Celebrating 15 years in business, Insulex have weathered the storm of the construction downturn in 2008, evolving throughout the years to become an all all-encompassing Building Specialist, operating nationwide across the public and commercial sectors. Building Ireland recently caught up with the company’s Managing Director, Martin McCarthy to learn all about the Business and find out how it’s continued to succeed, despite a challenging trading environment.
Since its inception, offering home insulation in the private sector, Insulex has grown its service offering to become a full-service general contractor offering new construction, insulation, extension and remodeling services for new or existing structures to commercial and residential clients.
“No matter the project we’re working on, be it a terraced house, or a multi-story apartment building, we still focus on the same principles; quality, craftsmanship and service” says Martin.
“Whilst being competitive on pricing has always been of huge importance, I have always insisted that quality should never be compromised for the sake of a slightly cheaper quote. I would rather lose a tender, than complete a job that I know in my heart wouldn’t last the test of time. I think this is what helped us survive the downturn. We have built a name for ourselves as a company to be trusted, with prices that are fair and competitive, but quality and output from that is outstanding.”
To date they have completed projects across both the private and commercial sector nationwide. Currently, they’re very much involved in energy efficiency upgrade projects.
“We recently completed a project for Cork City Council, completing minor adaptation works on 68 houses. The project involved converting bathrooms to enable wheelchair access, extending bedrooms, installing stair lifts etc. We’re also currently re-modelling a house for a private client whilst completing several insulation works, both internal and external.
In terms of service offerings, Insulex work quickly and efficiently and liaise closely with clients, conducting an initial consultation to assess the client’s requirements before providing a tailor made plan to suit the project and budget.
It’s here that Martin’s expertise in the construction industry has been instrumental to their change in direction.
“When we started out, I found I was coming across clients who didn’t have the budget to carry out the full insulation works required, so I began offering solutions.
“From my qualifications in Insulation and heat retention, coupled with my knowledge of the trade I was able to offer them a solution that would result in significant improvement to their standard of living, at a smaller investment, before investing in the full insulation works at a later stage.
The problem was we didn’t have the capacity to take on the work ourselves, despite having the knowledge and skillset. It seemed like a missed opportunity, that we were passing our solutions to an unknown provider, so we began to expand, building a team of excellent sub-contractors as well as our training up our own team of tradesmen.
It seems to be a strategy which has paid off. The company has built up a team of highly skilled tradesman which possess more than 30 years of building experience.
Designers, Grounds-men, Block-layers, Carpenters, Plumbers, Plasterers, Painters, Cavity, Attic and External Wall Insulators along with specialist trades. This combined with a finely tuned administration team incorporating customer liaison, procurement, safety, compliance and accounts Insulex has a winning combination to secure its position well into the future.
Today the company offers a wide ranging home renovation package, including construction works, living space conversions, roofing works, extensions, conservatories, heating upgrades, windows and doors replacement to name but a few.
“The business itself has been growing 10 to 15 per cent without fail since 2007 and I think a huge part of that is because every single job that we do here has to be perfect. We tie everything back to those same three principles; quality, craftsmanship and service.”
They expect all the team members to achieve the highest level of workmanship on every project, ensuring that the company itself delivers high standards and a great finish to your home, right down to the very last detail.
My wife Mairead and I started the company in 2003 and since then, we’ve built it up to a team of 12 direct employees, with 30 sub-contractors, however we still operate very much as a family-run business. Martin focuses on business development and overseeing the projects on site while Mairead handles the HR and paperwork.
They’ve also expanded beyond their original office in Co. Cork to open a second in Dublin with a dedicated sales team focused on the region. While the company is still headquartered in Cork, it’s allowed them to expand their services, ensuring they are offering our services on a nationwide capacity.
So what’s next for Insulex?
“We keep moving forward. The sector is constantly evolving with new technologies and products coming on to the market, and we’re constantly looking to improve our offering. We embrace change, and staying fluid allows us to adapt to the changing requirements of our customers.
“Looking to the next year, we’re going to be very much involved in energy efficiency upgrade projects, for the commercial sector, whilst we also have a stream of disability adaptation projects in the works. We have recently taken on distribution of Acorn Stair Lifts in Ireland”.
When quizzed about project specifics, Martin isn’t giving away too much as of yet, but says the Department of Education and Cork City Council will feature strongly in their future.
Contact Information:
Insulex
E-mail: [email protected]
Cork: Insulex, Kilgobbin, Ballinadee, Bandon, Co Cork
Tel: 021-4778562
Dublin: 12 Lower Hatch Street, Dublin 2,
Tel: 01-6392932
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, January 2019, Vol 5 No 1
