FRI AM News: WisBusiness: the Podcast with Dave Beeler, Beeler Construction; WHA report shows improving financial picture for hospitals and health systems

October 31, 2025

— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Dave Beeler, president and owner of Beeler Construction.

The podcast highlights the history of the third-generation commercial general contractor, which focuses largely on projects in southeastern Wisconsin. Beeler discusses the company’s approach to working on projects within active facilities.

“We really enjoy sitting down with the clients on the front end, developing a phasing plan,” he said. “Really, our focus is to keep their businesses operational and generating revenue while we are working on their projects.”

He also weighs in on the national tariff conversation, noting worries about their impact are influencing business decisions across the industry.

“When you get enough individuals that have that sense of fear, that just creates some hesitation and it’s a snowball and a ripple effect that goes down the line,” he said. “So with us, having a smaller percentage of our projects being large … we haven’t seen quite as much impact on the tariffs.”

But at the same time, labor challenges and inflation are throwing a curveball into construction planning, Beeler said. He notes the company typically tries to guage project costs two to three years ahead of time.

“Unfortunately, with the inflation, it’s thrown numbers off quite a bit across all industries,” he said, adding “if there’s anything we can do to help out with any of those inflated costs we certainly do so. However, it gets to a certain point where we can’t cover all the increased costs that come through.”

Meanwhile, company leaders are having to “put on different lenses for different employees” as they navigate labor market challenges, he said. By adapting to preferences of workers from different generations, the firm is putting a greater focus on employee retention, according to Beeler.

“The retention is very important,” he said. “With the low tenure or short tenure that we’re experiencing with most of the folks, if it’s only two to three years, that industry standard is they’re staying with these companies … before you can capitalize on some of these employees, they may have moved on to another career opportunity.”

Beeler also shares some insights on the company’s three-year plan, noting it helps keep employees on-track while also being used to inform partners, clients and others.

“It ties everything together and it really just ensures that we are all rowing in that same direction and headed to the same destination,” he said.

Listen to the podcast and see the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts.

— Fewer Wisconsin hospitals lost money in fiscal year 2024 as operating margins improved, though rising costs continue to pressure the health care industry.

The Wisconsin Hospital Association yesterday released its latest annual Guide to Wisconsin Hospitals, which shows 40 hospitals in the state lost money in fiscal year 2024. That’s down from 54 in fiscal year 2023 and 64 in fiscal year 2022.

At the same time, health system margins improved from -0.8% in fiscal year 2023 to 2.2% in 2024. But margins remain “far below” where they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, report authors note.

WHA points to rising costs as a persistent challenge, noting supply and service costs have gone up by 11% since fiscal year 2022 and salary and fringe expenses have risen by 10%. Last year, supply and service costs had risen 16.6% since fiscal year 2021 while salary and fringe expenses had increased 11.3%. The report says workforce shortages are largely driving the salary increases.

Plus, emergency department visits have increased 5.4% since fiscal year 2022 to reach 2.4 million in fiscal year 2024.

But at the same time, Wisconsin hospitals had $3.02 billion in net income for fiscal year 2024, marking an increase from the prior fiscal year’s total of $2.07 billion.

This year’s report shows general medical-surgical hospitals reported net income of $3.05 billion, while specialty hospitals reported net income of $-27.6 million. In the previous report, those figures were $2.08 billion and $-10.2 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, the average net revenue received per inpatient day in a Wisconsin hospital in fiscal year 2024 was $3,719, up from $3,555 in the prior fiscal year. The average length of stay was 5.3 days, a slight dip from the previous year’s average of 5.4 days.

See the release and report.

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— The executive director of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau called China’s commitment to buy American soybeans a “positive step” for the state’s producers.

The Trump administration yesterday announced China had agreed to purchase 12 million metric tons during the remainder of this season and 25 million metric tons in each of the next three years.

China didn’t purchase any soybeans in September.

The Farm Bureau’s Jason Mugnaini said the initial numbers touted by the Trump administration suggest there will be an American soybean market to China for the foreseeable future that will be in line with recent years.

According to the American Soybean Association, Wisconsin ranked 14th in the country for the production of soybeans in 2024 at 101.8 million bushels, which was down from 105.1 million in 2023. Illinois topped the country at 688 million bushels.

“It’s a good investment. It’s a solid investment. Is it the end all, be all of all time? That’s to be seen,” Mugnaini said. “I really hope that China holds up their end of this.”

According to the Wisconsin Soybean Association, Wisconsin’s annual production amounts to 3 million metric tons a year, on average. Of that, about 1.4 million metric tons go to China in a typical year.

Association President Doug Rebout said after “recent uncertainty and lost opportunity,” any movement toward restoring market access for Wisconsin soybean farmers is welcome news.

“While this development is a step in the right direction, the damage from past trade disruptions will take time to repair,” he said. “Rebuilding trust and re-establishing consistent export channels will not happen overnight. Wisconsin soybean farmers remain hopeful that this truce marks the beginning of a long-term, stable trading relationship that benefits producers and strengthens our rural economy.”

See more from the impacted states later via State Affairs.

— Wisconsin is projected to get more than 170,000 total cruise ship passenger visits next year, which would be 10% more than the state saw this year.

Gov. Tony Evers announced the projections in a release with the state Department of Tourism, Discover Green Bay and a regional marketing program called Cruise the Great Lakes.

The announcement also notes the state is expected to get about 800 port visits, leading to a projected regional impact of about $290 million in 2026 — a 20% boost from this year.

Evers says cruises on the Great Lakes are “vitally important” to Wisconsin and the broader region.

“It’s a major economic driver and job creator for our port communities and the state,” he said in the release.

See the release.

— Evers announced two Head Start programs are slated to close next month, the latest sign of the impact from the shutdown of the federal government.

The guv said Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program plans to close nine Head Start classrooms on Nov. 3, impacting 114 kids in Iowa, Lafayette, Grant, Green, and Richland counties, along with 34 staff. Meanwhile, the Sheboygan Human Rights Association plans to close its classrooms on Nov. 14, impacting 172 children in Sheboygan County and 48 staff.

The two groups didn’t immediately respond to inquiries from WisPolitics seeking additional details.

See the release.

QTS vows to pay for upgrades to electrical grid for proposed data center

Microsoft brings new agentic AI platform to TitletownTech, UW-Madison

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CONSTRUCTION

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EDUCATION

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ENVIRONMENT