Magazine names Denham Springs company 2011 Builder of the Year

Saun Sullivan says he was shocked when he recently got a call from Professional Builder informing him the Denham Springs company he’s a partner of—DSLD Homes—had been named the magazine’s 2011 Builder of the Year. “Frankly, we were all very surprised,” Sullivan says. “As a relatively young company, it’s a real honor to have them look past the newness of our company and see the work we’re doing here.” Though DSLD has only been around for a little more than three years, the experience of Sullivan and his four business partners—one of whom is the well-known Livingston Parish entrepreneur turned developer Allen Thomason—dates back much, much further. “Between the partners there’s probably 100 years’ worth of construction experience,” Sullivan says. DSLD Homes has roughly 65 employees. The company will build approximately 700 homes along the Gulf Coast this year, from Lafayette to Gulf Port. Sullivan says the fact that a mid-size company like DSLD Homes is getting a national award from a prominent trade magazine says a lot about just how damaged the home building industry has been over the past few years. And though the Louisiana economy has fared better than the nation at large, it’s still taken a hit, Sullivan says. “We used to be able to build about 500 homes a year without leaving Livingston Parish. Now we do about 700 homes, but that’s across 10 parishes or more. So, we are successful, but we’re having to stretch ourselves out much further than ever before,” he says. Read the full article in Professional Builder here. —Steve Sanoski