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If not for Jim Krupicka, Midwest Unlimited might not have made it far enough to celebrate its 75th anniversary.
The company got its start in 1947 as a small equipment supply shop at 22nd and Y streets founded by Dorothy Boyle. Over the years, what was then called Midwest Machinery grew and was sold twice, once in the 1960s and again in 1990.
By the time Krupicka got a job there as a fresh-faced 19-year-old mechanic in 1992, however, the business had stagnated.
In fact, less than a year after he started work, the owners were ready to either sell the company or close it.
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But Krupicka had other plans. After returning from a two-month leave for a work-related injury to his hand, he approached the owners with an idea: put him in charge.
“I made a pitch to the owners, that, you know, give me a shot, I can make this thing work,” he said. “And they did.”
So Krupicka became the general manager and he said he was able to improve business right away.
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Things were good for a few years, but by the late 1990s, Krupicka said he was looking for ways to grow and expand the business, while the owners were happy just raking in the profits he was generating.
“It kind of got to a point where what I wanted and what they wanted were two different things,” he said.
So he gave them an ultimatum: Either give him an ownership stake in the company or he was going to go start his own business.
The owners at the time had other businesses, so they decided to sell him all of Midwest Machinery. Krupicka rolled it into another business he owned, Performance Unlimited, and changed the name to Midwest Unlimited.
That was in 1999. The next year, he moved the company from its longtime home at 22nd and Y streets to a larger location near 11th Street and Cornhusker Highway. A decade later, the business had outgrown the space and moved to its current location at 1750 W. O St.
Krupicka has continued to run the business, recently celebrating his 30th year at the company, which was just a few days after the company marked 75 years in business.
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Midwest Unlimited specializes in fall-protection and rigging equipment, including harnesses, cables, rope, hooks and pulleys. It’s the kind of equipment that’s vital for people who work in dangerous environments, such as construction, emergency services and cell tower maintenance.
It also sells other items such as bright-colored safety vests and coats, as well as some tools.
“We sell that higher-end specialized equipment that you’re not gonna find at a Lowe’s or Home Depot,” Krupicka said.
Though there are plenty of local competitors out there, many of Midwest Unlimited’s customers are loyal and have stuck with the business for decades.
“We’ve got lots of customers that have been around since before I was here,” he said.
One of those is Ray Lipsey, who owns a company that installs water and sewer pipes, many of them for the City of Lincoln. He said he’s been getting equipment such as straps used to hoist the pipes and lower them into the ground from Midwest Unlimited for more than 30 years.
“They have the premium safety equipment and they stand behind their stuff,” said Lipsey, who noted that Krupicka is “pretty easy to work with.”
He also said that the company carries a large amount of inventory and will move mountains to get whatever its customers need.
That’s gotten a little more difficult over the past couple of years, Krupicka admitted.
Like many other businesses, he’s faced supply chain shortages because of COVID-19.
That’s part of business and something he’s experienced at times before, but with the pandemic, “it’s 10 times worse than it ever was.”
“Your vendors can’t tell you when you’re gonna see it, and they won’t tell you what it’s gonna cost,” he said.
With some items, Krupicka said he’s seen his cost more than double.
Another issue that he’s faced because of COVID-19 is difficulty finding workers.
Krupicka said he currently has 15 employees and would hire more if he could find them.
“Business is fine, good,” he said. “But business could be exponentially better if we could find help.”
After 30 years at the company, you might think Krupicka would start thinking about hanging it up, but he just turned 50 on Friday and has no plans to think about retirement anytime soon.
And who knows, there could be another Krupicka waiting in the wings to shepherd the business to its 100th anniversary and beyond.
“My daughter’s 9,” he said. “She’s already got it figured out how she can run this place.”
Highest-paying construction jobs in Lincoln
Highest-paying construction jobs in Lincoln
The term “recession-proof” has taken on a new and important meaning in the wake of the Great Recession of 2008, a meaning that has been renewed during the pandemic. One recession-proof industry has proven to be construction. Residential and commercial real estate, roads, bridges, power and energy, hotels—each of these sectors has weathered economic storms and proven to be dependable ways for a person to support a family.
The American Institutes of Architects’ Consensus Construction Forecast predicts that nonresidential construction will grow 4.6%, while the overall commercial construction market will see a 5.4% increase. This is against market expectations of global construction gains of 3.7%, meaning the U.S. market is expected to be ahead of the curve. Moreover, road and highway construction is expected to reach $108 billion annually by 2024.
Aside from ongoing supply chain woes that have caused delays in materials delivery, one source of concern in construction is workforce shortages. Analysis from Deloitte says that labor shortages are the result of a lack of qualified candidates and a skills gap between generations in an industry growing more technologically savvy by the year.
But this does not mean there are no jobs out there—to the contrary, there are a great number of construction jobs out there, and many of them are high-paying and offer career opportunities. To that end, Stacker compiled a list of the highest paying jobs in construction in Lincoln using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Jobs are ranked based on annual pay as of May 2020. Job descriptions are from O*NET.
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#20. Helpers–brickmasons, blockmasons, stonemasons, and tile and marble setters
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $35,600
– #56 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 30
National
– Annual mean salary: $40,190
– Employment: 21,410
– Entry level education requirements: No formal educational credential
– Metros with highest average pay:
— St. Louis, MO-IL ($63,660)
— Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI ($61,010)
— Reno, NV ($54,490)
– Job description: Help brickmasons, blockmasons, stonemasons, or tile and marble setters by performing duties requiring less skill. Duties include using, supplying, or holding materials or tools, and cleaning work area and equipment.
#19. Construction laborers
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $35,730
– #238 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 830
National
– Annual mean salary: $43,000
– Employment: 971,330
– Entry level education requirements: No formal educational credential
– Metros with highest average pay:
— Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI ($66,670)
— Kankakee, IL ($65,730)
— Urban Honolulu, HI ($63,860)
– Job description: Perform tasks involving physical labor at construction sites. May operate hand and power tools of all types: air hammers, earth tampers, cement mixers, small mechanical hoists, surveying and measuring equipment, and a variety of other equipment and instruments. May clean and prepare sites, dig trenches, set braces to support the sides of excavations, erect scaffolding, and clean up rubble, debris, and other waste materials. May assist other craft workers.
#18. Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $38,840
– #120 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: data not available
National
– Annual mean salary: $48,500
– Employment: 40,240
– Entry level education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
– Metros with highest average pay:
— San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA ($106,100)
— Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV ($84,840)
— San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ($78,360)
– Job description: Operate or tend machinery at surface mining site, equipped with scoops, shovels, or buckets to excavate and load loose materials.
#17. Tile and stone setters
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $39,050
– #102 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 70
National
– Annual mean salary: $48,490
– Employment: 38,150
– Entry level education requirements: No formal educational credential
– Metros with highest average pay:
— Champaign-Urbana, IL ($78,200)
— Urban Honolulu, HI ($69,740)
— Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY ($63,630)
– Job description: Apply hard tile, stone, and comparable materials to walls, floors, ceilings, countertops, and roof decks.
#16. Hazardous materials removal workers
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $39,410
– #110 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 80
National
– Annual mean salary: $49,170
– Employment: 44,010
– Entry level education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
– Metros with highest average pay:
— Knoxville, TN ($79,260)
— Salinas, CA ($72,170)
— Kennewick-Richland, WA ($70,300)
– Job description: Identify, remove, pack, transport, or dispose of hazardous materials, including asbestos, lead-based paint, waste oil, fuel, transmission fluid, radioactive materials, or contaminated soil. Specialized training and certification in hazardous materials handling or a confined entry permit are generally required. May operate earth-moving equipment or trucks.
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#15. Roofers
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $40,750
– #162 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 330
National
– Annual mean salary: $47,010
– Employment: 128,680
– Entry level education requirements: No formal educational credential
– Metros with highest average pay:
— Worcester, MA-CT ($82,700)
— Santa Rosa, CA ($71,520)
— Trenton, NJ ($71,260)
– Job description: Cover roofs of structures with shingles, slate, asphalt, aluminum, wood, or related materials. May spray roofs, sidings, and walls with material to bind, seal, insulate, or soundproof sections of structures.
#14. Carpenters
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $41,130
– #294 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 1,270
National
– Annual mean salary: $54,200
– Employment: 699,300
– Entry level education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
– Metros with highest average pay:
— Urban Honolulu, HI ($82,950)
— Vallejo-Fairfield, CA ($82,300)
— Hanford-Corcoran, CA ($79,870)
– Job description: Construct, erect, install, or repair structures and fixtures made of wood and comparable materials, such as concrete forms; building frameworks, including partitions, joists, studding, and rafters; and wood stairways, window and door frames, and hardwood floors. May also install cabinets, siding, drywall, and batt or roll insulation. Includes brattice builders who build doors or brattices (ventilation walls or partitions) in underground passageways.
#13. Highway maintenance workers
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $42,090
– #165 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 100
National
– Annual mean salary: $43,200
– Employment: 149,890
– Entry level education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
– Metros with highest average pay:
— San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ($72,040)
— Vallejo-Fairfield, CA ($66,270)
— San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA ($65,290)
– Job description: Maintain highways, municipal and rural roads, airport runways, and rights-of-way. Duties include patching broken or eroded pavement and repairing guard rails, highway markers, and snow fences. May also mow or clear brush from along road, or plow snow from roadway.
#12. Cement masons and concrete finishers
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $42,160
– #198 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 690
National
– Annual mean salary: $49,390
– Employment: 195,580
– Entry level education requirements: No formal educational credential
– Metros with highest average pay:
— Urban Honolulu, HI ($86,370)
— Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, HI ($81,730)
— Rockford, IL ($78,320)
– Job description: Smooth and finish surfaces of poured concrete, such as floors, walks, sidewalks, roads, or curbs using a variety of hand and power tools. Align forms for sidewalks, curbs, or gutters; patch voids; and use saws to cut expansion joints.
#11. Drywall and ceiling tile installers
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $43,340
– #99 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 70
National
– Annual mean salary: $51,930
– Employment: 99,700
– Entry level education requirements: No formal educational credential
– Metros with highest average pay:
— Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, HI ($90,640)
— Bellingham, WA ($78,580)
— Urban Honolulu, HI ($78,170)
– Job description: Apply plasterboard or other wallboard to ceilings or interior walls of buildings. Apply or mount acoustical tiles or blocks, strips, or sheets of shock-absorbing materials to ceilings and walls of buildings to reduce or reflect sound. Materials may be of decorative quality. Includes lathers who fasten wooden, metal, or rockboard lath to walls, ceilings, or partitions of buildings to provide support base for plaster, fireproofing, or acoustical material.
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#10. Sheet metal workers
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $44,490
– #193 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 330
National
– Annual mean salary: $55,320
– Employment: 128,220
– Entry level education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
– Metros with highest average pay:
— Fairbanks, AK ($132,900)
— Kankakee, IL ($91,140)
— Olympia-Tumwater, WA ($87,030)
– Job description: Fabricate, assemble, install, and repair sheet metal products and equipment, such as ducts, control boxes, drainpipes, and furnace casings. Work may involve any of the following: setting up and operating fabricating machines to cut, bend, and straighten sheet metal; shaping metal over anvils, blocks, or forms using hammer; operating soldering and welding equipment to join sheet metal parts; or inspecting, assembling, and smoothing seams and joints of burred surfaces. Includes sheet metal duct installers who install prefabricated sheet metal ducts used for heating, air conditioning, or other purposes.
#9. Painters, construction and maintenance
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $45,570
– #102 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 250
National
– Annual mean salary: $46,460
– Employment: 217,880
– Entry level education requirements: No formal educational credential
– Metros with highest average pay:
— San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA ($69,360)
— Salinas, CA ($64,630)
— Vallejo-Fairfield, CA ($63,070)
– Job description: Paint walls, equipment, buildings, bridges, and other structural surfaces, using brushes, rollers, and spray guns. May remove old paint to prepare surface prior to painting. May mix colors or oils to obtain desired color or consistency.
#8. Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $46,070
– #47 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 90
National
– Annual mean salary: $46,400
– Employment: 44,560
– Entry level education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
– Metros with highest average pay:
— Worcester, MA-CT ($80,010)
— San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ($73,360)
— Evansville, IN-KY ($71,030)
– Job description: Operate equipment used for applying concrete, asphalt, or other materials to road beds, parking lots, or airport runways and taxiways or for tamping gravel, dirt, or other materials. Includes concrete and asphalt paving machine operators, form tampers, tamping machine operators, and stone spreader operators.
#7. Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $46,880
– #224 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 550
National
– Annual mean salary: $55,280
– Employment: 402,870
– Entry level education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
– Metros with highest average pay:
— New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA ($96,440)
— Barnstable Town, MA ($93,620)
— Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA ($93,320)
– Job description: Operate one or several types of power construction equipment, such as motor graders, bulldozers, scrapers, compressors, pumps, derricks, shovels, tractors, or front-end loaders to excavate, move, and grade earth, erect structures, or pour concrete or other hard surface pavement. May repair and maintain equipment in addition to other duties.
#6. Brickmasons and blockmasons
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $49,350
– #115 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 80
National
– Annual mean salary: $58,420
– Employment: 59,940
– Entry level education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
– Metros with highest average pay:
— Duluth, MN-WI ($90,610)
— Providence-Warwick, RI-MA ($90,290)
— Pittsfield, MA ($90,070)
– Job description: Lay and bind building materials, such as brick, structural tile, concrete block, cinder block, glass block, and terra-cotta block, with mortar and other substances, to construct or repair walls, partitions, arches, sewers, and other structures.
#5. Electricians
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $51,220
– #246 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 970
National
– Annual mean salary: $61,550
– Employment: 656,510
– Entry level education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
– Metros with highest average pay:
— San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA ($106,680)
— Trenton, NJ ($90,210)
— Kankakee, IL ($88,530)
– Job description: Install, maintain, and repair electrical wiring, equipment, and fixtures. Ensure that work is in accordance with relevant codes. May install or service street lights, intercom systems, or electrical control systems.
#4. Structural iron and steel workers
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $55,150
– #73 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 160
National
– Annual mean salary: $58,650
– Employment: 71,490
– Entry level education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
– Metros with highest average pay:
— Trenton, NJ ($91,360)
— Rockford, IL ($90,160)
— Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA ($89,740)
– Job description: Raise, place, and unite iron or steel girders, columns, and other structural members to form completed structures or structural frameworks. May erect metal storage tanks and assemble prefabricated metal buildings.
#3. Plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $55,690
– #161 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 340
National
– Annual mean salary: $61,100
– Employment: 417,440
– Entry level education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
– Metros with highest average pay:
— San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA ($106,100)
— Fairbanks, AK ($94,280)
— Kankakee, IL ($93,420)
– Job description: Assemble, install, alter, and repair pipelines or pipe systems that carry water, steam, air, or other liquids or gases. May install heating and cooling equipment and mechanical control systems. Includes sprinkler fitters.
#2. Construction and building inspectors
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $61,850
– #123 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 120
National
– Annual mean salary: $66,470
– Employment: 113,770
– Entry level education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
– Metros with highest average pay:
— San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA ($103,820)
— San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ($102,920)
— Salinas, CA ($98,360)
– Job description: Inspect structures using engineering skills to determine structural soundness and compliance with specifications, building codes, and other regulations. Inspections may be general in nature or may be limited to a specific area, such as electrical systems or plumbing.
#1. First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers
Lincoln, NE
– Annual mean salary: $67,270
– #195 highest pay among all metros
– Employment: 970
National
– Annual mean salary: $72,990
– Employment: 614,080
– Entry level education requirements: High school diploma or equivalent
– Metros with highest average pay:
— San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA ($107,870)
— Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA ($103,930)
— Santa Rosa, CA ($100,620)
– Job description: Directly supervise and coordinate activities of construction or extraction workers.
Reach the writer at 402-473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.
On Twitter @LincolnBizBuzz.
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