Jim Swift
Founder
M.S. in Geomatics, School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University
B.A. History, St. Olaf College
One April morning early in his surveying career, Jim Swift was kneeling to find a rebar marker just north of I-74 near U.S. 231 when something on the ground caught his eye.
It was the kind of experience, he says, that the French would call a “moment charniere”—a defining moment.
“As I brushed away the dirt I saw wildflowers in that dark Indiana soil, different shades of green in the grass,” he says. “It was a gorgeous morning, there was the smell of spring and a hint of mist was hanging in the air beneath that deep blue sky.”
Jim had traveled through much of the U.S., including a summer working in Yellowstone National Park and months riding his bicycle from the coast of Maine through the Deep South. He’d stood in some of the most beautiful places in the country and taken in some of its grandest vistas.
But on that spring day in west central Indiana, Jim says none of those places had anything on his home ground. “I realized everything I had been looking for about being connected to the land and everything good about being in the great outdoors could be found right here in front of me, standing on this ground. And that’s the way I perceive surveying today.”
Being a surveyor also merges many of Jim’s keenest interests—mapping, math, history, civil engineering, solving problems, and getting to know people—into a single vocation.
He finds the work immensely rewarding.
“Surveying gives you a puzzle based on objects you actually find. Some of them have been there for more than 100 years, some are much more recent. But it’s never some esoteric, made-up problem; it’s a real world puzzle.
“What we find makes a difference in people’s lives. It matters.”
Henry Swift
Surveyor Associate
Education: B.A. Theater, Wabash College
Joined Swift Land Consulting: 2019
Ask Henry Swift how a college theater major ended up a surveyor and the answer may surprise you.
“Coming here was actually coming around full circle,” he says, “I’d wanted to be an engineer since I was in the eighth grade, but at Wabash I decided to study what I enjoyed most—theater, where my focus was on the technical aspects of it.”
Not long after he began at Swift Land Consulting, he realized the job he’d been looking for was surveying.
“It’s engineering mixed with field work, and I love this job now. It makes sense to my brain, it’s challenging, it’s different every day, and, thanks to the field work, I’m not stuck in the office on those gorgeous spring days when its 72 degrees, sunny, with a light breeze out of the south.”
Henry grew up with a deep affection for the land.
“I grew up in southwestern Montgomery County—Sugar Creek, Deer’s Mill, and Camp Talitha. I love the terrain there—it feels like home to me.”
He believes respect for and experience with the land is one of Swift Land Consulting’s many strengths.
“We have a deep wealth of knowledge in Montgomery County and West Central Indiana,” he says. “My dad has been surveying in one form or another in Montgomery, Fountain, and Parke counties for over 30 years, and he knows a lot about the surveys that have been done there. He’s an expert in the state on section corners, and he knows how to interpret those old records and old deeds, what types of monuments to look for in the field.”
Henry enjoys the social side of the work, as well.
“A surveyor’s role is to find and retrace the old property lines, but I also see our role as an arbiter between neighbors, especially if there’s a dispute over fence lines. Nine times out of 10 that stems from two different understandings of what’s going on, and most people, if you can present them with the facts of what has happened in a clear and concise way, they’re a lot more willing to go along with what you’ve discovered.”
Taking classes now to get his surveyor’s license, Henry says he especially enjoys the more engineering-related aspects of the job, which makes for a good mix for him and fellow surveyor associate Matt Hood.
“Matt is better at the more esoteric aspects of surveying, and the more engineering-related work makes more sense to my brain. I thoroughly enjoy it. That’s a very good combination, and we make a great team.”
Matt Hood
Surveyor Associate
Education: B.A. Commercial Music, Millikin University
Joined Swift Land Consulting: 2022
Hometown: Crawfordsville
Matt Hood remembers well his first day at Swift in February 2022.
“It was really cold, and Henry and I were digging a control point out of this ice that was melting but was still surrounded by snow,” Matt says. “It’s ice-cold water and we’re reaching into it trying to find this 3/8” rebar with a plastic cap while our hands go numb in the water, but we’ve got to keep searching, reaching down there, until we find it.”
It was just another day in the field surveying during an Indiana winter. And Matt had worked for Jim part-time during the summer of his senior year in college.
“I knew from working for him then that physical challenge was going to be a big part of surveying,” Matt says. “I’d been sitting at a desk for 13 years, and I needed the exercise. It was a good change.”
Born and raised in Crawfordsville, Matt attended Crawfordsville High School, where playing saxophone in the bands led him to pursue a degree in commercial music at Millikin University. But after 13 years in music marketing for Pinecastle Records in North Carolina and three years in sales at Menard’s in Lafayette, Matt decided it was time for a change.
“I really missed being outside, and I was tired of marketing and making up things,” he says. “In surveying, we’re gathering evidence, finding an answer, and making a difference in people’s lives—contributing to the public good.”
His early days in surveying had their challenges.
“I like to learn,” he says, and the projects he’s completed around the house and the wooden speedboat he built are proof of that. “Still, surveying has a pretty steep learning curve—running the data collector, the GPS, and the survey instrument. But the steeper curve is learning what evidence Jim needs from the field. To help me learn that, Jim had me research the jobs we were beginning along with the drafting and the field work. Putting all those together gave me more experience and a much better understanding of what to look for. It was the best way to learn.”
He enjoys the variety he finds in surveying.
“One day we’re in the office doing research, the next we’re in the field, the next we’re back in the office drafting on the computer. Every day is different and new.
“And you get to see places that most people don’t get to—backyards, behind a factory, the corner of a cornfield. You might wade a half-mile through a creek—hopefully it’s a warm day when you’re doing that.”
It’s all part of the work.
“Essentially, we put together a puzzle, but the pieces were made by different people with different tools at different times, and we’re trying to make that all fit together.”
Matt says the difference at Swift Land Consulting is the zeal for getting it right.
“Jim demands a thoroughness that most surveying companies don’t hold themselves to,” he says. “That helps our clients, and it helps us, too. Jim’s not going to let a survey go out until it’s truly done.”
That’s the bottom line for Matt.
“I’d be frustrated working for someone who let things slip through,” he says. “We’re not a huge company—we can afford to take the time to get things right. And though a lot of the work we do may not be looked at closely for maybe 10 years, when that moment comes, the extra time and care we take and Jim’s thoroughness really matter.”
Niki Hutson
Office Administrator
B.A. Education, Indiana University
Hometown: Crawfordsville
Joined Swift Land Consulting: 2024
The newest member of the Swift Land Consulting team brings to the office 25 years’ experience working with clients in real estate and finance.
Eleven years as a ReMax broker and fourteen as a loan officer assistant at PNC Bank confirmed something she’d already learned growing up in a small Midwestern town—relationships matter, not just in business, but in building community. She likes living and working in a place where one person can really make a difference.
“I’m an extrovert and a collaborator,” Niki says. “I feed off that energy.”
Niki found that energy supporting the town’s Vanity Theater productions, too, first as a board member and eventually as a cast member.
“I started out as a volunteer, then I helped assist Barry Poole direct a couple of shows, and eventually auditioned for a play,” says Niki. “It was fun and I was passionate about it.”
She began bringing her daughter to rehearsals when Elizabeth was six years old.
“She’d sit with the director and give him notes.” Niki laughs. Elizabeth, now a pediatric researcher, went on to act and sing in plays at the Vanity, in high school and college, and continues to perform in Footlight Musicals in Indianapolis.
Niki knows the relationships you nurture in a small town, whether volunteering or at work, bring unexpected rewards.
“I also enjoyed learning about all the stuff behind the scenes, helping out wherever I could,” Niki says. That intellectual curiosity and willingness to pitch in is a trait she has in common with each member of the team in her new job at Swift.
“This is a part of the real estate business I wasn’t that familiar with,” she says. “There’s a lot to learn here, and I like that.”
She’s more familiar with some of our clients, many of whom she’s known or worked with for years.
“Crawfordsville is a nice small town,” she says. “You get to a certain age and you’ve met so many people. Your friends are here, your family is here. You share different histories, depending on who you’re talking to.”
Whether she knows them or is meeting them for the first time, Niki gets her energy from being with others.
“When I’m going to the recorder’s office or title company or when people come in, that’s my favorite part of the day,” Niki says. And she’s likely to be the first person you meet when you walk in the door.