Faces of the Industry

JL Schwieters was started in 1980 by my dad, John Schwieters, and his brother, Leo, as a framing labor business.

My favorite part of the industry is the exchange of ideas of how people are trying to do things better.

Everyone has had something to teach me, and I’ve already received an education that will last the rest of my life.

In 1945, our family started the Huskey Company. My grandfather’s brother, Clay Huskey, was building houses around Nashville in the early 1940s. There were not many lumberyards in the area, so he used his connections with Alabama sawmills to personally truck lumber he needed for the houses they were building.

My grandfather was a general contractor, and my mother is one, too. I was toted around jobsites from a young age, and today the smell of fresh cut lumber and construction dust still brings me back to the good ol’ days.

I got into the industry by starting out in retail lumber with Wickes. They had a yard near my house and in high school I cleaned the facility and stocked the shelves.

In a lot of ways, I grew up in the industry as this was the family business. My uncle and father were home builders. In the mid 1970’s they were having problems getting lumber and trusses delivered on schedule, so they started a lumber yard and then bought a truss plant.

We were blessed to come into the industry when there were no computers and be part of so many advancements and the amazing increase in quality and productivity.

Division Manager  •  G2 National  •  Sparks, Nevada

Zach with his siblings and his sisters’ dog, Tonks.

Zach (left) with his siblings and his sisters’ dog, Tonks.

Since I was 14 years old, I just wanted to own my own business. In 1986, I was selling lumber in Texas when the economy collapsed. With the market tanking, they laid off half of the employees. I was fortunate, I was pushed back down to retail sales but I wanted to get back into outside sales. The company’s truss plant began to struggle and I was asked to sell trusses. I said yes, despite not knowing what a truss was, and I have never looked back from there.