Established since 2017, Greenline Plumbing Supplies is proud to serve both professionals and homeowners with products and expertise tailored to their needs. Building Ireland heard more from Managing Director, David Bates, on this thriving plumbing, heating & bathroom supplies business which has branches in Navan, Cavan and Carrick-on-Shannon.
Business is good these days at Greenline Plumbing Supplies and the plan for founder David Bates and his team is to keep things that way for the foreseeable.
Operating with 16 full-time staff across three different locations (Navan, Cavan and Carrick-on-Shannon), the company has grown from strength to strength over these past eight years with customer service being at the heart of everything it does.
Indeed, Greenline Plumbing Supplies offers its customers an award-winning service and is their trusted source for high-quality plumbing, heating and bathroom solutions.
Building Ireland touched base with Managing Director David Bates recently to discuss the ins and outs of Greenline and what he feels separates it from the competition.
“I’m a qualified plumber and have always been very passionate about it,” he stated. “Greenline was born on the impression that when we were buying material itself for jobs, the service and the quality wasn’t there, so we had an idea to set up Greenline in relation to creating a business that would provide the service and bring a personal touch.
“That’s how Greenline was born and, to be fair, because we kept to our morals and we made sure that the staff understood the service, and obviously having the product there to give to the plumbers were the two key main factors. That’s how Greenline realistically grew and grew fast.
“Navan was our first branch. We established it nearly nine years ago, and it grew much faster than we had expected.
“Three years on, Cavan came up for sale and, look I’m a Cavan man myself, so I was on my own doorstep, and we ended up having a look at it. I knew the owner, so we made a deal and we ended up acquiring that. We expanded the turnover in Cavan in three years.”
While it was relatively slow to start for Greenline in 2017, it’d only be a matter of time before things really took off business-wise.
David says that word of mouth was a key component in his company blossoming into what it is today – a leader within the industry when it comes to plumbing, heating & bathroom supplies.
“At the very start getting off the ground, it was tentative, which is understandable,” said the Cavan native. “We had a lad at the time in Navan that we brought on board who would have been a veteran within the business, and he would have had a few customers based around Navan, so we got a nice little leg up from that and from there, the business grew organically.
“To be fair, word of mouth is incredibly powerful—especially in our industry. It’s quite a small world, and people talk a lot. News travels fast, and reputations are built or broken quickly.
“So, it wasn’t long until word of mouth really took off and, as well as that, it’s location. For us, where we are in Mullaghboy in Navan, you’re literally coming off the M3, no traffic lights, one roundabout and away you go.
“It was a no-brainer for our customers when they came on board with us, they were not wasting time sitting in traffic trying to get material.”
In Feb 2024, Greenline opened its third branch in Carrick-on-Shannon where high-quality plumbing products and modern bathroom fixtures are now on full display in its superb showroom.
For David, it was a move that made the most sense from a business perspective as he had been eager to find a location with potential for a significant showroom.
“In Navan, we don’t have a showroom; we’ve been focused purely on the trade counters,” he explained.
“I suppose, that’s where the passion then for showrooms came in for me and, after three years in Cavan, I decided to have a look and see what area is untapped and is there a possibility of maybe going into that area and starting fresh and trying to build up the Greenline brand.
“We came across Carrick-on-Shannon, did a deal and created a showroom here which is just shy of 5,000 square feet. We cover everything from your contracts range right up to your bespoke range, and all the suppliers and different styles of colours and all the rest.
“Then we also have a full service trade counter here as well, so Carrick was built with a 50-50 split in mind that we’d be covering 50% of the trade and 50% of the retail customer coming in as well.
“So that’s essentially where things stand now. Our core focus—and really, where our roots lie—is in servicing the trade customer, particularly plumbers. That’s our area of expertise. We take pride in maintaining the stock and our customers’ needs, offering high-quality products at competitive prices, which is key in this industry.
“We also take great pride in the fact that, while we do make mistakes—because we’re only human—we are always quick to act. No matter what the issue is, we jump in immediately to put it right. That commitment to service is a big part of why we’ve earned such a strong reputation and why we’ve won multiple service awards over the past nine years.”
Right now, business is good overall despite the challenges that are out there at the moment within the industry.
“Last year was a challenging year, but we still hit our targets,” David stated. “It was competitive. You had to chase for everything that you got. I’m going to say this year competitive-wise, the same, but not as busy as it was last year.
“I do feel that everything that’s going on within the world at the minute is hampering people’s decision-making. Even if you were to look back, I’m a devil for statistics, and even I’d be looking at house sales and stuff like that every quarter, and house sales overall in Ireland are down. In certain areas, they’re down by nearly 33%, which inevitably affects our industry.
“I think this year is a good one to mark moving forward because, realistically, the trend we’re experiencing now is very similar to what we had back in 2018. I’d say that’s where we’re heading back to.”
With its three separate branches, Greenline is proud to serve both professionals and homeowners with products and expertise tailored to your needs.
Each branch has its own area of expertise, which brings customers back time and time again.
“Even though there’s only an hour between the three shops, the difference in the products that’s sold is quite significant,” said the Managing Director.
“So, in Navan, because of predominantly its trade, it would be more the heating side of it, so you’d have oil boilers, gas boilers, underfloor heating radiators, heat pumps. That would be predominantly the main categories that are sold out of the Navan branch.
“Moving into Cavan, because of the small showroom we have there, you still have the main priorities which would be more so oil boilers, radiators, a little bit of heat pump in Cavan and maybe an extra 25% of the sales there would be down to bathroom sales.
“Then, moving over to Carrick, it’s quite the opposite because of our large showroom. We see a lot more bathroom sales, thanks to the broader range we offer here. Kitchen tap sales are also significant— with 44 taps on display, sales are strong.
“It’s like everything else; products have gone up significantly in price. It’s important to me for people to come in and be able to touch and feel the quality of the product which generally creates a sale.
“On the trade counter here, look, it’s a new business down here, it’s building and we have nearly 52 account customers here in Carrick-on-Shannon from starting from scratch. I’m quite proud of that and we can see that most of the stuff over here is again radiators, oil boilers, a little bit of heat pumps but not a lot, seems to be a lot more upgrades over here than new builds.”
As for what he feels separates Greenline Plumbing Supplies for competitors within the same industry, David points to the company’s impeccable service first and foremost.
“Ultimately, we pride ourselves on service. If you want service, you think Greenline,” he stated plainly.
“If plumbers want to walk into a store and walk out with a full kit for the job they’re doing, they automatically think Greenline. I think that’s how we’ve won a lot of our customers—because we make it that easy for them.”
Later this year, Greenline is set open its new HQ and Call Centre in David’s home county after having recently secured a deal for a large unit in Kilmore Business Park on the outskirts of Cavan Town.
As for his overall hopes for the company going forward, David says he’s simply keen to make more improvements to Greenline and keep it on the upward trajectory that it has been on for some time now.
“There were goals set every year by me and, thankfully, we’ve achieved these goals,” he said.
“This year, for me, it’s all about cementing the Greenline brand. We’re currently developing a new HQ that will include a superstore. This will allow us to offer more competitive prices and improve our service, especially when it comes to the paperwork side of things.
“We’re setting up an interconnecting phone system too. Last year, we found out we missed about 28% of calls because we were just that busy and couldn’t get to them all. We’re fixing that now—going forward, the call centre will handle all missed calls and get back to customers.
We’re improving on that, and honestly, it’s exciting times ahead for Greenline.”
Fantastic to hear!
Greenline Plumbing Supplies
Athboy Road,
Mullaghboy,
Navan,
Co Meath
Tel: (046) 902 2533
Email: [email protected]
Web: greenlineps.com
Cavan branch
Ballinagh Road,
Corlurgan,
Corlurgan Business Park,
Co Cavan
Tel: (049) 436 0055
Email: [email protected]
Carrick-on-Shannon branch
Drishoge,
West Gate Business Park,
Carrick-on-Shannon,
Co Leitrim
Tel: (071) 960 5608
Email: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, November 2025, Vol 11 No 12
