of projects and services, from boundary, tree, topographical and wetland surveys to easements, subdivision platting, construction layout, record drawings and lot-fit studies, to name a few.

The most recent addition to Parker’s portfolio of services is drone surveying. Drones have increasingly become indispensable tools in all aspects of construction, surveying and land development applications. 

Parker has partnered with Microdrones, a global drone development, service and training firm, to implement this service. Microdrones provides drone hardware, proprietary software and training to support Parker’s entry into this technologically advanced surveying method of LIDAR data collection.

The advantage of a bird’s-eye view of a project or raw land is quickly apparent compared to hours of ground-based measurements and observations. A drone’s capabilities in surveying, measuring and assessing site development data means significant cost savings, improved accuracy and more efficient use of available resources.

The journey to success has not been a straight line for Parker. Started with the help of a $255,000 loan from the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments Revolving Loan Fund in 2008, PLS had largely run out of money by the end of 2009. In fact, in early 2009, the firm had to reduce staff and cut salaries. Pam Parker even took a night job at a hospital to help make ends meet. 

Holding fast to their stated company mission to honor God through excellence, exceeding client expectations, things began to look up, PLS President Steve Parker said. By 2018, the company had grown from nine to more than 40 employees, with three offices, one in Georgetown and two in the Charleston area.

PLS’s Georgetown office, which opened in 2014, continues to grow, serving the area below Georgetown up to Myrtle Beach. The company’s Summerville-Jedburg office also stays busy while still using its original Hanahan office as a central hub. The firm recently purchased a piece of land to build a new office in the Nexton Jedburg area.

“Pam and I feel we can only be as successful as the quality of the people we surround ourselves with,” Parker says. “Fortunately, we have been able to have people around us that are better than we are, and we feel they are important to our story as well.”

One of the most important of Parker Land Surveying’s activities — indeed, a cornerstone business philosophy — is giving back to the community. It’s all part of the company vision: to be a firm that sets itself apart through excellence and integrity that has a culture of love and humility. The company continues to support local schools and robotics teams, recreation departments and churches. Steve is a member of the Rotary Club of North Charleston and Pam runs a clothes closet for folks in need.

“PLS believes in treating others how you want to be treated and in loving our neighbors,” Parker says. 

For more information about PLS, call 843-554-7777 or go online to www.plssc.com.