St. Croix EDC 2025 Large Business of the Year
Article written by: Tom Lindfors
Penny Austad was an excellent student, the oldest of three children, and she aspired to go to college to become a social worker. Then, at 17, she became a mother. News which might have deterred other young women from following their dreams, heartened Austad. She embraced the birth of her son and focused on building their future together.
First, she had to find the courage to tell her father.
Her father asked, “How are you going to go to college with a baby in your lap?”
“That was probably the most pivotal moment in my life. I just wanted my parents to be proud of me,” Austad recounted. “But life has a way of growing us, stretching us and shaping our purpose in ways we don’t always see at the time.”
The next day, her father, happy to be a grandpa, showed up with a baby-sized baseball cap. He wasn’t the only one to realize love and support, not judgment, would be the key to Austad fulfilling her promise. The wife of her high school principal, Mrs. Fay, crocheted a baby blanket for her son, and the football coach gave her a letter making it clear he expected her son to show up for football practice. He was only 4 weeks old.
Austad spent two years in college learning that social work was not a good fit, then briefly considered teaching math before dropping out. A family friend recognized her analytical mind and affinity for math and introduced her to accounting at the car dealership where she worked as an administrative assistant. By the time Austad was twenty-two, she was the office manager at that same dealership.
“I have always worked really hard. I have been a single mom most of my life,” Austad said. “But all those people have played a part in where I am today. Yes, I had something to do with it, but they also had to be there.”
Austad did eventually earn her Business Management Degree in 2016, much to her parents’ delight, after attending college full-time while working for the Krumms.With her degree in hand, Austad’s career continued to gain momentum.
By the time she joined Mike Krumm in 2015, Austad had risen through the ranks, taking on leadership roles at different companies including Frontier Ag & Turf, where she served as assistant accounting manager across eight locations.
Hired in 2015 to help grow Krumm Siding and Roofing, Austad quickly took on responsibilities beyond her original role, including marketing, production, IT, HR, and even answering phones. “I got to see how everything worked together,” she said.
That experience would set the stage for explosive growth ahead.
In 2015, Krumm Siding and Roofing consisted of owners Mike and Cheryl Krumm and two installers. We grew the company to 15 employees and double revenue numbers. In Dec of 2020 Mike and Cheryl wanted to plan for retirement and asked Austad if she would be interested in purchasing the company. When Austad purchased the business in 2021, Krumm Exteriors was formed. Growth took off. Today Krumm operates five in house crews and multiple sub crews between roofing, siding, windows, decks and gutters. “The growth has just been exponential,” Austad said.
Since purchasing the company in 2021, Austad has quadrupled annual sales. Her story exemplifies the values, determination, compassion, and leadership which define Krumm Exteriors.
St. Croix Economic Development Corporation (EDC) recognized Krumm Exteriors LLC with its 2025 Large Business of the Year Award.
Austad invested in a life coach who is available to meet regularly with managers and any employee, as needed, at no cost. She believes that meeting the highest standards in quality and workmanship is best achieved when team members embrace the values of integrity, respect, collaboration, and growth, not just at work but also in their personal lives.
“We bring John in once a week. All the managers meet with him twice a month. We also make him available to meet with our team members whenever they need to, confidentially,” Austad said. “We listen and we talk. We ask for feedback. We really try to engage our team members as much as possible.”
That investment in people has a direct payoff for customers.
Austad draws a distinction between customer service and a customer’s experience. “Service is transactional. For us, it’s about our customers’ experience. A lot of people have a hand in that experience,” she explained. “Our team shows up every day committed to excellence, quality, each other and the customers that we serve. Everything that we do is guided by the belief that the customer’s experience is true north. When we get that right, everything else falls into place.”
Satisfied customers are a strong indicator of a successful business, and Krumm Exteriors is no exception. It has been named Business Rates’ Best Roofer in New Richmond, Wisconsin and is recognized on Qualified Remodeler’s Top 500 list.Despite all the success, Austad faced a dilemma: choosing between managing people, managing projects, or figuring out how to do both. “We made it more fun. We didn’t focus on profits; we didn’t focus on the small profit leaks. But fun only goes so far,” she said.
Austad decided to strike a balance: “We started talking more about creating a winning culture. A winning culture is being accountable but having fun while doing it.”
In 2025, Austad began implementing strategic changes to refocus on profits, efficiency, and employee care. In 2026, the company replaced arbitrary bonuses with profit sharing, encouraging employees’ investment in outcomes. Crews adopted 5S—Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain—to organize and standardize their workplaces, improving efficiency, safety, and productivity.
Austad has a “BHAG,” a big, hairy, audacious goal. “I want to be in ten locations. I want to do 10 times a year what we do now in revenue,” she said.
The biggest challenge to that goal is upstart businesses undercutting prices and delivering poor quality work without understanding the responsibility that comes with running a whole company from top to bottom.
Austad’s answer to those starting similar companies (or something like that) isn’t to cut corners – it’s to double down on the people who make quality possible.
Austad attracts and retains quality members by paying fair wages, covering 75% of medical insurance premiums, 50% for dependents, 50% of dental insurance, a 401K match up to 4%, and providing Worker’s Compensation (you have to provide workers compensation if you have employees, not sure this is relevant) and Aflac as a bridge to major medical coverage.
She feels a deep obligation to her team for their dedication and knows that without them, Krumm cannot become the successful company she envisions. “They will always have a paycheck here. If I have to not get paid (to be able to pay my employees), I will not get paid. My team comes first,” Austad said. That instinct to protect and invest in others extends well beyond the walls of Krumm Exteriors.
Austad is grateful to the EDC for the recognition and for the work they do beyond business development, in particular for the classes they offer. “They do such important work. Their classes have been a huge help for us. I attended a class on safety (for your business), and it really opened our eyes,” Austad said. “But it’s also about things like their housing study. If you’re not growing housing, you can’t grow your employers. They have a huge impact on businesses, especially small employers.”
Austad equated the community’s support with Krumm’s desire to give back.
“We wouldn’t be here without the community—the business community, the nonprofit community, the recovery community, and so many more areas of our community that have supported us in ways that allow us to give back,” Austad said. “If you asked most of the people who work here what project was their favorite, they would tell you Freedom Park Center.”
Freedom Park Center is a 17,400 sq. ft. community center designed and built by VFW Post 10818 New Richmond/St. Croix County using the Department of Defense’s Innovative Readiness Training (IRT) program. Civilian contractors trained more than 1,000 soldiers over four summers during the construction of the building.
Krumm Exteriors installed the siding and stonework at Freedom Park Center and donated back the $30,000 in profit they would have made. They were joined by the manufacturer of LP Smartside, who donated an additional $4,000 to the project.
“My dad has been proud of me now for many, many years, and he has told me so. Respecting people is the number one thing my parents taught me my whole life, and giving back is an important part of being respectful,” Austad said. “God gave me that moment many years ago to prove that I could be successful. Now it’s time for me to give back.”
Just the Facts
Krumm Exteriors LLC
Penny Austad – Owner
Formed: 1997
Address: 1424 Hwy 64
New Richmond, WI 54017
(715) 246-6090
Website: https://krummexteriors.com/
Employees: 41
Sq. ft.: Works within a 1.5-hour radius from New Richmond, plus certain zip codes in the Menomonie area
