Dennis began his drywall career in the fall of 1963 when he was
offered a job in the Bay Area of California. After very little hesitation
he decided it was a good opportunity to escape the Minnesota
winters. He joined the painter's local and became a journeyman taper.
In the summer of 1965, he returned to Minnesota and began his
drywall contracting business, Northwest Drywall. He continued
working on job sites as needed, along with being president of the
company. He suffered a torn rotor cuff injury from an auto accident in
2002. Since then he has been in the office and still goes out in the
field to lend his many years of drywall and framing knowledge to the
crews. Dennis also "reinvented the wheel" several times in order to
make things more productive. He has built seven texture spray rigs
out of used school buses allowing mixing tanks, spraying equipment
and materials to be contained in a controlled environment. Each new
unit better and more efficient than the previous one.
With his father being the owner, and having the office in their home until
he was ten years old, Jeff Kahnke has been with Northwest Drywall
practically all of his life. He started out sweeping floors after school to
helping out on his dads remodeling projects. Jeff graduated from
Redwood Falls High school in 1985. In 1987, Jeff attended courses at
Normandale Community College while he worked in the metro area.
Then he started taping and finishing full-time on many multi unit housing
projects in the twin cities area. He worked on various projects the next
ten years including plaster and E.I.F.S. projects. In 1998 he moved to
the office and started payroll and billing. He now manages the taping
and rocking crews, billing, and on-site estimating. Jeff also gets out
and lends a hand on work sites when manpower is in short supply.
Scott started at Northwest Drywall in July of 1984 after
graduating from the Willmar Area Technical College with a
degree in accounting. Over the 20 plus years his duties have
included A/R, A/P, payroll, estimating and his current position
is as office manager and estimator.
Joshua Robertson grew up and graduated from
Redwood Falls high school. After high school he
attended college in St. Cloud for building construction,
drafting and estimating. He worked 15 years in the
construction field and in July of 2005 started at
Northwest Drywall as an estimator. His work ranges
from small lake cabins and homes to super centers and
large manufacturing facilities. He also coordinates
materials to be delivered and attends job site meetings.
Deb started at Northwest Drywall in July of 1999 as the bookkeeper /
receptionist. She has worked at Northwest Drywall for seven years.
She graduated from the Granite Falls Area Technical College with a
degree in accounting.
When she started she was responsible for answering the phones and
data entry. As time went by, she took over the duties of payroll and now
has worked with accounts payable, accounts receivable, job cost and
profit sharing. She also greets anyone who stops by the office.
She also helps plan the Christmas party with Dennis's wife Kathy and
sees that all the Christmas cards and gifts get sent out.
