Baisch Engineering purchases new headquarters to support growth

Meghan Diemel

Contributor

July 27, 2026

KAUKAUNA – Baisch Engineering is moving its headquarters from Kaukauna to Appleton, purchasing a new facility at 425 Better Way to accommodate continued growth.

President Todd Van Gompel said the move – which he described as an exciting milestone – will provide additional space for the company’s expanding team while reinforcing Baisch’s long-term commitment to serving clients worldwide. 

Van Gompel said the new facility will also create an environment that fosters collaboration, innovation and exceptional client service.

“Our new home office represents much more than a new address,” he said. “It’s an investment in our employees, our clients and our future. This building gives us the room to continue growing while maintaining the collaborative culture and responsive service our clients have come to expect.”

Van Gompel said the approximately 59,000-square-foot facility will become home to more than 120 Baisch Engineering team members.

The expanded space, he said, will provide additional meeting and collaboration areas, enhanced technology and room to accommodate the company’s continued growth.

Van Gompel said the company plans to relocate employees to the new headquarters in September 2026.

A philosophy centered on agility, growth 

Founded in 1958, Van Gompel said Baisch Engineering has experienced significant growth in recent years, expanding both its team and the services it provides across industries.

Today, he said Baisch is a full-service engineering and consulting firm providing civil, structural, architectural, process, mechanical, electrical, HVAC and process control engineering services, along with BIM, laser scanning and project-management solutions.

Van Gompel said company founder Steve Baisch was the chief engineer at Thilmany Paper prior to starting the company in the late 1950s.

At the time, Van Gompel said Steve had large projects coming to fruition and became frustrated by large bureaucratic engineering firms located on the East Coast.

“His idea was he wanted an easier way, a more flexible way to work it,” he said. “So, in 1958, he left Thilmany and started Baisch Engineering. His idea was to work with a handshake. [That] was always his philosophy on [how to] be an easier, more nimble, more flexible company.”

Van Gompel said the company got its start serving the Paper Valley’s pulp and paper industry, but steady growth soon required a larger footprint. 

The offices at 809 Hyland Ave. in Kaukauna, he said, were the first home for what was then known as S.J. Baisch and Associates, and it has served as the company’s nerve center ever since.

Van Gompel said Baisch Engineering’s growth came in stages, beginning in a small building before doubling its space twice.

The company later added a second floor with the same footprint as the first before purchasing the building across the street in 2018 to accommodate continued growth.

Van Gompel said strategic decisions have long been part of the company’s growth strategy.

In the 1980s, he said Baisch transitioned ownership to its shareholders to remain privately held while preserving its culture.

Around the same time, Van Gompel said the company expanded beyond its roots in the pulp and paper industry, diversifying into new markets and growing its workforce.

“We’ve expanded into general manufacturing,” he said. “So, what that means is [any business like] a manufacturing facility that has to run 24/7, that’s heavily process-controlled or heavily controlled with automation… That’s kind of where our niche is also.”

Van Gompel said forward-thinking not only helped Baisch Engineering to expand to industries outside of the pulp and paper industry, but proactive positioning also supported its employees and clients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The company didn’t downsize, and they didn’t let people go,” he said. “Our philosophy was to grow together and stay together. So, as we maneuvered through 2020, everybody on the team… cut back on hours uniformly, and that was an advantage for us as we came out of COVID-19 … [it] allowed our team to mobilize quickly.”

Facing a large volume of manufacturing projects post-pandemic, Van Gompel said the Baisch team hit the ground running, boosted by its loyal employees and institutional industry knowledge they were able to retain on staff. 

“Over the last five or six years, we’ve been very fortunate enough to have some fantastic partners who are growing, and we are growing to help with that situation…,” he said. “In 2020, we were in maybe the mid to lower 70s as far as people. Fast forward to today, we’re [at] about 120, 130 people, and we’ve just sort of outgrown our space now.”

Creating workspace flexibility, tech innovation 

About a year and a half ago, Van Gompel said company leaders began exploring options for a new headquarters, weighing both new construction and existing buildings.

He said finding a location near Kaukauna, where much of the company’s workforce is based, was a key consideration. 

With employees living in Neenah, Menasha, Fond du Lac, Waupaca, as well as Howard, Green Bay, Abrams, Suamico and Freedom, Van Gompel said leadership didn’t want to move the business too far in one direction or the other.

When the former U.S. Venture building hit the market, Van Gompel said it helped leaders visualize what future growth might look like.

Baisch Engineering put an offer in, he said, and then closed on the property at the end of June.

“While it’s a little bit bigger than what we need right now, it offers us a lot of opportunity for our team,” he said.

Van Gompel said the new headquarters will include conference rooms designed to encourage collaboration, along with flexible open office spaces that allow employees from different departments to work together on projects. 

“We have a lot of movement and a lot of flexibility to start to see if some of those concepts – putting people together with different [discipline] backgrounds – [helps] with our communication,” he said. “Communication [and] collaboration are big keys for us.” 

Van Gompel said the new space will also enhance the collaboration experience for clients, reinforcing the Baisch commitment to face-to-face relationship building.

Strong personal relationships, technical expertise and ethical business dealings, he said, are the founding principles Steve Baisch led with and continue today.

Van Gompel said the new location will reflect those guiding principles and allow room for clients to move through the design with Baisch, in-person, rather than only relying on email, phone or even technology like Microsoft Teams during the process.

“We’re also expanding our BIM section, which is building information modeling,” he said. “It’s creating digital environments of our new facilities.”

Van Gompel said Baisch Engineering staff will have the opportunity to scan existing facilities –  using scanners and drone technology – to create a virtual domain to help their clients understand how proposed designs will work prior to construction, in a realistic, 3D manner.

“When you design on paper, the 2D world, a lot of people have a hard time visualizing what that might look like,” he said. “With 3D design, virtual design, you can do a lot of mockups really quickly and then put it in a virtual world and walk that client [through the space]. So, we’re excited about expanding that moving forward as well. [The new location] gives us a lot more room and opportunity for that.”

Boosting company culture, embracing progress 

Long-term, Van Gompel said the move to Appleton provides a boost of excitement for the internal team, not just from a business sense but also in how it adds to the culture of the company.

Located near the CE Trail and across the street from a YMCA, he said there are additional opportunities to fit in recreation before or after the workday, or during lunchtime for employees. 

“It’s exciting, I think, for our clients, too, to see how we’re growing,” he said.

Van Gompel said he hopes the new space will enhance clients’ confidence in the Baisch team as they continue to embrace progress.

And though the location is changing, he said the company’s mission remains the same: delivering innovative engineering solutions and building lasting client relationships through its commitment to “Service Beyond Solutions.”

“Our success has always been built on the trust of our clients and the dedication of our team,” he said. “This investment positions us to better serve both for many years to come.”

For more details on Baisch Engineering, head to baisch.com.