At 87 years old, John B. Haines IV can look back with a tremendous sense of pride at how his life has progressed.

A true visionary and entrepreneur, Haines was one of the founding fathers of H&K Group Inc. (H&K), recognized in 2025 as being among the most respected heavy civil construction and construction materials companies in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.

The multi-division firm is headquartered northwest of Philadelphia in Skippack, Pa.

H&K Group photo

In 1968, Haines and his partners, John R. "Jack" Kibblehouse, Harry R. Budenz Jr., Lee S. Detweiler and Terry Koch, incorporated what was a modest excavating firm and gradually built H&K into the current powerhouse construction operation it is today.

Over the following 50 years, until his retirement in 2018, Haines and his business partners led H&K's dynamic growth by making an impressive series of company acquisitions to bring more products and services under its corporate umbrella. Jack Kibblehouse was key to H&K's expansion, too, by directing its business operations and steadily guiding the corporation's ascension until his death in November 2022.

"I had known Jack since I was a kid," Haines recalled. "He was at the second stop on the school bus every morning and his family were farmers, too."

H&K's vertically integrated subsidiaries across the region provide a range of services, among them heavy civil construction, construction materials, site and land development, water and wastewater, demolition, design build and value engineering, materials recycling, environmental services, reclamation fill, emergency response and more.

Haines succeeded in business by having the love and support of his family, beginning with his early life on the Montgomery County, Pa., family farm in the late 1940s. As an adult, at the same time he was making a name for himself in the construction industry, he also prospered with the backing of his immediate family, his three sons, talented business partners and a tremendously loyal workforce.

H&K is now under the ownership of second- and third-generation family members. Two of John's sons serve as the top executive managers, with Scott B. serving as president and CEO, while James T. "Jim" is the company COO. Jack Kibblehouse's son, John R. Jr. "Johnny" Kibblehouse, is H&K's vice president and secretary, while founding partner Harry Budenz's son, H. Christian "Chris" Budenz, serves as its executive vice president and assistant secretary.

In addition, some fourth-generation family members work in various management and leadership roles throughout H&K, as well.

When John Haines was not working diligently to expand his successful enterprise, he found a variety of ways to relax, including hunting, fishing, flying in both H&K's corporate helicopter, under the mentorship of Captain Tom Reiss, and in a private airplane that he owned through a partnership venture. Haines also enjoyed a brief foray racing automobiles, which led him to restoring racecars.

The most notable of Haines' pastimes, though, was his purchase and restoration of a historic 18th century homesite in Pennsburg, Pa. The effort became his passion project and when completed, the house and its other buildings became part of his private estate.

Its restoration also led him to create The Museum at Hoppenville, opened in 2023, and made up of several different exhibition buildings, three special events venues and a restored cottage (now on Airbnb) — all resting on 24 acres.

Haines' Love for Construction Started in His Teenage Years

Being the son of a farmer gave Haines the experience of doing hard work from a young age — an ethic that has sustained him throughout his life.

"I worked at several different jobs during my early life, including for a small contractor, on a farm, in a gas station at night, and, on Sunday afternoons, at an ice cream shop," he recalled. "When I was 15 years old, I bought my first chainsaw and had my own clearing business going. I always had a little bit of money coming in."

But one event in particular played the biggest part in directing Haines into civil construction, setting the stage for a lifetime of success.

H&K Group photo

When he was a teenager, despite not having a license, Haines drove his Jeep to a new highway being constructed near his Worcester Township, Pa., home. The roadway was a portion of what is now called the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which runs north-south between the communities of Plymouth Meeting and Kulpsville.

"The first thing I enjoyed seeing was the equipment at work," he said. "It fascinated me watching every part of that operation. The grading supervisor would say to me. ‘Did you get all your homework done?' because I was at the site a lot of nights.

"It excited me as a young man to watch how they excavated earth and then placed and compacted the stone and earth to construct the roadway. I thought the use of lights and equipment at night was pretty interesting because they were running both day and night shifts."

From that point, Haines knew what kind of business he wanted to be in and even though he lacked a college degree, it did not deter him from his dream.

Haines and Terry Koch went on to start Haines & Koch in 1957, a small excavating and paving company in Worcester. The operation's modest size meant Haines had to wear many hats, including hauling the equipment he owned to the job site, running the machines and even repairing them when they broke down.

He noted, though, that among the things that boosted his company's prospects and gave it exposure was performing early site development work in the southeastern Pennsylvania region and working to build Gino's Hamburgers restaurants, along with various other fast-food establishments and even gas stations.

While still running Haines & Koch, the two partners also went into business with Kibblehouse to operate both Cool Springs Evergreen Farm in West Audubon, Pa., and Suburban Fuel & Oil in Skippack, Pa.

"At the time, Jack had a very good job at a tube factory as the night foreman, but he would work with us on Saturdays or on his days off," Haines said. "Finally, I realized we had 10 or 15 people working and needed somebody in the construction office to do the estimating. I asked Jack to come with us in 1966, and he ended up working inside because I preferred the outside work.

"I operated equipment in the field for a few years before I stopped and only filled in when somebody was sick or we had too much work on our hands," he added. "We didn't have a lot of money, but the business just grew from doing whatever was needed."

H&K Group photo

Haines also credited much of Haines & Koch's success to "meeting people and being honest with them to earn their trust," a product of his fair and open-minded persona.

The company's maturation set the stage for H&K's incorporation after Haines' newest partners, Lee Detweiler and Harry Budenz, bought into the firm.

Koch later decided to sell his stake in H&K Inc. and start his own venture. He would find success in his own right forming Inno-Cept Inc. and was credited with developing many of the safety innovations seen on heavy equipment today, including removable blade guards for transporting heavy equipment.

H&K Begins Making Landmark Acquisitions

As the 1970s dawned, H&K's leadership team, in an effort to remain competitive, began to purchase a series of construction-related businesses in order to obtain the materials they needed and control the supply chain.

"We started by acquiring our first quarry in 1972 in Chalfont, Pa., and that became H&K Materials," Haines said. "Then, we acquired Blooming Glen Quarry and formed Blooming Glen Contractors in 1973. As the years went by, we kept buying one quarry after another."

Currently, H&K owns and operates 21 crushed stone quarries, one sand and gravel operation, a stone depot, 19 asphalt plants, a precast concrete facility and a block plant. It also runs a rail freight operation to transport stone from its Birdsboro Quarry location in Berks County, Pa., to Dagsboro Stone Depot in Dagsboro, Del., with mainline rail support from Norfolk Southern.

The company also has 12 heavy civil contracting divisions as well as numerous ancillary business units, including fuel oil sales and service, metal fabrication, engineering and even vinyl graphics and promotional products.

In H&K's early years, Haines kept a keen eye on the company's business development ventures and external operations, with a focus on both the contracting and materials sectors of the company. For his part, Kibblehouse directed the company's business operations, Budenz concentrated on developing its demolition services and Detweiler guided H&K's administration and finance.

Together, the four partners steadily conducted the corporation's growth and expansion.

In 1974, Haines and Kibblehouse also spearheaded the acquisition and growth, along with a longtime colleague, Paul Yerk, of RAHNS Construction Material Co. in Rahns, Pa. It quickly began producing ready-mix concrete and turning out precast concrete products. It has since expanded to include eight stationary facilities and five portable plants across the eastern part of the state.

H&K Group photo

H&K not only serves clients across a broad section of Pennsylvania, but in many areas of Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey.

"Our most recent push on the heavy civil contracting side of our business is the Delmarva region. We've recently opened a contracting office in Sussex County, Del., and we have recently pushed into Maryland to open up new markets for H&K in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. areas," according to Haines.

"Our push into Maryland occurs with the recent acquisition of Finksburg, Md.-based HTI Contractors," he added. "My counterpart at HTI, William "Bill" McGrew, and I cultivated a personal and business relationship over many years that eventually paved the way for discussions about business continuity and the eventual sale and integration of the HTI family into H&K."

Haines noted, "These are definitely going to be the next growth markets for us, and we are making a conscious effort to cultivate that area." He added, though, that "the heart of our business is in Pennsylvania."

A future push into Maryland would be coordinated through H&K's Harrisburg Division, which represents the company's westernmost base of operations and covers the central region of Pennsylvania.

Larger Contracts Help H&K to Trend Upward

According to Haines, there was no single turning point that sparked the growth of H&K. Instead, its expansion was organic and the result of a multitude of factors, one of which was that the company's construction projects kept getting larger.

They included the 1986 demolition of the Fayette Street Bridge in Conshohocken, Pa., paving the Pocono International Raceway twice, in 1986 and 2011; and demolishing the Adam's Mark Hotel in Philadelphia in 2006, among others.

H&K Group photo

Under the management of H&K's current, or second-generation, leadership, many of the company's jobs began to bulk up in both size and cost after the firm won contracts for several multi-million-dollar infrastructure projects in the Mid-Atlantic region.

In 2018, H&K snared its biggest single-day bid letting from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), which had a value of more than $184 million. One of the highway projects involved reconstructing 8.3 mi. of I-78 in northern Berks County. By itself, that contract was worth $168.3 million to H&K.

Haines said his company is again working along I-78, part of a PennDOT public-private partnership, or P3, in the tiny borough of Lenhartsville, Pa. Most recently, H&K was recently awarded full reconstruction of a 12 mi. stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike through Chester County.

Also, H&K has been awarded lane additions along Interstate 81 and on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and most recently construction of highway ramps for the Betsy Ross Bridge across the Delaware River from Philadelphia to Pennsauken, N.J. The latter work site, called the I-95 Section BR3 Project, comes with a contract worth $355.3 million, the largest dollar amount ever awarded by PennDOT, according to Haines.

"One of our biggest tasks with these large jobs is to make sure that we win the contracts to keep our employees working," he said. "Without those contracts, due to how tight bidding is right now, we'd be having a problem. But the company still wants to be able to do the $50,000 to $200,000 jobs, as well."

Because H&K continues to do so much work at the Philadelphia International Airport on the city's southeast side, it maintains a full-time plant, Delaware Valley Asphalt, adjacent to the airport at South 61st Street and Passyunk Avenue. Although not dedicated exclusively to airport work, the plant has been critical to H&K's ongoing work at the airport.

Philadelphia International is the largest of several airport facilities across Pennsylvania where H&K performs critical construction services, from milling and paving to complete runway installation.

Haines added that H&K is currently running approximately 20 demolition jobs in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area through Haines & Kibblehouse Inc., which is based in the city and operates as H&K's union affiliate.

Haines Meets Personal Challenge Head On

Creating and maintaining a long-lasting and highly successful business does not happen without its challenges, and that has certainly been the case with Haines and H&K, he said. Among them, particularly in the early days of its operation, was paying the company's bills on time, a situation that began to improve over time.

However, H&K has experienced hard times, the worst being the Great Recession of 2008-2011. During that crisis, Haines said, the company was barely able to make its payroll.

Another more personal trial by fire that Haines has had to confront for most of his adult life has been living with bipolar disorder. He first began feeling unwell almost 60 years ago, but it was a few decades later before he got a diagnosis.

"It would cause me to run these highs and lows," Haines said. "Sometimes everything can be going along just fine and then I might go home and cry in bed for a week. It affects me this way even today and its difficult on my wife to see me hurting like that."

Luckily, Haines' bipolar disorder is treatable, and he manages the condition very well. In addition, he is a respected advocate for others with the same condition, some of whom work within his company.

Typically, he has not let bipolar stop him from doing many of the things that he wants, including speaking in public to help others with the same affliction.

"We had a group of 12 or 15 people here at H&K at one time that suffered with this horrible disease — everyone from a laborer to a superintendent to a head estimator," he said.

Creation of Museum, Event Space Therapeutic for Haines

To explain why he embarked on The Museum at Hoppenville venture in his later years, Haines said, "I had a vision to create all these different things on my property, which I knew to be historic. Plus, I've had so many wonderful people who helped me to do so."

Although the museum and entertainment complex is located in the small borough of Pennsburg, he decided to include "Hoppenville" in the facility's name to honor the area's storied past.

"That's what the little village was called back in its time," Haines said. "There was a store, a post office and a hotel. Most people don't know anything about Hoppenville, but when they hear the name, they become inquisitive about where it is."

The property consists of several historical exhibition sites, including:

• The Mack Truck Legacy Museum, showcasing Haines' masterfully restored collection of the iconic trucks. Several of the chain-driven vehicles in his collection date back to the early 1920s and are nationally recognized for their historical importance and exceptional restoration.

• The Construction History Museum, made up of a variety of his restored construction vehicles, farming and mining equipment and memorabilia.

• The Haines Family & Racing Legacy Museum, a modern facility filled almost exclusively with well more than 50 restored racing vehicles and construction equipment indoors and an equal number displayed outside.

• The Train Museum at Hoppenville, which will display an astonishing G-scale model railroad set up when it opens in mid-2026. The unique exhibition is a wonder of engineering, design, craftsmanship and shows a deep love of model railroading. The miniature trains, tracks and their accompanying infrastructure were all donated to the Haines Historical Foundation by one gentleman.

As visitors come onto the property, they are greeted by Hoppenville's stylish Welcome Center, a fully inclusive venue available for tours, fundraisers, seminars, trade shows, dinners, banquets, weddings, receptions and more.

Among the other structures open for guests at the complex are The Cottage at Hoppenville, a bed-and-breakfast listed on Airbnb; The Bank Barn, recreated as the onsite wedding ceremony space; and The Tannery — all three of which were completely restored to their former 18th and 19th century charm.

The Museum at Hoppenville, established as a for-profit entity, will fund and maintain the non-profit Haines Historical Foundation, which includes John Haines' vast collection of antiques and collectibles housed within each of his museums.

Notably, prior to completing the Museum at Hoppenville project, Haines also finished his long-awaited memoir, From the Ground Up, in 2024. Written in collaboration with his wife, Linda, and Tony Jeremias, H&K's communications and public relations manager, From the Ground Up was published by the Haines Historical Foundation with the intent that all proceeds benefit the foundation to preserve, manage, and maintain the museums, their contents and the historic grounds of the Haines Estate.

Haines Leaves H&K in Very Capable Hands

When asked what led him to retire at 80 years old, even though he still loved the business so much, he provided a no-nonsense answer — one that John Haines' acquaintances would expect from him.

"Well, if I was ever going to suggest something to anybody it would be that after age 70 or 75, the older generation within a company needs to get out," he said. "One of the things I saw with my sons is that they, along with a hell of a good group of other people at H&K, have made this company better during the time that they have been here.

"And one day, my sons Scott and Jimmy, along with John Kibblehouse Jr. and Chris Budenz, will themselves have to step down to make room for third-generation leadership. Our grandchildren, five of whom are mine as well as the spouses of two of them, and Jack Kibblehouse's grandson and stepdaughter, already work for the corporation," Haines said. "Jack also has a grandson who is the operations manager for Rahns Concrete, and his stepdaughter works in H&K's public relations and marketing office. What's really neat is that there is a strong fourth generation, too, either currently working for the company, still in school or will be soon getting out and preparing to work. Once they're in the business, they will discover that they can make a decent living by staying at H&K."

H&K Group Inc. provides heavy civil contracting and construction services, construction and building materials and associated ancillary services through 86 operations in four states, including eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware. For more information on H&K Group Inc. and its wide array of products and services, visit www.hkgroup.com or call 610/584-8500.

In addition, visit www.themuseumathoppenville.com to see what Haines' museum and events complex has to offer or to obtain a copy of From the Ground Up. CEG