More About DT Carlson Co....

With Dan growing up in a “construction” family, he very quickly found that this was his passion as well.  At an early age Dan was hammering on his parent's cabinets, doors, floors, etc. and early on his dad allowed him to take his creations outside to make forts and play houses with lumber scraps brought home from work. 

When Dan grew older, he asked his dad to take him to the job site.  Dan’s vision at that time was to climb ladders and build roof trusses.  His dad convinced him though to start at the beginning of the home building process, picking up scraps and sweeping floors.  A little disappointed, Dan trusted his dad, and he ended up doing this work every day during the summers of grade school; being on the job site was enough for Dan, and he loved it!

When Dan reached High School, he figured out that working for free really was not that cool… His dad promoted him to “gopher”, and Dan did whatever he was asked to do – getting more nails, getting gas for the generator, bringing more lumber, and helping install windows, etc. 

Dan’s passion and hard work did not go unnoticed, and in 1987 his dad promoted him to “apprentice”, and Dan was placed on his crew building custom homes - framing and doing finish carpentry. 

In years to come, other interests and opportunities led him in another direction as he studied criminology at the University of MN.  Subsequently, he patrolled the streets for 6 years as a St. Paul Police Officer, while framing houses and doing finish carpentry on the side.  Eventually he decided to turn in his badge in exchange for a hammer - it was time to do what he really wanted to do in life on a full time basis - it was time to follow his dream of building custom homes for a living.  In 2001, Dan started his company, D.T. Carlson Co. - bringing experience and his passion into it. 

Building just a handful of homes per year allows Dan to be the hands-on quality builder that he very quickly got the reputation of being. 

He can already see his 4 year-old son Christian’s interest in construction by his hammering on cabinets, doors and floors ever since he could crawl.  He is currently very interested in “walking lots” with dad.  The next generation of D.T. Carlson Co. may soon be graduating to bigger tasks and carrying on the tradition of fine home building in neighborhoods across the Twin Cities.       

Dan and his wife, Pernille, have three children, Christian, Lauren and Madeline.  As a family they love to travel, ski, watch movies, and plan for their future lake cabin in Northern Minnesota.