As the year winds down, I find myself reminiscing and appreciating all of the moments that went into 2025. This year felt especially meaningful. Not only did it bring new projects, new faces, and new milestones, but it also marked our 30th year building finely-detailed high-performance homes here in Northern Wisconsin.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned over years of building, it’s that great projects don’t happen alone. Behind every home there were multiple skilled professionals that made it all possible. That is why we’re starting our Meet the Subs blog series, because the people that work alongside us deserve the spotlight just as much as the finished homes do.

Throughout the years, I have gathered many tools for my proverbial toolbelt, and one that I have had since almost the beginning is blower door testing. Blower door tests have been intertwined with energy-efficient building science since the 80s, and it has become impossible to talk about energy-efficient homes without mentioning them. They have been so important for our growth as a business that we now have our own state-of-the-art blower door that we can utilize at any point in any of our builds.

Hello! 

In 2010 I filled the open role of Office Manager at Sauter Builders. It was right when the new office was opening up, and I was hired during that transition. I worked as Office Manager for 10 years until 2020. I had to leave for family reasons, however I was thrilled to be back on board in 2023!

Thank you to everyone that participated in the Ask Me Anything event that we had on our Facebook and Instagram last Thursday!

Here are the questions, along with my answers. Enjoy!

-Charlie

Hello all, 

I started working for Sauter Builders in September of 2020. 

I've always enjoyed building things, and in 2020, my family and I decided to move across the state and buy my great-grandmother’s house in Boulder Junction.

Through the years, as an energy efficient home builder, I’ve seen quite a lot of technology change and grow. Although they have been around since the 40’s, the technology of heat pumps have changed significantly over the last 15 years. This new breed of heat pump, the cold climate Air Source Heat Pump (ccASHP), became a blip on my radar after attending a builders’ conference early this year.

Let’s take another trip down memory lane, shall we?

In the early 2000’s Denise and I had been using our office space in our home to run our growing business. As we took on more projects and expanded our team, we knew it was time to find a space that could grow with us and reflect what we stand for. We looked around and waited until the perfect place came on the market — a sweet little house in downtown Boulder Junction that was previously a retail store. It became ours on December 31st 2009.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Sauter Builders. It is a milestone that fills me with pride, gratitude, and no small amount of amazement. When I think back to where it all started, I’m struck by how much has changed over the span of three decades—and how much has stayed true.