Local fabricator offers powerful design solutions.
Story By Tracy Dickinson | July 2026
From the time he was in middle school, Koda Customs’ Bret Schultes knew he wanted a career that was hands-on. But the path he took to get to his own custom metalworking business was not exactly a straight line.
“I started doing construction and cabinetmaking with my dad when I was in junior high,” Schultes says. “But he always said he didn’t want me swinging a hammer for the rest of my life. So I started exploring other things.”
After a job shadow experience at a shop that used CNC (computer numerical controlling) machines, Schultes says he knew he wanted to do that kind of work. He liked the combination of creativity and precision.
“So after high school, I went to DMACC in Ankeny for the tool and die program,” he says. “It was great because we did learn CNC and 3D modeling and all that. But we also had to learn how to do everything manually with a manual mill and lathe.”
That hands-on experience led to a career in metalwork manufacturing. And Schultes spent the next several years working at different companies and expanding his skillset.
Between his day job and his hunger to learn more plus the limitless resources available on YouTube, Schultes began developing his welding techniques and custom fabrication skills. He also started expanding his equipment inventory. Now his metal fabrication business, Koda Customs, creates everything from jewelry to outdoor signage, lawn ornaments to complex railing systems.
“My jobs right out of school were really repeatable—the same parts over and over and over again,” he says. “I missed the way it had been when I was working with my dad. Every project was cabinets, but each one was a little different. Every project was unique in some way. I really enjoyed the custom part of that job.”
Since opening Koda Customs, Schultes has continued to develop not just his technical skills but his creativity as well. While he is pursuing certification in commercial welding, he also works with aluminum and steel, and he offers powder coating services as well.
Schultes has designed and built a variety of stair rail systems for both indoor and outdoor applications, created custom fireplace walls, and fabricated metal awnings for commercial installations.
“I’m working on a fireplace wall right now that will have a vertical wood feature in the center. And the steel is going to have a special finish so that it looks almost midnight blue in certain light,” he says.
Like the fireplace project does, Schultes says every new job gives him the opportunity to grow as a craftsman. “I like the challenge, and I’m a perfectionist. When someone comes to me and says, ‘I’d like to do this,’ that’s part of the fun. I don’t see it as a problem. It’s a challenge: How do I tackle this? That reverse-engineering to have the project turn out the way we envision it is what makes every job different.”
After designing solar-powered garden columns for one client, Koda Customs has created a variety of columns, each with a unique cutout design so that even those simple projects become a creative expression of his skills.
“We can do just about any cutout the client wants. And then there’s a solar light on the top so that at night the light shines down inside and through those cutouts,” he says.
One of his most challenging and rewarding designs was an enormous moon gate. “The client wanted a path through his property with this huge moon gate that you could walk through,” says Schultes. “He’s 6-foot-4, and he didn’t want to have to duck going through it. So the finished circle is over 8 feet high. That was a fun challenge to figure out how to design and assemble that.”
Schultes says that he can’t imagine a project he wouldn’t want to tackle. Size, design complexity, installation—each of those factors just adds to the challenge and makes each day interesting.
Schultes started Koda Customs because he wanted to have more freedom—freedom to create and freedom to dictate a more flexible schedule that would give him time with his young family. Deadlines and a growing business don’t always allow the flexibility he imagined, but he says the work itself has been the reward he dreamed it would be. And he’s following his dad’s wish, too. He’s not swinging a hammer every day. He’s bending steel instead.
Check it out!
Visit Koda-Customs.com to check out some of Bret Schultes’ incredible handiwork. Interested in seeing what he can do for you? Contact Koda Customs at Bret@Koda-Customs.com.