Knicely Done: Brother's craftmanship on display

Dan and Dennis Zongkers had no guarantees when they opened their custom furniture business almost thirty years ago. They managed to scrape up $500 and decided to turn their part time work in the basement into a full time venture.

"It was huge," said Dan Zongkers in an interview with WOWT 6 News. "I mean, to let loose of a guaranteed income and come down and turn your own key not knowing what tomorrow's going to bring, it was a couple scared kids."

They not only managed, the brothers from South Omaha were eventually able to rent a bay in an old brick industrial building at 3rd and Hickory.

"In 1991 we bought our first computers," said Dennis Zongkers. "It was another risky move since we had to pay $25,000. You could get those same computers and programs for about $5,000 today."

Today their custom furniture is in demand not only around the country but

also in eight countries.

"We built a great name for ourselves nationally," said Dan. "We do work all over the nation."

Zongkers Custom Woods designs and produces a wide range of quality creations including furniture, office desks, kitchen cabinets, conference tables and wood sculptures.

Over the last three years Zongkers has been busy producing custom work for the new "Cloistures on the Platte," a spiritual retreat destination.

Zongkers Custom Woods will celebrate 30 years of business with a ribbon cutting and reception on August 16, 2019.

"We look back at what we went through to get started into what we built today and we're proud of it," said Dan. "We put out a top shelf product and our name follows it."