Making it in Saskatoon

D&S Homes, a Saskatoon-based real-estate-development firm, originally began as a side venture for president Dennis Slater. But that changed as the company quickly grew into a full-time business, with almost 20 employees in two offices completing around 40 projects per year. Today, the firm is a family business, with Dennis’s three sons all involved, and D&S Homes has made a name for itself by focusing on large, high-quality homes.

“High-end customers expect more because they’re spending more money,” says Troy Slater, director of operations. “We position ourselves in the market as an established land developer and builder that can give high-end customers what they need.” Here, Troy walks us through the company’s progress through the years.

1977: d&s homes ltd. is founded

Dennis, who was developing food stores across Canada for Federated Co-op, founds D&S Homes as a side job. “He wanted to make his own hours and be rewarded for the hours he put in, but he wasn’t ready to leave his full-time job,” Troy says.

1980: firm goes full-time

Dennis starts small, building only a few high-quality homes per year. But word soon spreads, and Dennis quits his job at Federated Co-op and dedicates himself full-time to D&S Homes. Employees, including a servicer and finisher, come soon after.

1990: Moving into bigger business

D&S Homes begins buying large plots of land and developing subdivisions around the city of Saskatoon.

1996: troy slater joins the firm

Troy, who moved back to Saskatoon after finishing school, begins working as a foreman on the Casa Rio Estates project, which consisted of 60 homes of around 3,000 square feet each. “The development had some of the highest-end homes in the areas, with movie theatres and a dedicated area for grand pianos,” Troy says. “It really made the firm stand out and get noticed.”

1998: south point estates

D&S Homes completes South Point Estates, a project smaller than Casa Rio Estates in size and scale. “The 43 homes are a maximum of 3,500 square feet, and nowhere near as luxurious as those at Casa Rio Estates,” Troy says, “but they nevertheless filled a need in the community, which was saturated with the houses we had just finished.”

1998: building big in saskatoon

D&S Homes completes townhomes on 9^th Street in Saskatoon. “It was different project,” Troy says. “We started with 16 upscale townhouses, ranging from 1,600 to 1,800 square feet, and marketed them to professionals, many of whom worked at the nearby university.”

2000: condos in martensville

The first phase of the three-storey condo development in the Saskatoon suburb of Martensville begins, with the second phase coming later in 2009. The project consists of 53 1,200–2,000-square-foot units with two or three bedrooms and private decks. “The target market was the elderly community, and it responded well to amenities such as heated underground parking and a car wash,” Troy says.

2007: moving into commerCial projects

D&S Homes constructs its own three-storey, 30,000-square-foot office building in Stonebridge. The firm rents out the space, and the project is so successful that in 2010 the firm completed a twin tower. Together, the duo is called the Corporate Centre.

2008: the regina office opens

With a population of 250,000 and an unsaturated real-estate market, Regina is a prime opportunity for D&S Homes. “We opened an office and started developing residential subdivisions,” Troy says. “The first one, Stonepoint Estates, consisted of 67 houses and sold out within a year.”

2011: teeing up

D&S Homes purchases Greenbryre Golf and Country Club in Saskatoon, as well as the surrounding land. “We subdivided the land into one-half-acre to three-quarter-acre lots, and are building residential walkout homes,” Troy says of the development, which is named Greenbryre Estates. “We are targeting completion in 2012.”