Weyburn– Building contractor DSI Contracting of Weyburn has been adapting its strategy to deal with the changing economic environment in a community where oil is king.
That means, ironically, they are actually doing more commercial work now than residential work, which had been a primary focus.
“We’re fortunate. We’re still at capacity,” said Darcy Iversen. “We’re doing some travelling for commercial jobs. We can’t complain.
“Residential has slowed up. We’re doing a lot more commercial – some in farming, some industrial, i.e. concrete work for a fertilizer plant at Central Butte.”
Darcy and his wife Sandy had headed up the operation of the company, but the torch has now been passed to their son Justin, who has taken over as general manager. Darcy, who started contracting work 1977, now acts as the gopher.
“It’s hard to let go. But if I want Tuesday off, I’d like to get Tuesday off,” Darcy said.
DSI did the restoration work at the popular Pump Jack’s bar after a fire in the fall of 2014 caused extensive damage to the kitchen. As part of the project, they revitalized the bar area. “We also added on some square footage, and put a ramp in to make it easier to bring supplies into the kitchen,” Darcy said.
“We’re still lucky to be just as busy,” Justin said, adding they have not had layoffs. That’s due to the fact the company is not directly tied to the oilfield, although some of their projects are.
Sandy, who does the administrative work, noted it takes a while for things to slow down once the ball is rolling on a project. However, the projects in play now tend to be shorter ones, not the big 12- month projects they have seen in the past.
One of their key focuses is the development of the east end of the Ebel Road industrial park. The grand opening for the Wor-kin Centre took place on Aug. 27. It was a three-stage project which included a wood shop and SARCAN facility in one building, and the main Wor-Kin Centre in another.
DSI is the lead developer of the area, which has four lots left of the 16-acre development. A motorsports dealer now occupies one of the lots in this development, and DSI was the contractor on the project.
“You can buy the land. We’re open to developing it for you or you can purchase it and select your own builder,” Sandy said.
“We knew it would be a long-term investment,” Darcy said. They’ve installed utilities, curbed and paved the next section of road for the next lots to be developed.
Ebel Road has the benefit of being a paved subdivision not far from highway access. DSI built several projects on Ebel road, including a supply shop, oilfield services company and truck wash.
Another recent project has been converting a former school to office use. Now they are working on projects in “The Creeks,” on the northeast corner of the city, including foundation work for a strip mall. That project is being done for PCL of Regina.
DSI is also looking at an Estevan project, but that is in the preliminary stages.
DSI has four shop spaces available for rent across three buildings. Their main shop on the west side of Weyburn has two spaces, of which they are occupying one. Across the street are two others. One is being used by a cabinet maker. The other building is currently unoccupied. Ideally they would like to move operations to that new building, but the 50x75 foot shop is more attractive to potential renters than the shop space they are using now, so finding a tenant right now is the priority.
