Saying Dell Loy Hansen worked his way from the ground up is using the phrase literally.
Oh, sure, his office view now is from the 24th floor of the Wells Fargo Center in downtown Salt Lake City.
But he used to set footers and pour foundations and driveways for homes.
And, yes, he presides over a company that owns and operates 11,800 apartments and several commercial properties in four states.
But after he returned from a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mission during his college years, he hit the ground running when "all I had was a 10-speed bike and a $200 Volkswagen."
And, yes, he's involved in 17 venture capital companies.
But Hansen, 49, used to spend his evenings toiling on his 60-acre turf farm. After his regular workday was over. For fun.
Now his fun comes from running Wasatch Property Management Inc., a 14-year-old company that during the past year has acquired some of northern Utah's most prominent buildings: the former American Stores tower at 300 South and Main Street, the former First Security building a block to the south and the MarketStar building in downtown Ogden.
Those moves leave Logan-based Wasatch Property with nearly 2 million square feet in commercial office space in addition to all those apartments.
"I didn't expect to be where I am," Hansen said. "I'm still a pretty basic Logan kid that lives in the same home I lived in 20 years ago."
"Basic" might not be the most apt description. Friends call him intelligent yet down-to-earth, opportunistic yet honest, demanding yet fair.
He's quick with a smile and a disarming wit. "Twisting some arms?" he recently asked a man talking to a Wasatch staffer, then paused to recall if he knew the man. "Have I met you somewhere? Any jail time on weekends?"
Hansen himself is a strict time manager. He never sorts through voice mail, instead relying on a secretary to weed them out, part of his get-it-done philosophy in action.
"It's trying to get to things as opposed to just answer things. I'd rather do things rather than just talk about them," he said.
But there is plenty to talk about. Hansen describes Wasatch Property as specializing in fixing "broken" or vacant assets, as was the case with the Wells Fargo Center, previously vacated by American Stores.
"We tend to fly against conventional wisdom. Real estate is a cyclical business. When things are going well, people tend to overbuild and tend to not quite guess that the market has taken that up. But we do our thing after we observe markets for a period of time.
"We're kind of the 'Bad News Bears.' Whenever there's bad news, we show up. Everybody says, 'Oh, no, the Wasatch boys are here.' "
Hansen's forte is the acquisition, according to Paul Willie, a Hansen partner for nearly 20 years.
"He has a nose for a deal, and he's a hard dog to keep on the porch," Willie said. "He's not a dry accountant, by any means. He's a contrarian. He's not afraid to buy when everybody else is running scared."
Wasatch also is not a buy-it-to-sell-it company, preferring instead to play fixer-upper and hold on to properties. That is among its basic strategies. Others include working for tenants, whether they are companies or individual renters, bringing lots of capital to obtain potential targets, twice monthly paying all bills and being patient.
"We've got time," Hansen said. "If it's a little slower, it's just a little slower. If it's a little quicker, we make our money sooner."
And the money has come. A confessed "numbers guy," Hansen can sift through columns of figures to demonstrate that Wasatch compares favorably with huge real estate investment trusts.
He also can reel off details about the nitty-gritty of a real estate deal, but he sprinkles in some simple philosophies:
"It's about getting things done. Once you pick the right thing, then do it. Let's not just talk about it. Let's finish it."
"Anybody can grow, but what do you do with what you've got?"
"We have a true belief in customer service. We want to be the Nordstrom of service delivery."
To emphasize the point, he explained that each residential property has a shed stocked with 700 parts, enabling repair personnel to become heroes in the eyes of tenants by doing their work lickety-split.
"When people in the apartment industry provide that kind of service for tenants, do you want to talk to me about loyalty?"
"I can't emphasize enough not having debt at your back door. You get time to think. If you've got to make instant decisions or do something to collect a dollar today, you're not doing anything to build the business."
"Put your people in a position to be proud of what they do, to be complimented for what they do. Don't put them in a position to cover your shortsightedness, your chiselly side, that they have to cover up for the boss."
"I'd be a great professor," he jokes, "because I've got a lot to say."
A professorship certainly would be ironic. Hansen never earned a college degree, as his education was sidetracked by work. But he learned about life through work, and vice versa.
His college time at Utah State University was interrupted by his mission. When he returned, he started building modular homes while juggling classwork. Within six years, he and a partner built 1,200.
Along the way, he also marketed homes. He left one business in 1981 when interest rates spiked but built his current 11,000-square-foot home in Logan.
His construction business lasted until 1988, when he and some partners formed Wasatch Property Management and "dove into the real estate recession," he said.
Weekly visits to Salt Lake City to meet with brokers eventually led to the first acquisitions, in Bountiful. That's where the company learned the art of tax-exempt bond financing.
After several acquisitions in Utah, the company focused at different times on San Diego, Sacramento, Fresno, Arizona (twice) and then Utah again.
"We want critical mass of apartments anywhere we go. We don't want to own just one project," Hansen said.
Friends and colleagues speak highly of Hansen and his resourcefulness in handling so many ventures.
Robert Saxton, like Willie a partner, marvels at Hansen's ability to crunch numbers. He cited as an example Hansen's discovery of information in bonds "two inches deep" about which even the bond company was unaware.
"He has wonderful intelligence, far and above the average person, and the deals just keep coming. It's something in his blood," Saxton said.
"He's a hands-on guy. He will delegate, but you'd better be able to stand your responsibility. I like that about him."
"I think it helps him that he's very personable — he's not a stuffed shirt — but he has a hard-driving business side to him," Willie said. "When he embraces something, it's with a passion."
Willie noted that Hansen has stressed that mere ownership is nothing, that it is the passion of owning real estate that is meaningful.
"You wouldn't think that for a guy who manages 11,000 apartments that he personally would be interested in individual tenants. But he is. He cares about their homes and where they live. He's not just a crass landlord."
David Winder is a former executive director of the state Department of Business and Economic Development and has seen Hansen's personality shine, as Hansen serves on the Board of Business and Economic Development.
"He's such an engaging personality and a square shooter. He doesn't hide anything, either. Everything is on the table. He's very open, so a lot of people trust and like him because of those traits. It helps him do deals that are win-win situations," Winder said.
That openness includes a willingness to ask a basic question, "no matter how he looks, just so he can get to the bottom of things so he can understand," he said.
As for Hansen, he understands that while business is important, so is family. He and his family enjoy free time in Carlsbad, Calif., and some Bear Lake cabins. And while his Wasatch duties may wind down a bit as the years progress, "retirement" is a foreign concept because he doesn't consider his work to be work.
"I don't know what that means," he said of retirement. "I can take time off now if I want, but I'd rather be involved in doing something.
"Building a business is so fun, I don't know why you wouldn't want to do it. What would I be retiring from?"
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com