Central Lumber Sales: A Nebraska family business on the rise

Jim Giesler still remembers the moment he signed the papers: “I’d never seen so many documents in my life,” he says, laughing. It was one of those extraordinarily consequential decisions — so heavy in their future impact that the moment itself feels oddly weightless. “This was before electronic signatures; you had to read everything ahead of time,” he recalls, leaning forward as he paints the scene. “When the day came, all the attorneys were in the room, and you just signed and signed and signed. And then that night, you go home and say, ‘What did we just do?’”

What they did was buy a building materials business — one that had already been in the family for a generation. In 1999, Jim and his wife, Jill, officially took over Central Lumber Sales from Jill’s parents, Roger and Barbara Welte, through a leveraged buyout and the formation of an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan). Jill had been with the business since 1992; Jim (then a pharmacist) came on two years later, working under Jill’s father to learn the ropes. 

With Jill’s financial insight — her mother had been a commercial lender — and Jim’s entrepreneurial spirit, they began writing the next chapter of a family legacy rooted in trust, honesty, and long-term vision. In the time since, the business would grow exponentially, weathering the extraordinary uncertainty of a global pandemic. Along the way, a strategic capital investment, the outsourcing of financial operations, and a cohort of long-serving employees have enabled the business to continue on its growth trajectory. Today, it’s better positioned than ever for the next generation of ownership. 

Scaled growth over time

Central Lumber Sales is unique in that the business doesn’t sell building supplies directly to contractors or consumers; it’s a retail supplier, serving as a strategic link between manufacturers and local lumberyards all over the country. 

The nature of demand and logistics in this industry puts a premium on ensuring product is available when and where it’s needed, carrying desirable inventory others don’t, and building relationships that stand the test of time. “We’re the ones who have the inventory when someone’s ready to build a deck,” Jim explains. “The materials can’t be across the country when you need them; they have to be close.” He is calm and good-humored, gentle but urgent in the way he recounts stories from the moments pivotal to the company’s success. He’s graying now, but it’s easy to imagine a young, aspiring version of Jim diligently working through key business decisions. 

These decisions — like expanding product lines based on market demand, including cabinetry, paint, siding, and other specialized materials — require risk assessment, strategic foresight, and hands-on leadership. “You kind of start to get a feel for which product lines are going to go for you,” Jim says. “We had a few misses,” he lowers his chin into a soft smile. “But the ones we got right were game-changers.”

Growth in building materials distribution also requires significant and ongoing investment in inventory and supply chain management technology, shipping and logistics processes, facilities, and overall operations. On-site materials need to be unloaded, tracked, transported, and stored safely and securely. Inventory must be managed meticulously across suppliers, customers, orders, and physical locations. As the operation grew, Jim and Jill made space for additional capacity until one warehouse space became two, then three, then more. 

Then the COVID-19 Pandemic hit. 

A pandemic leads to big decisions

Early 2020 was a particularly complicated time for the construction industry. Lockdowns and economic uncertainty initially halted both commercial and residential projects, basically overnight. Then, the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates, just as families (now working from home, doing online and remote classes, and regularly in quarantine) began to feel cramped. The result? A massive uptick in demand for building. Historically low rates skyrocketed demand for home refinancing and home equity lines of credit — money homeowners promptly invested in remodels and second additions. At the same time, supply chain disruptions made it tough for distributors like Central Lumber Sales to keep inventory available. 

Meanwhile, Grey — Jim and Jill’s oldest of two sons — was fresh into a nursing career, working night shifts in the ICU as cases surged. “It was scary,” Grey says. “There was a lot to deal with and a lot to learn at once. I was a new nurse, and suddenly I was dealing with life and death every night.” Abigail, his wife, had recently graduated from a Physician Assistant program and she, too, found herself on the front lines. Both had imagined careers in medicine. But as the pandemic wore on, they began asking different questions.

“I didn’t want the business to be a failsafe,” says Jim about the family’s decision to bring Grey and Abigail into daily operations. “They had to want it. They had to truly want to be part of making it great.”

And they did.

Grey joined as a pricing analyst in the fall of 2020: A time marked by historic volatility in commodities markets. “Grey’s position in the company at that time was a no-brainer,” Jim explains. “At first, the whole industry kind of down-shifted, expecting a slow down, and then all of a sudden, our order file just kept growing and growing.”

For Grey, it was a unique opportunity to learn and sharpen market analysis cost modeling skills. “I definitely learned a lot in a very short amount of time,” he says. Today, he plays a key role in business operations and was especially influential in the decision to make a crucial investment.  

Abigail recalls attending a business conference with Jim, Jill, and Grey as the first time she considered joining the family business. In 2022, a year later, Abigail started working at Central Lumber Sales.
 

One roof, one future — with a bank that gets it

Like many family-owned and -operated businesses, Central Lumber Sales has been calculated in its growth: conservative, methodical, opportunistic. As operations expanded, so too did the need for space. 

“As we grew, we acquired all these little buildings around kind of the same area,” Jim explains. Before long, Central Lumber Sales found itself in something of a conundrum with operations spanning multiple locations, including warehouses in Lincoln, a finish shop in nearby Murdock, and a distribution space 45 minutes up the highway in Omaha. Inefficiencies emerged as product moved from site to site. By the time they reached an aggregate 108,000 square feet scattered across several buildings, the need for consolidation became clear.

Their vision: a new, state-of-the-art facility with 35-foot ceilings and room to grow. A central hub for people, product, and possibility.

But, for that, they would need additional capital.

The Gieslers sought a banking partner, and Jim insisted on working with one willing to dig into the details. “I’ve had a lot of interactions with different bankers throughout my career, and I’ve developed some pretty good relationships,” says Jim, who put the project in front of several. “I wouldn’t give them the pro formas until I walked them through our business so they could really understand why we needed to make this investment.” 

Indeed, it was an investment with broad and sweeping business implications. The consolidation of warehouse, storage, and office space meant real impact of core business metrics, like benchmarks for labor and handling (cost per unit and order shipped, order cycle time, and fill and backorder rates), but also broader business metrics like freight cost as a percentage of revenue and risk mitigation for errors leading to lost and delayed orders. 

“Every time I took a banker through, they could see clearly what we were trying to accomplish, but then they’d have to sell that up to their loan committee,” Jim says, noting his disappointment. “But Union Bank & Trust was different.” 

The Gieslers were able to actually sit down with Union Bank’s leadership. “I’ll never forget it,” says Jim, recalling a lunch conversation with Jason and Angie Muhleisen — family-owned business to family-owned business. “Angie looked me in the eye,” Jim says, “and said to me, ‘We support small businesses, and we absolutely love to see this.’” 

With the help of Bryan Shank, Vice President of Business Loans and Financing, the Gieslers were able to secure financing for what is today an impressive warehouse operations space. But that was just the beginning of a relationship that would pay substantial dividends in the way of efficiency, security, time savings, and peace of mind. 

Treasury management services streamline operations 

As a UBT customer, Central Lumber Sales has been able to leverage a number of crucially important business services as it continues to grow. UBT’s Treasury Management experts support businesses of all sizes by taking the complexity out of payables, receivables, and merchant services — while delivering smart, sometimes-overlooked solutions that enhance cash flow, reduce risk, and drive efficiency. These services have made an especially big impact on Jill and Abigail, who manage and oversee financial operations. 

As a lean team, Jill and Abigail were able to streamline otherwise time-consuming tasks like depositing checks first with a service called Desktop Teller, which then transitioned into an even more significant time savings through lockbox services. Instead of spending valuable time and taking significant risks handling, transporting, and depositing checks, UBT’s Desktop Teller allows businesses to scan checks quickly and securely using a small machine. Desktop Teller scans both sides in a single pass, automatically reading dollar amounts, then totaling the deposits before submitting them securely to the bank. It also looks for errors and duplicates, saving everyone time and reducing issues. 

For payments and money movement, they take advantage of ACH options. Easy access to ACH services gives businesses large and small the ability to pay employees and vendors, in addition to collecting payments from both businesses and consumers. It’s a cost-effective way to quickly and securely transact, whether for payables, receivables, or consolidating funds. 

A close working relationship between Central Lumber Sales and UBT means the banking team stays on top of both current and emerging needs. “They’re very forward-thinking,” Jill says, “and if there’s a better way to do something, they help us find it.”

As deposits have increased, the Gieslers have worked with UBT to upgrade to a fully outsourced deposit collection solution called lockbox services. Customers send payment to a P.O. box handled by the UBT staff entirely. As checks are scanned into the secure portal by the UBT team, accounting staff can view them in real time in a secure portal that can also integrate with enterprise accounting software to eliminate the need for cross-checking and manual entry. 

“Lockbox alone saves us at least an hour each day, maybe more. Some days, check deposits were taking up three quarters of my day,” says Abigail, who is now able to refocus that time on more impactful work. “It means I’m able to focus on longer-term projects like data analysis and, more recently, the buildout of our new website.” 

Combining lockbox services with Positive Pay has created even more time savings while also helping mitigate fraud. The service, provided by UBT, helps businesses protect against check fraud by matching checks presented for payment against a list of checks the business has issued. If there’s a mismatch — such as an altered amount or unauthorized check — the bank flags it for the business to review before releasing funds.

Investing in people

Behind Central Lumber’s success is a culture that emphasizes care: care for customers, for partners, and for the team of roughly 50 employees who make it all possible.

“No doubt about it, your people are the most important part of your business,” Jill says, adding that she and Jim were especially excited that the benefits of the ESOP would reward their hardworking team. A retirement benefit plan that gives employees part ownership, the program continues to make a substantial impact.

“Some of our people have been with the company for 20 to 30 years,” Jill explains. “Just the other day one of them was with my mom and dad and he hugged them and said, ‘Thank you, because without the ESOP, I wouldn’t have been able to retire without picking up something part-time.’ And it really touched my parents so much that he said that and that this program is making a real impact on our people.”

Even with all the complexity of managing supply chains, expanding product lines, and surviving the whiplash of pandemic demand, the thing customers notice most is the people.

“Our warehouse guys, our drivers — they’re just kind,” Jill says. “I hear the way they talk to customers, the little jokes, the extra effort. People like our people. They’re just truly good people.”

Built to last

Today, Central Lumber Sales operates under one roof: a 118,000-square-foot facility designed for efficiency and growth. With Grey and Abigail finding their rhythm, and the ESOP rewarding long-time employees and attracting new ones, the company is positioned for another generation of thoughtful, values-based growth.

What hasn’t changed is the philosophy that built it: honesty, integrity, and authenticity. “We try not to overpromise,” Jim says. “We try to surprise on the positive side.” 

That goes for their people, and for the partners who’ve walked alongside them — including the bank that saw not just a balance sheet, but a family investing in the future of their employees, their industry, and their legacy.

“We love the people at UBT,” Jill says. “They took the time to understand not just the numbers, but the character of the people behind the business. From that very first lunch with Angie and Jason, I just knew they were sincere. Everything that’s happened since then has proven they meant it.”