JHA Companies

JHA Companies is a civil engineering firm based at 100 4th Street, Suite 3, in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, the county seat of Wayne County. The firm operates as a multidisciplinary engineering and land surveying practice, serving property owners, developers, municipalities, contractors, and businesses across northeastern Pennsylvania and the surrounding region. It is identified as a veteran-owned business, and its Honesdale office is located in the borough's downtown district, within walking distance of the Wayne County Courthouse and the county recorder of deeds, offices that figure heavily in the records research that underpins boundary surveying and subdivision work.

The company can be reached by phone at +1 844-542-4757, and additional information about its practice areas is available at jhacompanies.com. The office offers a wheelchair accessible entrance and a wheelchair accessible parking lot.

Land Surveying Services

Land surveying represents a substantial portion of the firm's day to day work, and it is the service most often sought by individual property owners. Surveying at JHA Companies typically encompasses several distinct categories of work:

• Boundary and retracement surveys, which establish or re-establish the legal limits of a parcel using deed research, historical plans, and physical evidence recovered in the field
• Mortgage and title surveys prepared to satisfy the requirements of lenders, title insurers, and closing attorneys during real estate transactions
• Topographic and existing conditions surveys, which map elevations, drainage patterns, vegetation, structures, and utilities to support engineering design
• ALTA/NSPS land title surveys for commercial properties and institutional buyers
• Subdivision and lot line adjustment plans, including the mapping and plan preparation required for municipal and county review
• Construction stakeout and as-built surveys, which translate design drawings into physical markers on the ground and then document what was actually constructed
• Elevation certificates and floodplain-related survey work for properties in or near mapped flood hazard areas

Boundary work in Wayne, Pike, Lackawanna, and neighboring counties frequently involves older deed descriptions, long-unmonumented rural parcels, wooded terrain, and chains of title that reach back generations. Retracing those lines requires both archival research and field investigation, and the resulting survey map is the document that lenders, attorneys, and municipal officials rely on when a parcel changes hands or is divided.

Civil Engineering and Site Design

As a civil engineering company, JHA Companies undertakes design work that extends well beyond mapping. Typical engagements include site development plans for residential, commercial, and light industrial projects; grading and earthwork design; stormwater management design and post-construction stormwater control measures; erosion and sedimentation control plans; and the design of access drives, parking areas, and internal circulation.

Water and wastewater infrastructure is another common area of practice in this part of Pennsylvania, where many properties are served by on-lot systems rather than public utilities. Work in this category can include soil testing and percolation testing, on-lot sewage disposal system design, sewage planning module preparation, and coordination with sewage enforcement officers at the township level. Projects that connect to municipal systems require a different set of submissions and utility coordination.

Engineering services are frequently paired with survey services on the same project, since a site plan cannot be prepared without an accurate base map, and a subdivision plan cannot be recorded without engineered details for access, stormwater, and sewage disposal.

Permitting and Regulatory Coordination

One of the more practical functions the firm performs is navigating the review process that sits between a plan and an approval. Land development in Pennsylvania typically involves multiple layers of review: the township or borough planning commission and governing body, the county planning department, the county conservation district for erosion control, the Department of Environmental Protection for sewage and stormwater matters, and in some cases PennDOT for highway occupancy permits.

JHA Companies prepares and submits the applications associated with these reviews, responds to written review comments, and attends municipal meetings on behalf of clients. For applicants who have never taken a project through a subdivision or land development review, this coordination role is often as valuable as the technical drafting itself, because the sequence and timing of submissions can determine whether a project is approved in one review cycle or several.

Character of the Practice

The firm's reputation in the region rests heavily on scheduling and communication. Surveying capacity in northeastern Pennsylvania has been tight in recent years, and backlogs of several months are not unusual among licensed firms. JHA Companies has developed a following among buyers, sellers, and attorneys working against closing dates, in part because it has been able to schedule and deliver field work on compressed timelines.

Individual project managers and crew chiefs are frequently named by clients, which suggests a practice where a single point of contact stays with a project from proposal through delivery rather than passing it between departments. Staff members such as Matt Tomazic and Cody McCuean are among those identified by name in public feedback. The firm's field surveyors also work directly with landowners on site, walking lines and explaining what the recovered monuments and set markers represent.

Service Area

Honesdale sits along the Lackawaxen River in the Pocono region, and the firm's work reflects the mix of land uses found there: seasonal and second-home properties, lakefront parcels, agricultural and forested acreage, small commercial development along the state highway corridors, and municipal infrastructure. From its 4th Street office, the firm serves Wayne County and adjacent counties in Pennsylvania, with projects extending into the broader northeastern Pennsylvania market and nearby portions of New York State.

Working With the Firm

Property owners contacting JHA Companies for a survey are generally asked to provide a copy of the deed, the parcel identification number, and any prior survey maps or title documents in their possession. Supplying these materials early shortens the research phase. Clients should also be prepared to discuss the purpose of the survey, since a mortgage survey, a boundary retracement, and an ALTA survey involve different scopes, different levels of field work, and different costs.

For engineering and land development projects, an initial consultation typically covers zoning classification, applicable municipal ordinances, sewage and water feasibility, and the likely sequence of approvals. Written proposals define the scope before work begins. Prospective clients can request a proposal or ask questions by telephone, by email, or through the firm's website.