Danijel Slisko has paint running through his veins. As a teenager, he learned the business from his father, who taught him not only how to do the job well but also how to run a business. Slisko was doing his father’s bookkeeping and banking at 16 years old, and he had a great grasp on what it took to be successful. So, when at 20 years old he ventured out on his own, Slisko was well prepared.
“When I started managing my company’s funds, I had that foundation,” says Danijel Slisko, CEO and managing director at United Supreme Group. “If he didn’t do that, I don’t know if I’d be as responsible.”
It took a responsible and ambitious person to launch a business barely out of high school, and Slisko jumped in with both feet when he started United Decorating. He started out painting houses but when he got a taste for commercial painting, he knew that was the path he should take. He revelled in the challenges those jobs presented and enjoyed being part of a construction team. Within a few years he was earning contracts to paint schools in the Catholic board and big box stores like Walmart.
“I was committed to doing this as my career and if I did it, I was going to be the best,” he says.
That personal commitment has served him and his company well. He provides quality service and welcomes new opportunities and challenges. He quickly grew the company from a one-man operation into a team of skilled professionals, and today, there are around 200 staff in the Calgary and Edmonton branches, with a developing presence in Vancouver in anticipation of branch expansion there. As he grew, he expanded United’s expertise beyond architectural painting and into a variety of specialty coatings. The name ‘United Decorating’ no longer fitted the scope of the company, so Slisko changed it to United Supreme to reflect the wide range of superior offerings at the company. Unlike many competitors, United is well rounded; it has professionals with expertise in every area of the business and crews that specialize in different applications so they can cover the entire coatings scope of a project.
With 25 years of exceptional service, United Supreme has become a leader in commercial and industrial coatings in Western Canada, working on everything from water treatment plants and bridges to skyscrapers and hotels. On top of the standard architectural painting, United Supreme offers a vast range of applications. The company has experience from floor to ceiling, offering concrete polishing, polymer epoxy and terrazzo flooring as well as anti-graffiti coatings, electrostatic coatings for metal surfaces and graphic films and custom wallpaper. United has also become a go-to company for protective coatings to battle corrosion and protect against fire. The team channels its creativity with projects too, as United can create stencils and apply murals to create beautiful spaces. Whether it’s the full scope of a new build or maintenance projects, there is little that United Supreme can’t do to meet its clients’ needs.
“We want to be a turn-key, one-stop shop for clients,” says Slisko. “With what we offer, we want clients to just come to us for all their coating needs. Then they don’t have to deal with six different companies – they just deal with one manager and a bunch of specialists.”
United Supreme is taking the one-stop shop goal further as it ramps up the paint manufacturing division of the company. The new 25,000-square-foot head office includes a large manufacturing area that allows United to produce high-performance coatings for its applicators to use in the field. The R&D lab is working on more than a dozen different types of coatings and United will have its paint manufacturing up and running by fall. This includes industrial coatings that will be manufactured in an explosion-proof F1-rated room to ensure containment in case of an accident with the flammable ingredients. United plans to offer its own line of paint and coatings products to the public down the road, but for now they are exclusively for use on their own projects.
“We are taking things very slowly and making sure we’re following the proper procedures,” he says. “You can mess up your brand really fast if something goes wrong. It’s not a sprint for us, it’s a marathon.”
And it’s a marathon with no finish line; Slisko refuses to sit back and become complacent. He is passionate about moving his company forward through measured growth to ensure his high-quality standards are never compromised. To achieve that, United fosters a collaborative workplace of respect where everyone is empowered to find ways to do their jobs better. This is apparent in United’s output every day.
“With that culture and attitude, there’s nothing we can’t do,” he says.
Its stellar reputation for being a company that will go the extra mile and solve unique problems will pave the way for that expansion. Over the years, the United team has made many connections by working with most of the large and small developers and the OEAC community in the province, and as those contacts change jobs, they bring United with them. Clients appreciate the vast knowledge and expertise of United crews and have made them their first-choice coatings company. United is proud to partner with clients on multiple projects and some he has worked with since nearly the beginning. United has earned the trust of clients, and the team is often consulted about which products and applications best meet a job requirement. This trust and experience led United Supreme Group to complete over $200 million worth of coatings in its 25-year tenure, and Danijel Slisko is excited at the prospect of exploring new ways to serve clients as it looks ahead to another 25 years.
Please view the digital profile here to see United Supreme Groups projects.
