We love Homes. We love Details. We long to Build.

 

Woelkstermann Design Build was forged in the construction industry. After spending over a decade and a half in the industry, we realized that helping homeowners create and build their dreams, producing work that truly matters to someone, on a personal level, is where our hearts ultimately lie.

Let us be your advisor in transforming your ideas into livable realities. Construction, Home Remodeling, and Design, can all be confusing. There are a lot of parts and pieces. Woelkstermann Design Build is here to help. We offer full service Design Build solutions. What that means for you is that instead of having an Architect, Engineer and a Contractor, all to manage, you have one point of contact: us.  With this single point of responsibility, we offer the clearest and quickest design and contract resolutions.

We understand construction can come with pitfalls and sadly there are others in this industry that might have given you a negative connotation about construction. Woelkstermann Design Build is here to be your advocate. Nothing should stand in the way of you getting what you want. 

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"The solution is not to entice people with a sweeter carrot or threaten them with a sharper stick. We need a whole new approach, built around the desire to do things because they matter, because we like it because they are interesting and we are part of something important. This new operating system has three elements: Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose. Autonomy: the urge to direct our own lives. Mastery: the desire to get better and better at something that matters. Purpose: The yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves."  – Daniel H. Pink

Hello!

My name is Matthew Ostermann. Thank you for taking the time to read up on Woelkstermann Design Build. As it says at the top of this page, I truly believe construction is art, and I approach it with that level of passion. But, as construction is also science, engineering and management, passion isn’t enough. So here is a little more about me.

I was born and raised in a construction family. My father is a licensed architect that found his way into the commercial construction business back in the 80’s. In 1992, when I was 11, he branched out on his own and started his own commercial construction company, Altmar, Inc. General Contractors, working in the Johnson, Douglas and Shawnee county areas.

In 2000, I went to Kansas State University. I bounced around a little that first semester, but eventually found myself in Architectural Engineering. I liked engineering as I really liked math, but it wasn’t construction. So instead of pivoting on degrees, I just decided to dual major and took on a second Bachelors in Construction Science and Management. After that I decided to also get a Masters in Architectural Engineering.

In 2006 I graduated from Kansas State with three engineering degrees and went off to do what every good engineering graduate is supposed to do: intern under a licensed engineer so you can get your Professional Engineering license. I spent 5 years in the Kansas City Metro Area working for Black and Veatch and Johnston Burkholder Associates. During that time, I designed restaurants, movie theaters, portions of power plants, and box retail stores in 46 states. After passing the Professional Engineering exam in 2011, I decided to return to construction and took a job with my father at Altmar as a project manager and estimator. Not leaving the engineering world completely behind however, in the following years, I also acquired my Missouri and Colorado engineering licenses.

Throughout my entire career journey, when I wasn’t at my desk job, I was remodeling houses. Either my own, or my friend’s or my family’s. I always loved it. Per that Daniel Pink quote above my silly picture, in it I found ‘Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose’. So, in 2022, after 30 years in business, when my father decided to retire and close Altmar, I decided to start up my own residential remodeling company.

In all actuality, it started in the summer of 2020, a little before the closing of Altmar and during quarantine. Or at least that’s where the company name comes from. My day to day was slow, and friends started asking me if I could do some odd jobs for them on their homes. As the quotes started to go out, I wanted a company name for the letter head. At the time my wife, Hanni, was helping me with construction projects. Her last name being Woelk, family and friends already called us the ‘The Woelkstermanns’, so I put it on the letter head, as it was easy. As Altmar scaled down and my residential work scaled up, I kept putting it on the letter head. And then one day I put the name on some LLC paperwork. And so Woelkstermann Design Build was born.

Thank you for reading my story. Now I want to hear yours. Reach out. Tell me about your project. I look forward to working with you.