Creating spaces where people can unwind, appreciate world around them

Heather Graves

Staff

April 28, 2025

OWEN – Though Ben Gruetzmacher spent much of his life building things – including the house his family calls home – he said leaving his job as an elementary school physical education teacher to launch a sauna-building business was definitely not something he ever pictured himself doing.

However, the Merrill-born, Owen-raised, third-generation builder said that’s just what he did.

Now, a handful of years after launching Prairiewood Saunas, Gruetzmacher said he’s found a niche in sauna-building and hasn’t looked back since.

Building up to this

After earning a teaching degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 2002, Gruetzmacher said he struggled to find a teaching position.

“In the 2000s, 2010s, it was really hard to find a teaching job,” he said. “I didn’t really find my way into the teaching world until almost 10 years later.”

Landing the elementary school physical education teaching job in his hometown, Gruetzmacher said, was his “dream job.”

At that time, he said he was exactly where he wanted to be.

“A week after I started teaching, my first son was born,” he said. “Teaching, kids, family life – that was my life from 2011-20.”

Though he obtained a master’s degree – a natural progression for a lot of teachers who eventually move into leadership positions – Gruetzmacher said he realized pretty quickly that being a principal wasn’t something he wanted to do.

“Around 2019, 2020, I realized I wanted to do some other stuff with my life instead of just teach,” he said. “Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, I knew I wanted to be done teaching in a few years.”

Once a builder, always a builder

Though his professional life was focused on being a teacher – minus a few odd jobs after college – up until he left the profession in 2021, Gruetzmacher said he’s always been a builder, growing up surrounded by builders.

“My grandfather was a builder, my father was a builder, my uncle was a builder – I’ve been around building since I was really young,” he said. “I would always be around job sites. Just the smell of the wood is, for me, so intoxicating. I wanted to be around that. I love building things and working with your hands.”

After graduating from high school, Gruetzmacher said he would work construction during the summers.

“I did that pretty much until I was done with college,” he said. “Even that next year after I was done with college, I worked construction as I tried to find a (teaching) job.”

Though he was a dedicated physical education teacher for more than a decade, Gruetzmacher said “I have always had a passion for construction.”

During his summers off as a teacher, Gruetzmacher said he’d often fill his time with some type of construction project.

“In 2008, I built our own house that we’re still living in,” he said. “I took the whole summer to do that.”

The next summer, Gruetzmacher said, was spent building a large shed.

“Then, instead of (building or purchasing) a lake home, I built what I call a garden shed in the backyard,” he said. “It turned out to be a much bigger project, and currently my wife uses it as her office. I always had to have these projects going on.”

Once he stepped away from teaching, Gruetzmacher said he originally focused on remodeling projects.

“I did that for about two years,” he said. “During that two-year timeframe, my wife and I decided we should build a sauna.”

Though his first few personal projects were large builds – the house, followed by the large shed – Gruetzmacher said he had some experience with smaller builds.

“During the pandemic, a lot of people would ask if I could build them a backyard office because everybody was working from home,” he said. “(With smaller projects), you can be really creative in the material you use – finding high-quality materials at a low cost.”

Gruetzmacher said he “got really crazy with the design” of his family’s sauna.

As the sauna project progressed, he said “I knew right then that that was going to be my niche.”

“Working with the wood, designing a small building that I could build in a relatively short period of time – all these things checked off all the boxes for me,” he said.

Gruetzmacher said his passion for saunas lies in the deeper experience they offer – combining “health benefits, a connection to nature and a space to unwind and appreciate the company of others.”

When the decision was made to focus on saunas, Gruetzmacher said he started immersing himself into the sauna community.

“The person I purchased our sauna’s stove from was Glenn Auerbach, and he has a podcast called ‘Sauna Talk,’” he said. “I dove right into that. Glenn opened a lot of doors for me, because he knew the work I did was quality stuff.”

Gruetzmacher said he built his family’s sauna outside in his driveway.

“The second sauna I built, somebody found out that I built one for myself, and they said, ‘Hey, I want one. Can you build me one?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, I’ll do that.’”

This one, Gruetzmacher said, he began building in his shed.

“The funny thing about that is I couldn’t get it out the garage door,” he laughed. “So I had to take it piece by piece to put it together in my driveway in the middle of the winter.”

As the buzz of Prairiewood Saunas continued to spread and more orders started flowing in, Gruetzmacher said he knew building in his driveway just wasn’t going to cut it.

“I knew I needed to build a bigger shed,” he said. “So I built a big 40-foot-by-80-foot shed, and that’s Prairiewood Saunas’ headquarters.”

Laying the foundation

When he started the business, Gruetzmacher said he never questioned whether or not he could construct solid, functioning structures. 

Growing up in a family of builders and spending much of his life refining his own construction skills, he said that was an aspect of the business he had full confidence in. 

Running a business, on the other hand, Gruetzmacher said, is something that he had to learn along the way.

“I would guess a lot of other people are probably in the same boat,” he said. “They have something that they’re really good at – whether it’s baking and they open a bakery or they’re really good at making meals for people so they open a restaurant. Sometimes a passion turns into a business, and there are things that you’re not prepared for in the business world.”

And though he’s already more than two years in and has found success with Prairiewood Saunas, Gruetzmacher said he’s still learning.

“I’m still learning a bunch of stuff and trying to create a viable company that I could possibly pass down to a child or just enjoy (myself for) the rest of the working years that I have,” he said. “I for sure don’t know everything about business. It’s been a fun process – growing within that sphere, being successful and finding a niche.”

As the owner and builder of Prairiewood Saunas, Gruetzmacher said one of the biggest lessons he’s learned is he doesn’t have to say “yes” to everything.

“But then there are opportunities out there that if you do say ‘yes,’ you never know (what could happen),” he said. “So, that’s why it gets complicated.”

Custom made

Gruetzmacher said each sauna he builds is customizable and can be constructed in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Right now, he said his most popular model is eight feet by 12 feet in size.

In order to create exactly what each customer has in mind, Gruetzmacher said he is in consistent contact with them.

“We’re on the phone a bunch,” he said. “I go to their place and check out the site and make sure (the design) is suitable for their needs – even if that’s capturing a particular view with a window in a certain spot. I work hand-in-hand with them and develop relationships with them.”

Though he does do some complete-build-on-site projects depending on location and circumstances, Gruetzmacher said most of his builds are done in his shed and then picked up and delivered by a moving company.

Nearly all of the wood used in his projects, Gruetzmacher said, is locally sourced from within a two-county area.

Many of his early saunas, he said, were built using wood harvested from his own family’s forest.

Being able to be involved in every aspect of every Prairiewood project, Gruetzmacher said, is something he really enjoys.

“I like having my hands on these projects, and it’s nice to be able to see them from start to finish – and I think the customer appreciates that, too,” he said. “I’m not only handling customer service, sales and material sourcing, I’m also doing the building. It’s satisfying to me to be able to handle the project from start to finish.”

Secondary passion inspires name

In addition to construction projects, Gruetzmacher said he also spent his summers teaching reading.

“In the summertime, as a teacher, you get involved with different hobbies and passions,” he said. “I read a book by Jerry Apps, and he talked about how he had some remnant prairies on his land.”

Enthralled by this idea, Gruetzmacher said he became passionate about native prairies.

So much so, he said, that he turned his front yard into a prairie.

“I said to my wife, Tanya, ‘Hey, what do you think about me having a prairie in the front yard?’” he said. “And I call it a front yard, but it’s about an acre.”

Getting his wife’s seal of approval, Gruetzmacher said that next spring, he purchased some seeds, and in 2015, began transforming the front yard into a prairie.

“I was able to source the seeds,” he said. “I got to find out what plants would grow best in this environment. And I got to take care of the prairie – there are certain things that you need to do to ensure that it grows well and weeds don’t take over. So that’s been a really fun process.”

When it came time to decide on a name for the sauna business, Gruetzmacher said the front yard prairie served as great inspiration.

“I wanted to incorporate the prairie within the name,” he said. “We also (some communities close by called) Atwood, Longwood and Greenwood – so I thought Prairiewood would be a cool little homage to some of these towns around us and the place where I am, which is a big deal to me. I am one of those people who like to know the history of everything around me.”

The business’s logo incorporates a big bluestem, which Gruetzmacher said is one of the prominent grasses in the prairie.

The five stems at the top of the logo, he said, are a personal touch, symbolizing his family – him, his wife and their three kids – and the values that ground Prairiewood Saunas.

A ‘blue sky’ future

Though he hopes to see continued growth for Prairiewood Saunas, Gruetzmacher said the plan will always be to remain small and focused on customized projects.

“Whenever someone owns a business, they are obviously always thinking about the future – (wondering) what do the next two, five or 10 years look like?” he said.

Gruetzmacher said for Prairiewood Saunas, that includes adding another employee to help manage the workload.

He said the future also includes help from the next generation of Gruetzmachers.

“I have a 13-year-old son who’s starting to help out in his shop – getting his feet wet on basic construction techniques and everything,” he said. “Then I have a nine-year-old son who wants to help. I ask him for tools, and he’s kind of right next to me.”

Gruetzmacher said his sons often tell him they want to be just like him.

“They always say, ‘I want to be a builder like you, Dad,’” he said. “I’m like, ‘Hey, that’s no problem – I’ll teach you everything you want to know. But there’s going to be things that you like and don’t like about it, so obviously, find your own path, but I’m here to help you out in any way possible.’”

Beyond his immediate family, Gruetzmacher said he has several members of his extended family who are always willing to lend a helping hand if he needs it.

“There’s a bunch of family members that are more than willing to help out whenever I ask – so that’s really nice,” he said.

One such family member, Gruetzmacher said, is his brother-in-law, Brad Weiler.

“Brad has been a big supporter and all this,” he said. “He has helped me with a lot of the business (aspects) – especially when I first started. He was right next to me as I created my LLC, so I could be a legitimate business.”

Gruetzmacher said he and Weiler are always bouncing ideas off each other.

“We have these ‘blue sky sessions’ where we talk about what things could look like or what we want things to look like,” he said.

For more on Prairiewood Saunas, visit prairiewoodsaunas.com.