Consolidated broadens state presence with new office

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

March 2, 2026

PORTAGE – With offices in Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota, CEO John Schneider said Consolidated Construction has completed commercial construction projects for countless clients across the Midwest and beyond since its 1950s founding.

However, since 1964, Schneider said Consolidated Construction’s Appleton headquarters has served as the company’s only Wisconsin-based office – that is, until the recent opening of a new location in Portage.

“[Portage] is the only other [office] we have in Wisconsin,” he said, “We also have an office in Bismarck, North Dakota, and Rapid City, South Dakota.”

Though its Appleton office is considered Consolidated Construction’s “home base,” Schneider said the company has roughly half a dozen employees living and working in south central Wisconsin.

“They live in [the area], but they’ll work for us because we have a lot of construction projects that occur in [the southern] part of the state,” he said. “So, generally, they’re [working] fairly close to home.”

Housed in a renovated old electrical office space at 221 E. Albert St., Schneider said though the office is new, Consolidated’s presence in the region is not.

“A few of our clients are actually in the southern part of the state, too,” he said. “So, it anchors us closer to some of our existing clients.”

Primary markets, portfolio expansion

Schneider said Consolidated Construction is a “true design-builder” – self-completing much of the work necessary to bring a project from ideation to fruition.

“We have architects, and on staff, we are a general contractor in the commercial building industry and we self-perform [otherwise subcontracted work],” he said. “So, we’re a design-builder that actually self-performs work – which is pretty unusual.”

Though Consolidated still subcontracts with skilled professionals – such as electricians, plumbers, flooring installers and painters – Schneider said a majority of the design and general construction work is completed internally.

“We self-perform the concrete, steel erection and carpentry [work],” he said. “We also have a cabinet shop up in Appleton that builds the custom cabinetry.”

Schneider said some of Consolidated’s current “core markets” include food and beverage, health care, hospitality and manufacturing commercial construction – with some “strategically placed” in southern Wisconsin.

“We do a lot of work in the food and beverage industry and manufacturing, and that’s really strong in the southern part of the state,” he said. “So, [putting] our flag down [there] to strengthen our presence is really what we’re after.”

Schneider said Consolidated has also completed projects for clients in the retail and professional office space markets.

“We’ve done some retail, but that’s not really a core market of ours,” he said. “So, we [can] build a strip mall or a retail center, things like that…, but we don’t really pursue that work [unless] someone comes to us with an opportunity.”

Schneider said the professional office space construction market has “pretty well fallen off” in recent years.

“We haven’t really done a lot of office buildings – we’ve done some, but it’s not a core market [of ours, and] not too many people are building office buildings anymore,” he said.

Consolidated Construction, according to 1call2build.com, was founded in North Dakota as a specialty concrete contracting business by brothers Al and Mel Novotny.

However, in 1964, per the website, the company relocated its headquarters to Appleton in conjunction with the Mills family, “founders of Fleet Farm and Napa Auto Parts,” as their companies’ “primary builder.” 

Throughout the next five decades, Schneider said Consolidated expanded its project portfolio – completing projects across the agricultural, manufacturing, education, assisted living, hotel and multi-family housing markets.

Which he said, in turn, strengthened its “foothold” in Northeast Wisconsin’s commercial construction markets.

Now, with the opening of its new Portage office, Schneider said Consolidated is looking to, likewise, strengthen its existing and historic operations in central and southern Wisconsin.

“I think [the new office] is going to allow us to grow our employee base in the southern part of the state, which puts our employees closer to our clients,” he said.

A welcome addition

Located on E. Albert Street, Schneider said renovations took roughly six months before the building was ready to welcome staff and clients earlier this year.

“We completed our renovation last year and opened the office Jan. 1,” he said. 

After gutting the interior, Schneider said Consolidated rebuilt the office space and renovated several other areas – as the building had not been occupied for some time.

“There’s a heated shop and warehouse area in the back of the building, and then we renovated the exterior facade of the building,” he said.

Schneider said the Portage community has been “very welcoming” as Consolidated Construction officially establishes a presence in the area after decades of completing projects throughout the region.

“We have subcontractors like Zimmerman Plumbing that we’ve worked with in the past that we’re reconfirming our relationship with and starting to build that strength there,” he said, “allowing us to meet some new people we haven’t met before.”

As the company enters its 76th year in business, Schneider said he and his team are continually encouraged by the growth Consolidated Construction continues to enjoy both across the Midwest and more specifically, in southern Wisconsin.

“[We’re] a 76-year-old company that continues to grow and strengthen our presence,” he said.

For more information on Consolidated Construction, visit its aforementioned website or its Facebook page.