Shortlisted for a 2024 Irish Construction Industry award, J&B O’Sullivan Builders Ltd. is a long-established contracting company that has consistently prioritised complete client satisfaction on every project delivered.
Managing Director James O’Sullivan Jr. embodies the non-negotiable core values that underpin the industry-leading family business’ status as a residential and commercial builder of choice in the Limerick / North Kerry region.
Taking a strong personal interest in every project and meticulously focusing on the consistent delivery of quality workmanship that invariably leads to absolute customer satisfaction, J&B O’Sullivan Builders embraces and epitomises the traditional values of construction, values that seem increasingly rare these days. Here—in Abbeyfeale, County Limerick—is a genuine, conscientious, and skilled builder who takes immense pride in looking after people.
Half a century on from the genesis of this exceptional family business, it’s no surprise to learn that J&B O’Sullivan Builders Ltd. is on the shortlist for a prestigious Irish Construction Industry award. The Limerick contractor has caught the judges’ attention for its outstanding achievement in spectacularly renovating, extending and reinvigorating The Coach House in Ballybunnion and has been shortlisted in the ‘Contractor Residential Project of the Year’ category of the 2024 ICI awards night extravaganza, which takes place at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre on November 7th.
The J&B in the company name are James O’Sullivan Snr. and his wife Betty. A limited company for a decade and a half now, the J&B O’Sullivan Builders story goes back 50 years to when James started out in Abbeyfeale working as a sole trader. His son, James O’Sullivan Jnr., has been in the construction industry for 34 years and counting, and is now the main driving force behind the family business.
A builder who eats, sleeps, and breathes building, James’s passion and enthusiasm for quality construction are positively infectious when he speaks. It’s not difficult to deduce from his words the secret of J&B O’Sullivan Builders Ltd.’s success…
Is construction all about providing a personal touch and looking after clients by always serving up quality work? “Yes. Also, I’m not too motivated by money, but I like to do things right. It’s not much harder to do things right than to half-do something. It takes a little more work, obviously, but not a huge amount.
“There’s no point doing something if you’re not going to do it properly. This extends to the people who we work with . We will only use subcontractors who take pride in their work and who are not all about the money
“I think it’s a policy that should apply through all aspects of life. I have four sons, and I always tell them to do what they like to do and not chase money for the sake of it.”
The payback for James and his team comes not just from the fact that positive news of J&B O’Sullivan Builders’ excellence across a broad range of project types has spread far and wide, resulting in strong demand for their impeccable construction services but also from the immense degree of job satisfaction derived from each finished project, be it a high-end new-build home, a painstaking reconstruction, a school building, or a hotel.
“I like to do it right, and I like the customer to be happy with the end result,” the dedicated Limerick builder continues. “I’d often go back to look at something in a building a year or so later, and it’s only when you see that home lived in and that the client is happy living there that you can get real job satisfaction. It’s a good feeling.
“To see people happy and that they’re happy to talk to you, after working together on such a big project, that’s nice. I’ve become good friends with several of our former customers, and that’s very rewarding, too. There’s one client we built a house for in Ballybunion, and they invited the whole family over to their villa in Spain for a holiday. It’s a real bonus when you strike up friendships like that, and you like to think that it’s a sign that you are doing something right…”
At the time of writing, James was busy working on a number of one-off private houses as well as extension / reconstruction projects, reimagining and reworking existing buildings. There’s big demand for this kind of work in the current climate as many property owners find it more feasible to renovate than to uproot and start anew.
On the commercial front, a notable major project successfully completed by J&B O’Sullivan Builders was the complete top-to-bottom transformation of the Longcourt House Hotel in Newcastle, County Limerick in 2017. Formerly the River Room Motel, this extensive facelift and modernisation of the establishment incorporated a new hotel building comprising function room, bar / restaurant, toilets, etc., all added onto the pre-existing bedroom bloc, as well as car parking and a vast range of other works to totally transform the site.
To achieve exceptional results every time, James uses only the best tradesmen, including a directly-employed in-house team of 13, who mostly have been with them long-term. His father is still involved in the background, as is his mother.
“We cover most of the trades ourselves but don’t do any plastering, electrical work or plumbing. All the roofing is done in-house because that’s such an important part of the job that the roof stays dry, and we also have carpenters, stone masons, and block layers for smaller jobs, although we bring in a block-laying contractor for bigger jobs. We work with the same subbies over and over because I know I can rely on them to produce quality.
“The plasterer and block layer always do good, high-quality work and we try look after them because they are giving a finished product that looks excellent. When subbies are giving you high quality work, then you do whatever you can to assist them and make things easier for them.
“When it comes to scheduling, for example, you have to be mindful of the fact that they have other private jobs that they need to work on. If we tell them we will be ready on a particular time , then we will be ready for them whatever it takes. Once you give them a definite schedule and stick to it, they can also schedule in their own work themselves.”
The 16-month Coach House Ballybunnion project entailed the renovation of a 140-year-old stone cottage with the addition of a contemporary extension. The work started in April, 2023 and was completed at the end of July, 2024.
The design involved renovating the coach house and continuing along the same east-west axis with a new contemporary extension composed of a large kitchen / dining area, a downstairs living room, a first-floor living room and a balcony with amazing views of the Atlantic Ocean. The construction of the extension ran in parallel with the renovation of the old house.
The old coach house was reroofed and recovered using the old slate. The floors were excavated to put in a new subfloor, insulation and screed with underfloor heating. All the timber lintels were replaced with reinforced concrete. The exterior was rendered with lime plaster and delta membrane was placed around the exterior walls before the subfloor and screed were poured to ensure that the building stayed dry in this exposed area beside the Atlantic.
The interior was reconfigured to include three bedrooms, a utility room, and bathrooms on the ground and first floors. The old chimney was repaired and lime-rendered, and the dormer window sills were reused to maintain the fabric of the old building as much as possible.
The new extension was constructed in a steel frame with timber infill. The exterior was finished with smooth plastered blockwork at ground floor level and with fibre cement Cedral black woodgrain cladding above.
The project was one of the most enjoyable James has overseen and he was delighted that it was nominated for an ICI award: “It was only at the last minute that we decided to put in the submission. A lot of work went into the submission, and two of my sons helped me out with it. We got there eventually and I was delighted that we were shortlisted.
“This project was one I really enjoyed. The architect was brilliant, the clients were amazing and the engineer was fantastic. Despite the challenges we faced, everything went smoothly and the result speaks for itself. That one meant a lot to me, and that’s why I wanted to put it forward for this award.”
Going forward, the future looks bright for J&B O’Sullivan Builders. “We have a good bit of work ahead of us, and if even half of it comes up, I’ll be happy enough,” the MD concludes. “I’ve been working steadily with an architect in Limerick for the past six or seven years, and that’s going well. We built their house, and they were very happy with the finished product , so she likes to bring me in on any new projects, which is great because we work well together.”
J&B O’Sullivan Builders Ltd.,
Hill Road,
Abbeyfeale,
County.Limerick.
Tel: 068 31152
Mobile: 087 2419861
Email: [email protected]
Web: jandb.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, December 2024, Vol 10 No 12
featured, J&B O’Sullivan Builders
