Quality Home Inspectors
Our educational session this month was by Mr. Terry Stumpf with Stumpf Construction. Mr Stumpf has 35 years experience in the home and commercial construction field. This was an informative and interesting session. We learnt about surface and roof water management, foundation anchoring and underpinning systems, multiple foundations types with typical failure issues and remedy, drainage tile and water proofing. The meeting was be held in a rather unique setting at the personal home of an excellent cook/professional caterer to where we enjoyed a fully home cooked meal with pie and ice cream for dessert.
I graduated from Mid-Prairie High School in 1970 and my first full time employment was with Kalonial Mobile Home Industries where I began my construction experiences. I was also employed at Briskey Cabinet Co and Paul Boyd Construction Co in Iowa City.
In 1976 I started Stumpf Construction with my father Bob Stumpf as a partnership in building new homes and remodeling. In the beginning, the business operations were done from my home office and small shop with my wife Mary Jane assisting part-time with the general accounting tasks. As the business grew I purchased and remodeled a warehouse east of Riverside on Hwy 22. We also added an office building and almost every year since increased our employees. Joining the family business as part owners was first my brother Randy, then more recently my son Chad. As the business grew we also hired my brothers Nick and Tim, and a couple of years ago hired Nick's son Keaton. Joining our company is another family; Ronna Sojka who is responsible for the various accounting tasks in the office and her brothers Randy and Robert Sexton and Randy's son Chris. Last summer Matt Gerot was added to our team and each summer several part-time employees are added.
In the beginning the business was primarily remodeling and new home construction with some commercial jobs. As the economy changed over the decades and the construction opportunities grew, I continued to look for opportunities to grow and to provide construction-wide services. We do a lot of things others don't want to do or don't have the equipment or talented labor force to do. A few years ago we created the “ Basement Doctor“ , a division of Stumpf Construction. We now specialize in basement structures and repairs as well as water-proofing. We have developed our own unique step by step approach “ water proofing system“ to better serve the various needs of our customers and to better evaluate both the inside and outside structural and/or water problems. Basement work can involve considerable labor when floors need to be busted out or walls and foundations need to be repaired or replaced. Although there is hard work involved, improved equipment has made the work more efficient over the years.
Most of our business is with-in a fifty mile radius and some of the highlight commercial jobs have been the new basement under St Mary's Church, the addition to the Methodist Church and remodeling the old Fire Station into a new City Hall, all in Riverside. We have remodeled or made structural basement repairs on many homes in the “ Historical District“ in Iowa City. We custom build all of our new homes to meet the customer's particular needs and desires. As a general contractor we do hire area sub-contractors when we get busy or for specialized services.