Saun Sullivan says his company’s name, DSLD, stands for “develop, serve, lead and deliver.” But in the beginning, he says, it didn’t stand for much of anything.
“It was random letters put together, because a lot of other stuff was taken,” says Sullivan, DSLD’s senior partner, in a feature from the current issue of Business Report. “We just never did get around to naming it something catchy.”
Today, DSLD designates the state’s largest home builder, on pace for 2,000 houses this year alone. The company isn’t trendy, and its houses aren’t swanky, but it produces moderately priced suburban homes that the Capital Region real estate market is happy to buy.
“They have a pretty good product,” says appraiser and Business Report contributor Tom Cook. “It’s not fancy, but it’s good quality.”
Cook says DSLD deals in volume and can buy materials in bulk, meaning they can undercut a company that only builds a handful of houses a year. He says DSLD has a limited but appealing menu of styles and options that make the process simple for the buyer.
Sullivan mentions “the paradox of choice,” a theory made famous by psychology professor Barry Schwartz which suggests that fewer choices sometimes leads to more satisfied consumers.
“You really don’t have to have 1,000 floor plans,” Sullivan says. “You can have 20.…We try to design the house around people, so they’re not forced to get involved in the building process themselves to a large extent.”
Not everyone in the Capital Region real estate business is a fan of DSLD. A 2010 Business Report cover profile of Sullivan’s business partner, Allen Thomason, included quotes calling into question the quality of the company’s construction.
At the time, Thomason—who has been building homes for decades—said he might spend less than some builders on amenities, but said he wouldn’t be so successful if he cut corners on the houses themselves. And while pointing to the scoreboard is one way to answer critics, DSLD also can tout its 2015 National Housing Quality Gold Award and silver NHQ award for 2012. The NHQ judges praised DSLD’s customer service and “obsessive” drive to improve project quality, according to Professional Builder magazine.
Sullivan says he tends to use the same trade contractors repeatedly and pays them only two days after they do the work. The trades get a report once a week on how they’re doing, and future work is awarded based on who gets the best scores, he says. Usually, the contractor with the highest quality score ends up being the most affordable in the long run.
“It’s always cheaper to do it right the first time,” Sullivan says.
He says DSLD also meticulously inspects the houses after the sale, visiting at four, eight and 12 months after completion and fixing any problems.
“You can have as many billboards as you want, but a happy customer will tell some more happy customers,” Sullivan says. “When you build in a site that’s 100 or 200 lots, having a bunch of angry customers will keep other people from buying.”
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