Wilhelm Geiger

Wilhelm Geiger is the founding name and corporate identity behind the Geiger Gruppe, a family-owned German construction and environmental services group headquartered in Oberstdorf in the Allgäu region of Bavaria. The business began in 1923 when Wilhelm Geiger established a wood and coal wholesale operation in Oberstdorf. Over the following decades it expanded into sand and gravel extraction, transport, concrete, asphalt, civil engineering and, later, environmental technology and waste management. Today the group is one of Germany's largest construction companies according to the Hauptverband der Deutschen Bauindustrie, with roughly 3,600 employees and annual revenue of about 850 million euros as of 2021. It operates more than 100 locations across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, Italy and Romania, and is now led by the fourth generation of the Geiger family. The group's activities are organized into four business areas: Gestalten & Bauen (design and construction), Erhalten & Sanieren (preservation and refurbishment), Aufbereiten & Recyceln (processing and recycling), and Gewinnen & Entsorgen (extraction and disposal). Its portfolio spans project development, turnkey construction, timber system building, civil and structural engineering, energy technology, building and sewer rehabilitation, demolition, recycling, environmental remediation, raw material extraction and waste disposal. In 2023 the company celebrated its 100th anniversary, positioning circular economy and sustainability as central strategic themes for its next century.

The origins of the Geiger Gruppe date back to 1923, when Wilhelm Geiger founded a wood and coal wholesale business in Oberstdorf. During the Great Depression he added a firewood trade. From 1931 he expanded by purchasing the first trucks for transporting sand and gravel, and in 1934 he leased his first gravel pit near Niederdorf. During the Second World War the trucks were confiscated and gravel pit operations came to a halt. In the post-war years the company initially stayed afloat with excursion trips; the timber trade recovered quickly, leading to a hardwood wholesale business alongside firewood, while sand and gravel sales grew with the construction boom. In 1955 Wilhelm Geiger founded Wilhelm Geiger KG together with his children. In the second half of the 1960s ready-mixed concrete plants were established in Sonthofen and Betzigau. After Wilhelm Geiger's death in 1968, his sons took over management. The company expanded beyond the Allgäu, opening an asphalt mixing plant in Seifen near Immenstadt and creating departments for deep drilling and specialist civil engineering; by 1980 Geiger had 160 vehicles and 70 machines. In 1985 the company was renamed Geiger GmbH & Co. KG, by which time it was increasingly active in road and sewer construction. In 1990 Geiger expanded into the new German federal states, acquiring quarries and building an asphalt plant. In 1998 the subsidiary Geiger Romania was founded. Around the turn of the millennium the service range included road, sewer and bridge construction, building materials trading and the production of precast concrete elements; a further generational change in leadership and internal restructuring took place. In 2008 the subsidiary Geiger Bauwerksanierung was founded, and Geiger took over Grube Teutschenthal Sicherungs GmbH & Co. KG (GTS), which since 1992 has owned the former potash mine in Teutschenthal near Halle an der Saale and operates hazardous waste storage there. By 2009 annual revenue had risen to around 270 million euros with 1,800 employees. Since 2015 the Geiger Gruppe has been certified in the Austrian market for environmental services such as land recycling, environmental remediation, landfill construction and operation, and waste disposal. In 2018 the company established Geiger Immobilien Wien GmbH (formerly MS Bau) in Austria as a general contractor, property developer and real estate developer. In the same year it took over Abfallbehandlungsgesellschaft Mitte mbH (ABGM) and Gesellschaft für Deponie- und Bergbauersatzbaustoffe mbH (GDB) in Bad Lauchstädt, Saxony-Anhalt. At the beginning of the 2020s a new family generation entered company management, placing the business in its fourth generation. In 2023 the group celebrated its 100th anniversary, reflecting on a remarkable history of continuous transformation.

• 2023

  100th anniversary celebrated.

• 2018

  Geiger Immobilien Wien GmbH established; ABGM and GDB acquired.

• 2015

  Certified in the Austrian market for environmental services.

• 2008

  Geiger Bauwerksanierung founded; GTS in Teutschenthal taken over.

• 1998

  Subsidiary Geiger Romania founded.

• 1990

  Expansion into the new German federal states.

• 1985

  Company renamed Geiger GmbH & Co. KG.

• 1968

  Wilhelm Geiger dies; his sons take over management.

• 1955

  Wilhelm Geiger KG founded with his children.

• 1934

  First own gravel pit leased near Niederdorf.

• 1931

  First trucks purchased for sand and gravel transport.

• 1923

  Wilhelm Geiger founds a wood and coal wholesale business in Oberstdorf.

One of Germany's largest family-run construction groups, combining traditional building services with environmental technology and circular economy solutions.

• Gestalten & Bauen

  Project development, turnkey construction, timber system building, civil and structural engineering, energy technology.

• Erhalten & Sanieren

  Building and sewer rehabilitation, suction technology.

• Aufbereiten & Recyceln

  Demolition, recycling, environmental remediation.

• Gewinnen & Entsorgen

  Extraction and processing of building materials, transport and disposal.

1. 1Willkommen | Geiger Gruppegeigergruppe.com
2. 2Geiger Gruppe – Wikipediade.wikipedia.org
3. 3Wilhelm Geiger – Wikidatawikidata.org