Approaching its 50th anniversary, Conwell Roofing Contracts Ltd in Co Tyrone is a well-established leader in commercial and domestic roofing and cladding. Stephen Conwell, one of the directors in the family run business, was able to fill Building Ireland in on the rest.
Set-up in 1968 in Sion Mills Co Tyrone, Conwell Roofing Contracts Ltd specialises in commercial and domestic roofing and cladding.
The company, which was established by Edward Conwell Snr, has expanded steadily over the past 49 years to include his two sons Edward Jnr and Stephen and 10 other expertly trained staff.
Stephen Conwell explained that he and his brother Eddie jnr have taken over the running of the business in recent years, but that their 75-year-old father still remains involved each working day of the week.
Stephen took the time to speak to us during a busy period for the company, which he hopes will continue right throughout 2017.
“We’re in Strabane, Co Tyrone and the company was set-up by my father, Eddie snr, in 1968,” said Stephen. “He started working in this industry 10 years before he set-up the company and is still involved in the business to this day.
“We have 12 staff working here at the moment, including my brother Eddie jnr, and the two of us run the operation together. My brother-in-law Enda Hueston is also a foreman with the company.”
As Stephen puts it; Conwell Roofing Contracts Ltd “specialise in offering a wide range of quality roofing materials from top leading manufacturers”, with Kingspan, Sika-Trocal and Tegral amongst the leading manufacturers they put their trust in.
Those materials are delivered to their clients’ doors, as the Conwells endeavour to make sure that customer satisfaction remains a top priority for their business.
Over the years they have gained valuable experience in their field and can assure you of an excellent service with time-served tradesmen and high level quality workmanship.
Form their perspective, the most important part of the job is making sure that customers are satisfied and happy with their work and the completed projects; they believe that continuity of business is based primarily on a good reputation.
Conwell Roofing Contracts Ltd offers a high level of service and are very proud of their hard earned reputation. They realise that whilst it takes years to build a good reputation it only takes one instance to damage it.
Having asked Stephen why he thinks clients such as such as Lowry, Woodvale, McAleer & Teague, JA Gamble in Strabane and Boyle Construction in Letterkenny continue to choose his company, he feels that a lot of it comes down to one man in particular and one quality that has carried through six different decades.
“I think a lot of it has to do with my father,” he stated plainly. “He has built up a great reputation for this business down through the decades and that reputation is for the excellent service that we continue provide here.
“My father is 75 years old now and is still involved in the business here on a daily basis, so that’ll tell you his passion for the work that we do here.”
Conwell Roofing Contracts Ltd guarantee that they will not and do not complete works that are not required, they offer honest advice, a reliable and efficient service, and can assure any customer that in the event of any issues their after service is second to none.
The Conwells believe that any job that is worth doing is worth doing well and they are more than happy to quote and complete jobs of any size, small domestic flat roofs or large scale commercial buildings. They also provide repairs and replacements.
Being a family run business, their hours are flexible and they are all too aware of the need for this when working in this industry.
They also offer a free personal quotation service for all jobs, small or large, and where possible or necessary a staff member will assist with measurements.
Taking in the above information on the company, it’s no real surprise to see that the business has experienced a complete turnaround in recent years.
Like every construction-related business in Ireland, Conwell Roofing Contracts Ltd felt the economic downturn, struggling to get paid for some projects, but they managed to weather the storm and are now looking to make hay while the sun shines.
“It’s very good at the moment and it has actually been a good month weather-wise (in February),” said Stephen.
“Business is fairly steady right now and the downturn did have an effect on us. When people don’t pay you it’s difficult, but we kept on going through it and thankfully we’re still here.”
At the moment, the company has a handful of projects they’re occupied with for long-time clients Boyle Construction in Letterkenny, as Stephen outlined.
“We’ve recently finished a major sheeting project for Leckpatrick Creamery and we’re also doing some work for Boyle Construction in Magee College in Derry,” he said.
“We’ve work on at Letterkenny Hospital for Boyle Construction as well and Hyland’s Hotel in Glenties for them too, so we’re kept quite busy by them.”
He continued: “Most of the work that we do would mainly be from the north west of the country across to Belfast. It’s very rare that we’d travel to Dublin, but we have done some work on the FAI headquarters in Malahide for McAleer & Teague.”
The outlook for 2017 is good, going by Stephen’s tone.
“The hope is that everything goes according to plan here this year and that we keep going the way that we have been going these last few years,” he concluded.
All of the staff at Conwell Roofing Contracts Ltd are employed only after serving at least three years’ experience on fitting the product so as they can give invaluable advice to the customer on all their roofing needs.
Conwell Roofing Contracts Ltd
32 Peacock Road,
Strabane,
Co Tyrone BT82 9NW
Tel: 00 44 28816 58372
E-mail: info:conwellroofing.com
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, May 2017, Vol 3 No 4
