For 125 years, Chase Lumber has supported the needs of builders and remodelers as Dane County, Wisconsin has grown. Throughout those years the company has adapted and progressed with the times, all while leaning on one simple commitment to its customers: service.
It may sound simple, but the motto on the company’s sign saying, “We do business the old-fashioned way, with service,” has propelled fifth-generation, family-owned, Chase Lumber to three locations and consecutive years of record revenues.
The business’s three locations, in Sun Prairie, McFarland, and DeForest, are now majority-owned by Val Stiener, company president and fifth generation to work in the business.
Local history
Val’s family history, like the history of the company and even the community it serves, hinges on one of the early settlers to the area, Moses Chase, whose son, J.W. Chase, would eventually expand on the family’s agricultural operations and purchase interest in a lumberyard in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Through the generations, the Chase family gained sole interest in the lumberyard and after consolidating some of their business interests, formed Chase Lumber and Fuel in 1923.
Three generations later, Val’s father, David Chase, took control of the business in 1980 upon his father, Theodore Chase’s retirement. Like many family businesses in the industry, it wasn’t assumed that a girl would grow up to take over the lumberyard, so after high school Val chose a career outside of the company. But also like many family businesses, she came back home to help out along the way and decided to stay. For Val, it was 1996, when she came home to help at a time when she was also considering a career change.
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