Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/439904
34 | I NSIGH T • J a n u a r y 2 0 15 w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m W hen Justin Kuehl's wife wanted a high-end look for her salon with reclaimed wood flooring and furnishings, he balked at the price. "I was the cheapskate," he says. Instead, he and his friend Nate Lenz found materials and did the installation themselves at Abigail's downtown Appleton business, Bold Salon. "is was an option that allowed her to get the look she wanted without the crazy high cost," Kuehl says. It was the beginning of something great. at DIY project led to the creation of Appleton-based Factotum, builders of custom furnishings, flooring and accent walls for business and residential customers. Kuehl and Lenz, both in their 20s, got started with another partner, Jordan Banda, who owns a number of businesses, including the recycling company that is housed in the same building as Factotum. "It was natural for us to just go into something like this," says Kuehl, who had owned a construction company. Lenz had been flipping houses. In September 2013, their new company started taking on clients. Another partner, Trevor Nackers, helped start Factotum but has since taken a job in the Milwaukee area. Banda's industrial recycling company, W International, receives Factotum constructs furniture, décor from recycled wood for rustic charm 'We can build anything' in focus { s m a l l b u s i n e s s } B y N i k k i K a l l i o large plastic rolls on wooden pallets made from hardwoods like walnut and maple, and Factotum uses wood from those pallets to build its products. Factotum also purchases barn wood for use in some of their products. e sustainability aspect goes beyond using reclaimed wood: eir shop is heated with scrap wood from their projects. Kuehl and Lenz also screen print T-shirts and refurbish old motorcycles. ey have a steel shop to build wood-and-steel furniture. "It's a place for us to take our hobbies and try and make money at them," Kuehl says. "We took all the stuff that we had been doing normally and just put them into one building." Hence, the name: Factotum, Latin for "make or do anything." ey're making it work. e company started with about $2,000 to $2,500 in sales; summer 2014 sales reached $40,000 to $60,000. Fall is a slower time and Kuehl and Lenz are working on building products that will help sustain them with a more steady income. "e business side is doing crazy well," Kuehl says. "It shouldn't be doing as well as it is, as young as it is." As with any startup, it's a lot of hard Justin Kuehl and Nate Lenz, owners of Factotum, repurpose scrap wood into furniture and décor for business and residential clients. N I K K I K A L L I O