There is plenty of family history inside the Wessington shop where Logan Schiltz is building his new business.
Decades ago, his grandfather operated Schiltz Manufacturing there, building equipment that was shipped across the country. His father, Doug, grew up on the property and later built a business of his own.
Now, the tools and equipment inside the shop belong to another Schiltz enterprise.
But when Logan decided to strike out on his own, he also decided he wanted a name of his own.
Vayland Electric LLC officially opened for business Jan. 23, 2026, operating from the family property near Wessington.
The name comes from Vayland, once a small community just west of the shop. Little remains of the town today, but when Logan's father was growing up, Vayland had a post office, grocery store, gas station and residents of its own.
“I didn't really want to ride my grandpa's coattails or my dad's coattails with the name of my business,” Logan said. “So I went with Vayland because not many people remember it.”
Still, it is difficult to separate the new business entirely from the generations that came before it.
Logan's grandfather, Boyd “Tom” Schiltz operated Schiltz Manufacturing, where he developed equipment including a chain stack mover and grain bin unloader with a center sweep. The equipment manufactured in the same shop Logan works from today was shipped to customers across the country. His father operated Schiltz Haymoving.
“Without Dad and Grandpa, I'd probably still be working for another company,” Logan said. “You grow up around people who are entrepreneurs who would rather make their own way. You kind of want to do the same.”
Finding his way home
Logan's path back to the family place wasn't necessarily a straight one.
Born in Las Vegas, Nevada, he spent much of his first 12 years there before returning to South Dakota. The transition came with a bit of culture shock.
He remembers one harvest season after he was old enough to drive when his dad woke him around 4 a.m. to help get the combine ready.
“I said, ‘Well, I've got school.’ He goes, ‘You'll be back in time.’” After school, it was back to helping his dad before getting up and doing it again the next morning.
Logan graduated from Wolsey-Wessington High School in 2017 and from Mitchell Technical College's electrical construction and maintenance program in 2019. A scholarship and summer job with Muth Electric turned into a six-year career with the company. Eventually, he became a superintendent, taking on the responsibility of managing jobs and people while still in his early 20s.
That experience, Logan said, taught him more than electrical work. It taught him how to manage projects, communicate and earn the respect of the people working alongside him. It also meant years on the road.
“I was always in Aberdeen or Pierre, Jamestown, North Dakota,” he said. “I was never home, just on the road at motels for about six years of my life.”
Later, Logan worked as a lineman for the City of Miller and for Hughes Electric.
Meanwhile, the old family place near Wessington had reached a crossroads. After years of renters and changing uses, his dad raised the possibility of tearing down the house but Logan offered another idea: that he purchase the place.
The family ended up working out a deal. At first, the old Schiltz Manufacturing shop was still largely storage; equipment remained inside and remnants of the manufacturing business were still there. But Logan had started thinking about what might come next.
He earned his electrical contractor's license in March 2025, initially, he said, “just to see if I could.” Less than a year later, he decided to see if he could build a business with it.
Hitting the pavement
There wasn't a ready-made customer list waiting for Vayland Electric when Logan went out on his own, so he ordered about 5,000 business cards and started driving.
He stopped at lumberyards, businesses, grocery stores and convenience stores, handing out cards and introducing himself wherever he could.
“I would not doubt I put 2,000 miles on the pickup I had at the time,” he said. “I was just trying to hustle up as much work as I could.”
What happened next is something Logan hasn't forgotten.
“Wessington as a community is the only reason I'm still in business,” he said.
In those first months, local residents found projects for him. Some were jobs that could have waited, Logan acknowledged, but customers chose to have the work done because they wanted to give the new business a chance.
“I would have not had enough work and probably went back to work for somewhere else two months in,” he said. “They gave me the work, and that has meant the most to me.”
As the workload grows, Logan said those early customers remain a priority.
“I don't forget about those people,” he said. “I never will.”
Taking care of people
One of Logan's earliest service calls helped reinforce the kind of company he wanted Vayland Electric to become.
A retired woman called during the South Dakota winter because her furnace had quit.
She was upfront with him: she was living on Social Security and didn't have the money to pay an electrician, but Logan went anyway.
The problem turned out to be a bad breaker. He replaced it, and when she asked what she owed, he told her nothing.
“It was February in South Dakota,” he said. “I wanted to help her.”
She didn't forget. The woman began recommending Vayland Electric to others. Logan estimates those referrals have since resulted in more than $10,000 worth of work.
As the company grows, Logan would like to make helping people who can't afford necessary electrical work a more intentional part of the business.
“If I set the standard now, it's a lot easier as you do get bigger and you build your company with it,” he said.
It's part of a company culture he wants to establish before Vayland Electric ever has a roster of employees.
Growing without losing the customer
For now, Logan handles nearly everything himself, from electrical work to estimating and scheduling. His wife, Josie, helps where she can.
“She makes a heck of a good material runner,” Logan joked.
Josie, originally from Avon, works as a veterinary technician at Prairie View Veterinary Clinic in Miller. The couple met in 2023 and married in October 2025.
Eventually, Logan envisions Vayland Electric becoming busy enough that Josie could help part time with scheduling and office work, followed by additional employees as demand warrants.
But he doesn't measure growth only by how much work he can put on the schedule. He has seen contractors become booked so far ahead that customers wait a year or longer for projects. He doesn't want that to become Vayland Electric.
Instead, he wants to respond, look at the project, prepare an estimate, order materials and get the work completed within a reasonable timeframe. Currently, he is generally booked only a couple weeks ahead.
Built to last
That philosophy, too, has roots in the old shop.
When Logan's grandfather installed equipment he’d manufactured somewhere across the country, he had to know it would work. He might not return to that farm, or even that state, for another five or 10 years, if ever. Logan approaches electrical work much the same way.
When he wires a shed, home or business, he wants to leave knowing the job was done correctly and will continue working long after he drives away.
It helped inspire the motto he chose for Vayland Electric: “Built to last, wired to work.”
His grandfather died in 2011, so Logan never had the opportunity to talk with him about the company he would one day start in the old family shop. But he heard the lesson from both his grandfather and his dad growing up: Take care of your reputation, treat people fairly, do what you say you're going to do, when you say you're going to do it.
Then, Logan said, “the business takes care of itself.”