Wausau Homes opens in Sheboygan, filling builder needs in area

Jim Paul

Contributor

November 3, 2025

SHEBOYGAN – With more than a decade of home renovation experience, Dan Roerdink and his wife, April, have been named authorized independent custom builders for Wausau Homes in Sheboygan County.

Roerdink – who previously specialized in extensive, down-to-the-stud remodels and additions – said he was eager to move into new home construction, while his wife, April, a real estate agent, will assist clients not only with acquiring land but also with home design.

“We were talking about it for a while, and then all these ads popped up,” Roerdink said. “I started doing more research into it, looking at all the different builders they have in the state. I noticed there was a big void in our area.”

After touring the Wausau Homes manufacturing facility in Rothschild, Roerdink said they were impressed by the company’s efficient, organized and technology-driven approach.

Those factors, combined with the company’s support and potential for an impact on the local housing market, he said, made Wausau Homes an attractive partner.

Smarter, faster construction

Roerdink said Wausau Homes specializes in panelized construction in which major sections of a house are built in a factory and then transported to the construction site for assembly.

This method, he said, improves quality and reduces waste, with lasers ensuring straight lumber and computers precisely mapping each piece – resulting in only a few inches of scrap per project.

Roerdink said panelized construction also saves time, because while the basement is being poured, the house can be built in the factory.

Furthermore, Roerdink said Wausau Homes sends an assembly crew to set the panels on site, allowing the house to be roughed in within days rather than weeks, which reduces the exposure of framing to the elements.

“With traditional stick building, framing can take six, eight weeks, or even longer, to have the thing assembled, and it’s exposed to the elements,” he said. “During that entire time, you’ve got trusses lying in the ditch getting full of mud and water, whereas with our process, it’s literally coming off the bed of a semi and going straight to the foundation.”

Roerdink said Wausau Homes began as a modular home builder but shifted to panelized construction in 2007.

With dozens of customizable floor plans for homeowners to choose from, Roerdink said the design possibilities are unlimited.

“There are zero limitations as to what we can do,” he said. “We do have quite a few different models that are already pre-designed that customers can choose from – those are all fully customizable. We can also do full custom homes. I think the biggest custom home that was recently done was done in Kenosha, and it was a three-story, 13,000-square-foot house.”

In addition to offering higher-quality, fully customizable homes, April said Wausau Homes provides firm pricing and timelines for framing, and she and Roerdink do everything they can to keep the rest of the project on schedule and within budget.

“We can stay on budget, but that is dependent upon our clients,” she said. “We make sure everybody knows up front that ‘based on the decisions you make right now, this is our proposed timeline.’”

April said clients are free to make change orders – “it is your house, you should get it the way you want it” – but they should expect adjustments to both the price and the project timeline.

Every detail counts

Throughout his years as a remodeling contractor, Roerdink said he built a dependable network of subcontractors, carefully selecting those who are trustworthy and follow through on their commitments.

During that time, and now as the authorized independent custom builders for Wausau Homes in Sheboygan County, the Roerdinks said they emphasize customer service and clear communication to ensure a positive experience and keep expectations aligned throughout each project.

“We have a questionnaire that our clients go through with us when we sit down to talk initially, and one of the questions on there is: ‘What do they expect for communication?’” she said. “What does that look like to them? What are their expectations? We want to be on the same page as them.”

Roerdink said he plans to keep the business relatively small at first to ensure a high level of communication with each customer.

“If I were spending half a million dollars on a house being built and I called my builder, I would expect they would answer their phone, and if they didn’t, they would get back to me fairly quickly,” he said. “If I were building 50 homes a year, I would not be able to do that.”

Wausau Homes Sheboygan’s office and design studio is located at 1117 N. 8th St. in the old Suscha News building, which the couple said has been remodeled back to its original glory.

More information can be found at wausauhomes.com/builders/sheboygan-wi.