DCSL Building Contractors Ltd. and sister company DGSL are market-leading, family-owned operations based in Navan, County Meath specialising in delivering bespoke and environmentally-friendly homes as well as outstanding commercial projects throughout North Leinster. We got an insight from founder / director Darren Caffrey.
Synonymous with excellence and achieving complete client satisfaction – resulting from painstaking attention to detail and high-quality workmanship – DCSL and DGSL have quickly established an unrivalled reputation in the residential / commercial property construction sector.
Projects are invariably delivered not just to exceptionally high standards but also on time, within budget and to programme, so it’s easy to see why DCSL Building Contractors has become the go-to contractor for providing bespoke building solutions, tailored to the client’s exact requirements.
Quality workmanship is at the heart of everything DCSL and DGSL do. They have built up a skilled and experienced workforce, fully backed by their own tried and trusted team of specialist subcontractors who share their dedication and commitment to delivering quality.
The directors and staff are wholly committed to maintaining a safe working environment for all employees, third parties and the general public in order to ensure full compliance with current Health & Safety legislation. In order to achieve this, they have appointed an external H&S consultant who regularly visits all sites to monitor all aspects of H&S and ensure that the highest standards are maintained companywide.
Darren Caffrey established DCSL Building Contractors Ltd. in 2012. In September, 2016, sister company DGSL was set up in conjunction with his first cousin and business partner, Gary Woods. Both companies operate hand in hand, delivering the keenest solutions in traditional, contemporary and bespoke residential building projects – incorporating new builds, extensions and renovations – as well as exceptional commercial projects.
A wealth of experience ensures that DCSL / DGSL have the capacity to deliver complete client satisfaction on every project undertaken. “I served my time as a bricklayer and Gary is a carpenter by trade – between the two of us, we have almost 40 years’ experience of working on construction sites,” says Darren.
The construction sector was anything but buoyant when the Meath man took on the decision to set the company up, but he was confident that – by focussing on absolute quality – he could develop and nurture a strong, progressive business:
“We worked through the recession and built our reputation up slowly but surely,” he reflects. “All of our work has come from word of mouth. We are a company that has used the same subcontractors since Day One, and the same suppliers, which ensures consistency in terms of the quality provided. We don’t chop and change because we know they are good companies to work with and they share our vision and commitment to excellence.
“We don’t try to win a tender and then see who we can get. We stick with the people we know we can depend upon because we know we can deliver an excellent product as it is. We’ve also built up very good relationships with architects and the company continues to experience steady growth, with a full office staff now in place, including a full-time QS who has been with us for a number of years.
“We are wholly self-sufficient and we own all of our own plant, machinery, vans etc. and we provide employment for a lot of local people. Most of the work is also locally-based although we have done some work in Dublin as well. Everything is looking very positive at the minute but we are going to proceed cautiously and try to expand at a rate we can cope with and to take on more commercial projects going forward. It’s important that any growth we achieve is sustainable and that we can maintain a personal touch and continue to give clients our utmost care and attention from inception of their project through to completion.”
At the time of writing, there were 18 separate projects up and running at DCSL / DGSL, twelve of which were bespoke, one-off homes. “Most of the houses we build tend to be in and around Navan / Meath, although we do travel from time to time and have been over as far as Kilcock recently,” Darren continues. “But we pride ourselves on being a local business providing local services and we like to think that we are now on a lot of architects’ shortlists because of the quality we consistently deliver.”
Indeed, up to 50% of work is generated through invitations from architects to tender – a direct result of the high quality of the projects that have already been delivered by DCSL and DGSL, who are widely-recognised as the go-to contractor for one-off, bespoke homes in the Greater Meath area.
Regarding the key to the company’s emergence not just as a viable commercial entity but as a veritable market leader generating direct employment for a team of 15 at present as well as an even larger number of subcontractors, Darren states:
“It comes down to the quality of our work and the relationships we have built up with people. Any home we have built, I’m proud to say out clients have been happy and we could call back to those properties for a cup of tea if we wanted. If you don’t have quality, you have nothing, and we really pride ourselves on what we are turning out. We are meticulous about every stage of the construction process and that’s why we stick with the subcontractors we are familiar with – because they are just a particular as we are.”
DCSL’s excellence in residential work is carried over into commercial developments, where some of the projects delivered in Navan to the same exacting standards include a number of extensions at St Patrick’s Classical School (main office, canteen, toilets, etc.); Fortyone Night Club; an extension to SuperValu, Johnstown, incorporating a new post office; and current work for Navan Springboard.
Darren’s father, Thomas, is also part of the team and DCSL is very much a family business providing a keen personal touch. “Myself and Gary are hands-on and we are involved on a day-to-day basis. We deal with clients every day and we are also on site every day to make sure everything is running smoothly. We like to think we are going in the right direction.”
Finally, Gary is confident that further growth is on the horizon for this exceptional enterprise: “We can definitely see an opportunity to expand and perhaps to go into residential schemes,” he concludes. “We are fully committed to controlled, sustainable expansion, but it’s just a matter of getting the right jobs in.”
DCSL / DGSL Building Contractors Ltd.,
Dean Hill,
Hayes,
Navan,
County Meath.
Tel: 046 9024846
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.dcslbuilding.ie
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, February 2018, Vol 4 No 2
