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With 13 decades of experience, James Anderson Company stands ready to help you efficiently manage a wide variety of land development, construction, municipal and public infrastructure projects. We have been providing consulting, design, and construction services for municipalities, states, commercial properties, drainage districts, and private properties since 1891 and have completed over 20,000 projects and 50,000 drawings over the years. Our extensive knowledge and experience ensure that we can stick to schedules, customize on the fly, and communicate effectively, enabling us to deliver optimal solutions for engineering projects of all types.
Our team of engineers, surveyors, project managers, and an ecological consultant are equipped to offer you custom assistance that adds value to your projects. With our years of practice, we can solve even the trickiest engineering challenges and are proud that we are often engaged to correct work that others have executed improperly. If you don’t know where to go – it's time to call JACO. |
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Services
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Land Use and Site Evaluation Planning and Development
James Anderson Company offers comprehensive project management services that often begin with a thorough site planning evaluation. We proactively examine site opportunities and constraints in conjunction with regulatory and environmental requirements to provide clients with a guide map to navigate their development process. We consider issues in collaboration with our clients and municipalities, including site planning, utility design, grading, water quality, watershed mitigation, transportation planning, and landscape design.
Not only has James Anderson Company written the original engineering standards and specifications for several municipalities, but we have also seen the ordinances we developed subsequently become adopted by numerous other cities.
Not only has James Anderson Company written the original engineering standards and specifications for several municipalities, but we have also seen the ordinances we developed subsequently become adopted by numerous other cities.
Feasibility Studies and Cost Estimates
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A thorough engineering feasibility study is critical to determining the challenges, costs, and benefits of undertaking a new project. It is only with accurate information that a client can accurately assess whether a project is worth the risk of pursuing.
Over the past years, James Anderson has conducted many engineering feasibility studies in the northern Illinois area, and we are deeply familiar with the unique challenges of working in this part of the state. Our extensive local knowledge allows us to offer clients a balanced and clear-eyed understanding of the project under consideration. While there are many components to a complete engineering feasibility study, some of the basic requirements include:
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James Anderson Company is fully experienced in preparing capital project and maintenance project budgets. We regularly assist municipalities with budgeting processes.
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Paving |
James Anderson Company has decades of practice in pavement management and rehabilitation. Our many years of paving work enable us to provide accurate pavement distress data, timely recommendations, and precise budgets that ensure the longest lasting pavement product. We have the resources to design, manage, inspect, test, maintain and rehabilitate pavements and roadways, including concrete and bituminous pavements. We have evaluated, tested, and designed extensive stretches of asphalt concrete roadways and parking lots, including condition assessments, deflection testing, structural design, and rehabilitation plans for existing roadways and other pavements.
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permitting |
James Anderson Company applies for and receives permits for all clients, including drainage districts, municipalities, and homeowners. We obtain permits from agencies including the Corps of Engineers, Lake County Stormwater Management Commission (SMC), Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), Lake County DOT, Forest Preserve District, municipalities, Fish and Wildlife, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), Lake County Public Works Department, North Shore Sanitary District, and Metra.
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subsidaries |
Our wholly-owned plumbing and construction subsidiaries are also located in Lake Bluff and enable JACO to provide additional services for our clients. Forest Builders offers public works construction and maintenance as well as building construction and remodeling services. Forest Plumbing is a licensed plumbing contractor offering maintenance and new construction plumbing.
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Earthwork
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Accurate earthwork analysis and proper site grading design are the critical underpinnings for any construction project's success. James Anderson Company Site is particularly practiced at providing expert site analysis that includes surveying, soil analysis, engineering, assessment of environmental concerns, and design services. JACO has performed numerous excavations and subgrade stabilizations, developed many site drainage systems, and cleared countless trees and shrubs. This preparation work is integral to creating well-crafted sites that are safely and efficiently prepared for subsequent construction activity. We perform all work in tight compliance with environmental and regulatory considerations.
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topographical
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James Anderson Company began providing surveying and engineering services in 1891. Having performed much of the original land surveys and engineering work required to layout and start building up Lake County over one hundred years ago, James Anderson Company possesses an unprecedented level of knowledge about the area's development. We have maintained our many thousands of drawings and plans using a meticulous plat index system that allows us to literally go back in time to the late 1800s and trace much of the county's development in a linear fashion. While we now, of course, avail ourselves of the latest surveying technology, we still provide surveying services in the same way we always have – making surveys that are strictly based on evidence we find and measure in the field.
James Anderson surveys are known for their accuracy, thoroughness, and reliability. Some other surveying companies may charge less and turn a project around more quickly than JACO. While such expedient work might save you some money in the short run, it can over the long term increase your risk of facing possible encroachments, adverse possessions, loss of land, and the like. If you want to have faith that your property ownership is secure, you should think about working with us. We take the time to make certain that our evidence-based surveys will stand up in court and reflect carefully and accurately calibrated boundary lines. As finders of fact, we perform all our own work without relying on others' surveys or using any corner-cutting assumptions that threaten survey integrity. |
construction plans,
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James Anderson Company frequently prepares construction plans and contract documents and secures bids for municipal and private projects. We annually inspect many capital projects and oversee project progress by providing quantity verification and approving contractor bills for payment. We prepare documentation for Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) projects and act as a liaison with IDOT, Stormwater Management Commission (SMC), municipalities, the Corps of Engineers, etc., for substantially all our clients. We also serve as SMC Enforcement Officer in several communities.
We conduct all construction administration work under the direct supervision of a registered professional engineer possessing many years of experience in civil engineering projects, municipal projects, and project and construction management. We are intimately familiar with the detailed reporting, coordination, and budgeting requirements of local government agencies, as well as guiding projects through the planning, design, construction, and occupancy stages. |
water distribution,
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James Anderson Company has considerable experience designing, constructing, and maintaining water distribution, sewer systems, and storm drainage in northern Illinois. We are highly practiced in replacing water mains and sewer force mains, including pumping stations for municipalities and developers. We have operated and maintained municipal sanitary districts for many years including meter reading and water billing. James Anderson Company is proficient in designing sanitary sewerage systems and operating and maintaining sewage life stations for municipalities. We have also designed and constructed several sanitary sewer force mains, including pumping stations and numerous large sewer projects for large subdivisions.
Since 1991, James Anderson Company has operated and maintained two substantial stormwater detention reservoirs on the middle and west forks of the North Branch of the Chicago River. These basins are 60 to 70 feet deep, and each holds over 500-acre feet of water. These basins were designed, constructed, and maintained to protect large areas of Deerfield, Highland Park, and Lake Forest from flooding. The Corps of Engineers, the Lake County Forest Preserve District, the West Skokie Drainage District, and the Union Drainage District planned, built, and operates these basins as a joint effort. These basins are inspected annually by the Corps of Engineers. Telemetry equipment we installed at one of the basins allows for remote monitoring and operation and has helped James Anderson Company protect these areas of northern Illinois against flooding. James Anderson Company provided the design and construction engineering for the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission 2015 "Project of the Year" which replaced failing stormwater tiles with an environmentally friendly open ditch with the native landscape. |
hydrology and
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James Anderson Company employs a team of in-house experts who are available to manage the full range of stormwater study, compliance reporting, and remediation protocols for any private or governmental project. Our full-service team includes hydrology and stormwater specialists, surveyors, civil engineers, and a construction group. We regularly assess hydrology and stormwater issues that integrate grading and landscape architecture with land planning. We customize site design, pollutant source, and runoff treatment for each project.
All stormwater control plans include numeric sizing calculations, details, and operation and maintenance programs using selected Best Management Practices (BMPs). We have decades of experience preparing annual National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Stormwater Permit Compliance reports for municipalities. |
"In the struggle between the stone and water, in time, the water wins."
Japanese Proverb