DSLD expands brand, adds aquascapes
David Sharp combined his life-long interest in horticulture and business with his background in drainage and soil erosion to create the ideal landscape construction company specializing in residential design and installation. He opened DSLD Land Management in 1983 after graduating college.
The now 37-year-old company, which has primarily focused on residential work, has expanded to other areas and grown to 33 employees and 20 trucks.
“We don’t build the house but take care of everything outside including irrigation, lighting, landscape design, installation, decks, swimming pools and coy ponds,” Sharp said. “Everything in your yard you can imagine.”
Not long ago, Sharp decided to separate the aquascaping side of the business into a new division of the company, calling it “the biggest single investment” he has made. DSLD Aquascapes retail store opened on U.S. 280 across from the Lee Branch Shopping Center in January 2019.
He has recruited a staff to build that division that would allow them to be a competitor in the industry including recently hired Riley Krohn, a marine biologist from the Florida Aquarium.
“We needed a local expert, and Riley is probably the leading expert in the Birmingham area,” he said.
Inside the retail store, customers can purchase knick knacks, yard art, bird baths, flags and banners.
One of the features of DSLD Aquascapes will be swimming pool installations, which will begin in the spring of 2020. While they have done them in the past, if someone wanted it as part of their backyard design master plan, Sharp said pool installation will become their newest service. He said he hopes to become a strong competitor in the pool industry in Alabama.
While Sharp said there are a lot of good pool companies in town, what will make his unique is they will be the only dealer in the state to install membrane swimming pools, the number one swimming pool built in the world. They will come from Desjoyaux Pools, the largest swimming pool manufacturer in the world.
“They take the structural integrity of a gunite pool and the liner flexibly patterns with liners best features and combine into one,” Sharp said. “What makes these pools last is the concrete shell, which gives structural integrity, and the membrane that takes the place of a traditional liner. These pools will revolutionize the industry.”
Other services that DSLD Aquascapes will offer include waterfalls, ornamental ponds, coy ponds, mirror lakes, reflecting ponds, dry and wet creeks and swimming ponds. Sharp said they are the only place he knows of in central Alabama that sells aquatic plants.
Other recent growth for the company includes the forming of a construction engineering division in 2019, during which Sharp hired three new engineers. He also has plans to add a commercial division in the near future.
In the last several years, Sharp’s three sons, Cole, Zachary and Miles, have all become an integral part of the company, for which he is thankful.
“After 37 years of doing it by myself from a family standpoint, it’s nice to have the boys on board,” he said. “I am blessed to have three guys that want to work with their dad.”