SISTER BAY, Wis. — Nick Hanna moves long pieces of lumber through the framing of a condo being built in Sister Bay in northern Door County.
He’s been a carpenter with DeLeers Construction Inc. for the past five years.
“All these walls are all panelized from our panel shop, so it goes up quicker,” he said. “We can really knock it out.”
The range of work he does with the custom builder is part of what keeps his job enjoyable.
“I like doing different stuff every day. Challenges,” Hanna said. “I like doing some beam work. We do big timber trusses and that’s kind of challenging. That challenges mind a little bit, and it’s fun to do different projects.”
A family-owned general contractor, DeLeers’ work includes projects in residential and commercial sectors. It also has divisions specializing in renovation and painting.
Cheri Galecke, director of human resources, said the past three years have been busy.
DeLeers has seen increasing business on both the residential and commercial sides. The largest increases have been in homes.
“It’s very high volume,” she said. “Some of the backlog we have is more than we’ve had in the history of the company.”
That has DeLeers looking for people.
“We need skilled carpenters, framers, siders, finish carpenters. We’re looking for superintendents all the time to run these projects. We’ve got crew leads as well. We need all of the above,” Galecke said. “Then we go into the office and we’re looking for project managers. Right now we’re in real need of a construction scheduler. Because of the growth of our company, our scheduling has become just this huge task.”
Drew Willmann was recently working with the owner of a new condo to get it just right. As a project manager, he said that direct interaction is one of the best parts of the job.
“Every single one of these is tailored to the buyer, the future homeowner, to me, that’s just super fun,” Willmann said. “Today’s meeting, and last month’s meeting, and meetings six months ago, and in another three months or so we’ll be standing here with the homeowners and they’ll all of their ideas and dreams have come to fruition.”
Before locations of lighting and switches are determined, Hanna and his coworkers are there with tools in hand, building the structure of the home.
“I like to drive by it and say, ‘I actually worked on that house’ and I’m proud of myself because it makes me feel valued,” he said.
Careers at DeLeers Construction Inc. can be found here.