Muskego Company Builds Customized Home for Waterford Soldier

In sub-zero temperatures Tues., Feb. 8, the work crew for Muskego-based Burback Builders continued the foundation phase of this week’s project – building a 2,400 square foot ranch home for United States Marine Corporal Jeremy Stengel. He lost his left leg when an explosive device struck his vehicle during a mission in Iraq on January 31, 2007.

The home build is sponsored by Homes for Our Troops, a non-profit organization based in Massachusetts. Several area contractors are contributing to the project, too.

“The house will be fully handicap accessible. We got an e-mail from Homes for our Troops asking if we would want to do it,” said Rick Burback, owner of Burback Builders. “Naturally, I was interested. I just think it’s something that should be done.”

Corporal Stengel, of Waterford, survived the blast that killed two of his fellow soldiers and severely injured several others. Stengel was transported to Bethesda, Maryland, where he endured a medically induced coma for two months and had more than 20 surgeries in the first year of his recovery.

Currently, Stengel receives treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C.  He spends time at the Waterford home of his parents, Greg and Gayle Stengel, when he returns to Wisconsin. Stengel returned home February 9 in anticipation of a February 18 construction kickoff weekend - the Building Brigade - at the work site, 637 Augusta Drive in Mukwonago.

“Right now the site is just a concrete slab, but next weekend it’s going to be a complete house,” Stengel said. “It’s really amazing.”

The Building Brigade is when work will really take off, Burback said.

“That weekend, we’ll get the framing done, which is the roofing and siding, and we’re hoping to have it weather-tighted by Sunday,” he added. Burback served in the United States Air Force for four years in the 1960s and said he looks forward to meeting Stengel at the kick off.

Navigating through the new, single-level home will be a major change from Stengel's parents’ multi-level residence.

“When I can wear my (prosthetic) leg, it’s not too much of a hassle, but when I was home for Christmas I couldn’t bear weight on (my wounded leg), so I had my wheelchair on the first floor,” he said. “If I wanted to go downstairs or upstairs, I was pretty much going like a little kid with crutches.”

The new home has wider hallways and bigger rooms for easier wheelchair mobility.

After the house is completed, Stengel will move in and continue his physical therapy. His sessions can last up to three hours per day, and Stengel said he is active in scuba diving and wheelchair basketball.

“I just have to wear a different (prosthesis) when I’m scuba diving,” Stengel said. “Everyone is on the same plane in the water. It wasn’t too hard to learn… I caught on pretty quick."

C&H Construction in Racine; Home Depot in Mukwonago; R&W Trucking in Mukwonago; and RKW Redi-Mix Concrete in Burlington were among sponsors noted on the page. 

On its Facebook page, Burback Builders posts daily updates on the progress.