Broskoff Structures marks 25 years
THEY’VE DONE A LOT — Broskoff Structures of Geneva recently celebrated its 25th anniversary with an open house. (Star Eagle photo by Kathy Paulsen)
By KATHY PAULSEN
Staff Writer
Broskoff Structures held its Customer Appreciation Open House on Friday, November 30. Dave and Diane Broskoff are proud to have been able to experience 25 years of successfully serving our area communities.
More than 725 customers, retired farmers, family and friends attended the open house that featured a banquet table of good country style food and beverages. According to Dave, the party is a nice thing to do for customers when they've been so nice to you. Good business and good customers work well to care for each other.
"It's been 25 years of ‘What are we doing? And look at what we've done,’” was the theme the Broskoffs developed for the celebration.
It has been 25 years since they started the business in their name, but there were learning years before that taught Dave Broskoff and family the things they know that make them an exceptional name in the bin business and then some.When Dave and Diane graduated from Ellendale High School in 1974, they probably had little idea this is where they'd be today. It didn't come easy, but Dave gives credit to the road he traveled for much of his success.
Both Dave and Diane had a background of hard working, farm loving parents. Dave went to college in Austin and worked long hours after school each day to make things go.
Following his graduation from Ellendale, he went to work for Viracon. Dave then worked for the Ellendale Co-op for a time and then went to work for Geneva Feeds. He also worked for Culligan and Helge Flim for a time, before he went to work for Harvey Ille from Blooming Prairie, his brother Lyle’s father-in-law.
All these jobs taught him the art of connecting with people. Part of his education came from working for Harvey once he finished school.
Dave started working for Harvey in 1977 and worked for him until 1985. The early ‘80s were some tough years for farmers and farming, and Harvey let the business go.
After the business closed, Dave worked selling New York Life & Health Insurance for six months and while he was trying to sell the old farmers insurance, all they wanted to talk about was agriculture and grain bins.
Dave and Diane and Jeff and Sharon Lageson went on to put up grain bins together for 10 years for many of the area farmers after hours from their regular jobs.
Dave also worked for Marquette Grain Bins in Byron for six months and while he was working for them, he realized that though he was making money for the company, he was only getting a small portion of the profit. In fact, following an accident he had, it made him realize he couldn't work for less money than he was making when he had a family to consider.
The accident gave him the push he needed to go to the bank for a loan to start his own business. He talked with Elmer Vanden Heuvel at Geneva State Bank.
Elmer said he had accumulated a great deal of knowledge from all his different jobs, and it showed. Elmer gave him the loan and he started his own business.
It wasn't long until he was beyond selling and putting up grain bins; he was also dealing with storage buildings and other agricultural necessities.
Dave and Diane put up their first storage building for the business, a 42 x 56 Wick building, on the north edge of Geneva in the spring of 1987.
Jeff and Sharon helped Dave put up storage bins on the weekends, and he also got extra help from time to time from LaVerne and Larry Klocek and Don Hagen. One year later, he hired Emerson Ruble and he has worked for Dave for 24 years.
Dave gradually kept adding more employees, including Ray Draayer who worked for him for 20 years but has since passed away. Shannon Wobschall, his brother-in-law, has worked for him for 20 years and Jeff Lageson, another brother-in-law, is still working with him as well. Dave sub-contracts his cement work, as well as his grain bin and building erections.
As they were growing up, Dave and Diane’s daughters, Krissy, Angie and Jenny, also helped put up grain bins during the summers and on weekends. Travis later did the same.
Dave said the kids all learned how to work, and how to do things, and feels the more knowledge we are able to learn about life makes one wiser. Dave says, "One has to work to make a living."
Dave is the largest Wick dealer in Minnesota and has been for 10 to 12 years. He is also the third or fourth largest dealer of Wick buildings in the nation, of which there are over 200 dealers. Broskoff Structures ranks as one of the top and GSI dealers in Minnesota every year.
On the Broskoff Structures site in Geneva, he currently has several Wick buildings, including his original 42 X 56 building, a 60 X 100, a 48 X 120 building and one 90 X 120 and plans to add a new 63 X 91 building.
He also has a 23-ton crane, a 40-ton crane and a 70-ton crane, which is the one he used to help move Gus' Station from Ellendale to Owatonna. Dave said he tries to help out and give back to the communities when he can and believes small town living is pretty good.
Dave likes to keep their work within one to two hours of Geneva, but he has done some work for a customer in Dorchester, Wisconsin. Dave said Wisconsin is a little bit behind Southern Minnesota, as the farmers there have dealt more with dairy aspect of farming. But, many of them are now converting over to crop farming instead.
Dave and Diane currently have 18 employees, including their daughters, Krissy Routh and Angie Klemmensen, as well as their son, Travis, who along with Shannon Wobschall deals with grain equipment, and Jesse Routh who deals with their Wick Building sales. Also employed are Jeff Lageson, Chris Bartsch, Emerson Ruble, Fenton Enzenauer, Jens Wyrum, John Bridley, Kathy Knudson, Keith Klocek, Nathan Buchli, Robert Gerhardt, Ryan Schroht and Taryl Bridley.
Dave and Diane's family, which include Krissy and Jesse Routh; Brock, Avery, Brynn and Cooper; Angie and Cory Klemmensen; Emma, Mason; Attley and Brogan; Jenny and Kris Dutton, Marlee, Mya and Zoey; and Travis and Ashley Broskoff, Presley, Hattie, Raegan, Lia and Shay were all on hand during the Broskoff Structures 25th Anniversary Open House to help and celebrate this special occasion.
Congratulations to this successful company, a big plus for Geneva.