WESTON, Wis. — With a tape measure and pencil and in hand, Joe Liptak made evenly spaced marks on the top of the framing of a new milk parlor and free-stall barn near Wausau.
“What I did here was laying out for our roof trusses that go over this section,” he said. “The span here is too big to put floor joists in or any type of joist because there’s no intermediate wall. We have a 37-foot span. Trusses were the way to go.”
Liptak is a construction foreman with Fox Cities Builders. The Seymour-based construction company specializes in agricultural and commercial projects.
“I always grew up working with my hands. Everything I did, whether it be farming or building something,” said Liptak, who spent time working on his in-law’s dairy farm before retiring to construction. “I started in construction when I was still in high school, and it just never chased me away. I always come back to it. I always liked building things.”
Fox Cities Builders has been growing and is seeking more people.
Chief Operating Officer Travis Ullmer said the business is looking to fill positions, ranging from construction and concrete to fabrication.
“We can look at both experienced and non-experienced,” he said. “We have individuals who start right out of high school or who will even sometimes work through the high school apprenticeship program. We also have other individuals who have maybe been in the industry for years or took a year or two off and said, ‘You know what? This is where my passion is, I want to go back into the trades.’ We’ll bring in skilled individuals as well.”
Ullmer has been with Fox Cities Builders for more than 20 years.
“You watch people come in and start with our company as a job and then turn it into a career. That’s awesome,” he said. “Then working with good people. Just finding people who genuinely care about one another is why I get up in the morning.”
Del Wendt joined Fox Cities Builders four years ago after high school. He often passes the company’s finished work out in the country.
“Especially when you have people in the car, you’ll point out, ‘Hey, I was part of building that barn,’’’ Wendt said. “It’s cool because it will be standing for a lot of years to come.”
On the lift about a dozen feet in the air, Liptak said his main goal is making the customer happy.
“When you watch a farmer come into his new facility and it’s all smiles and everything is working great for him, that’s what makes me come back,” he said.
Information about careers at Fox Cities Builders can be found here.