CornerStone One expands into Northeast Wisconsin

Rich Palzewic

Staff

November 17, 2025

OSHKOSH – A Brookfield-based contractor offering services in commercial plumbing, HVAC, wastewater treatment, earthwork, site utilities, engineering and facility service solutions has expanded operations into northeastern Wisconsin.

CornerStone One Founder Steve Adkins said the facility, located at 3200 N. Main St. in Oshkosh, extends the company’s manufacturing reach in the region.

“CornerStone One grew out of my garage in 2003, so I was the first employee,” Adkins, chief storyteller/head coach, said. “Now, we’re getting close to about 175 families that depend on CornerStone One [to make a living].”

Though Adkins said the company looked at a few different areas in the northeastern Wisconsin region to expand into, Oshkosh was ultimately selected because it “checked all the boxes.”

“We’re interested in developing our employees into more than someone who punches in from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily, so really, the expansion into the area is also an opportunity for more families to participate and experience the CornerStone One difference,” he said.

Now more than 20 years old, Adkins said CornerStone One is always listening to the needs of its customers.

“We will respond to those customer needs,” he said. “If a customer has a need and they feel strongly that CornerStone One can help them solve that better than anybody else, then we will go where we are asked to go. We’re not opposed to more expansion.”

The continued growth of CornerStone One, Adkins said, reflects a simple goal – to make it easier for businesses to get every aspect of their commercial infrastructure needs handled by a single, trusted partner.

“I am the visionary of CornerStone One, so I spend 100% of my time making decisions that are going to make sure this organization is relevant 50 or 100 years from now,” he said. “I’ve never looked at revenue growth, expansion into a market or any of those things. I’ve always been a student of listening to what our customers’ needs are and holding a high standard of excellence.”

More on the ‘new’ facility

At the nearly 31,000-square-foot facility, currently, Adkins said there are eight full-time employees.

“We just completed significant renovations of the building and parking lot,” he said. “We’ve made a significant investment in our sheet metal fabrication, which is going to happen out of that facility. We closed on the building in July, and I estimate that by mid-November, the sheet metal shop will be fully functional.”

Adkins said the Oshkosh facility will house all five CornerStone One divisions.

“That’s earthwork, site utilities, plumbing, HVAC and service,” he said. “We manufacture all the piping and plumbing in the Brookfield location, and then we’ll cross-dock between the two locations. We build the stuff in Brookfield, and then we ship it up to Oshkosh. From there, it will be delivered to the job site.”

Skilled workers needed

With CornerStone One involved in plumbing, HVAC work, etc., Adkins said what he loves most about the trades is the blend between the cognitive and physical aspects.

“We have so many people [working at CornerStone One] who have a college degree and are now working for us as plumbers, operators and skilled tradesmen,” he said. “We pay people to think at CornerStone One. The construction industry is so sophisticated and has so much technology built into it.”

Adkins said college used to be the only option for kids out of high school – “not so much anymore.”

“The reality back then was that very few people really understood the advantage of the trades,” he said. “Most of those kids in the current generation were introduced to the trades by a family member or a close friend. In my case, I’m a third-generation plumber. My grandfather was a plumber, and my dad was a heavy equipment operator.”

Due to the Great Recession of 2008, Adkins said many workers in the construction industry lost their jobs a few years later.

“There were a lot of people who also retired at that time,” he said. “And with that, they retired with their knowledge during a period when we also didn’t start a lot of apprentices, so we had this huge gap once the economy recovered. There was this huge demand [for trades workers], but we had broken the link in that knowledge base. In many trades, someone took the time to teach you the skills you need to be successful – that was missing.”

‘More than just a company to work for’

Adkins said at CornerStone One, he aims to be an integral part of the community and is “genuinely happy” with the culture he and those within the company have created.

“Along with our culture, for me, what makes CornerStone One really special are the families that have the opportunity to work here,” he said. “We’re very supportive and do a lot of things to support our employees to make them the best version of themselves. Integrity is our mission, quality is our commitment and community is our cornerstone.”

When it comes to CornerStone’s employees, Adkins said they always come before everything else.

“Our employees come first, our customers come second and our shareholders come third,” he said. “I firmly believe that if we invest in our employees, good things will come from that. We invest in them through our book clubs and continuing education, plus, we have therapists on staff to help with any mental health issues. Those services are free of charge to any of our employees and their families.”

Adkins said he describes his approach as “leading with love.”

“I feel it is our responsibility to do something for somebody and expect nothing in return,” he said. “We put our employees first because I want them to be the best version of themselves possible, and it’s through that level of care that they’re complete and whole.”

Adkins said he believes that when employees aren’t burdened by additional stress and have stronger relationships with their children and families, they tend to perform better at work.

“If that’s the case, then they help our customers to achieve their goals better,” he said.

Though greater profitability is possible, Adkins said he deliberately prioritizes investing in his employees “over making an extra buck.”

“It costs money to grow people and it costs money to invest in people, but I’ve decided having another dollar bill in my bank account is less important to me than having a person live out their true and full potential,” he said.

Adkins said those might be “easy words to put on a wall,” but living them out is something entirely different.

“Knowing what to do and knowing the right thing to do is simple – so simple,” he said. “Everybody intuitively knows what the right thing to do is, but to actually do it, well, that’s when it requires sacrifice. That’s when it requires you to take money out of your own pocket.”

More give back

Adkins said CornerStone One is also deeply involved in the community, noting its Dec. 12 open house for the new facility including support for the local food bank.

“Through our foundation, we give 10% of our profits back to the community annually,” he said. “If you partner with CornerStone One, you’re also partnering with the community because community is our cornerstone. We feel we have a responsibility to give back to those in the community. There are lots of needs out there.”

As CornerStone One’s first employee, Adkins said giving back has been part of his vision from the very beginning.

“It’s always been in my core, but the reality is, the first five or 10 years [of running a business], you try to stabilize,” he said. “Then for the next five or 10 years, you try to build some process or add some organization to the organization. We’ve just recently formalized the foundation. Before that, if we saw a need, we just addressed it.”

As another example of the company’s commitment to giving even before its foundation was established, Adkins said CornerStone One supported projects in Kenya.

“We brought water to about 900 people, and we raised a bunch of money for that,” he said. “We’ve been giving back for a long time – since the inception of CornerStone One. We’ve always been very generous.”

Learn more at cstoneone.com.