Over the past 35 years, Carnaross Sand & Gravel Ltd has supplied its customers in both the commercial and domestic markets. The Co Meath-based company has earned a solid reputation for its products in that time, as its manager Michael Smith told Building Ireland recently.
These are busy times for Carnaross Sand & Gravel Ltd and the plan is to keep things that way heading towards 2020, according to company manager Michael Smith.
Based in Carnaross, Kells, Co Meath, the family-owned firm supplies sand and gravel products to various sectors such as; construction, agricultural and domestic markets.
The company’s main products are sand for the Building Environment, Sports and Recreation and Percolation, while they also supply Crushed Stone Products for the Building and Civil Markets, alongside this they have a speciality in Land Drainage and Round Stone for the Agricultural Sector.
Now up and running more than three-and-a-half decades, Carnaross Sand & Gravel have a unique, natural, decorative round stone suitable for driveways and flowerbeds.
This wide range of products is backed up by a team that are committed to providing the highest quality products across all sectors.
Manager Michael Smith was good enough to take time from a hectic schedule recently to fill Building Ireland in on all the details.
“The business is established 35 years now and the family is involved in excess of 70 years now. Right now we employ 10 staff and the principal director is Bernard Harton,” he explained.
“It (the company) breaks down into four sections – construction, agricultural, domestic and then we also have a sports and recreation part to it too.
“On the construction end, we have a good portfolio of sand for building and plastering and have built a strong customer base down through the years.
“We specialise in land drainage for our agricultural clients and with domestic we have driveway stone with lovely natural pebble. We also supply small deliveries in the domestic market with a small quantity of sand.
“In sports and recreation, a lot of our work is for football pitches and horse arenas.”
Delving into the origins of the company, they date all the way back to 1947 when the Harton family first started out in the Sand and Gravel business.
It was started by Bernard Harton and is now run by his two sons, Bernard jnr and Hubert.
Hubert Harton acquired the current site at Carnaross in 1988. Bernard jnr then came to the business in 1997 and appointed Michael Mooney the manager who worked in the business from the time Bernard Harton took it over played a key role in the development of the site until his untimely death in 2014.
Over the years, Carnaross Sand and Gravel has expanded and grown to cater to their growing client base over a number of sites. The team at Carnaross Sand and Gravel use their skills to help build the company even further and provide a valuable service to existing and potential customers.
Carnaross Sand & Gravel supplies its products to customers in the commercial and domestic markets in counties Meath, Cavan, Louth, Westmeath and Kildare and is NSAI certified.
The company’s fleet includes five trucks, ranging from 30 tonne to five tonne with plans to upgrade in the New Year.
As for 2019 itself, business has been good so far, according to Michael, who pointed out that last year was a brilliant all around for the company.
“2018 was a very good year for us. It really was a terrific summer weather wise and business was very good for us in all the key areas,” said the Manager.
“2019 is still going quite well but the agricultural sector just isn’t going as well as last year. The house building and construction side is very active still though and the hope is that the next two years should that be maintained.”
He added: “We’ve a strong customer base and that’s testament to the products as well.”
So what has been the secret over these past 35 years for Carnaross Sand & Gravel in building such a strong customer base and largely successful venture?
According to Michael, service has been a key factor all the way down through the years.
“We offer a very good service to the customers and we endeavour to have the orders as timely as we can so as we can keep projects moving,” he said.
“The other thing on top of that would be the confidence our clients have in our products here. That’s a big part of the reason why they continue to choose us first too.
“We’re also NSIAI certified and have all the certificates for our stone and sand products. It’s not an easy process and we have put in a lot of work for them. It helps to further maintain the solid reputation we’ve grown here.”
Indeed the Harton family has developed long standing relationships with their customers, spanning the generations and it’s a testament to the quality of products and service which is the core of their business.
The experienced staff team at Carnaross Sand & Gravel are constantly striving to improve on the Products and Service by building on their strengths and listening to valued feedback from customers in order to achieve customer satisfaction and high-quality products.
With more than 70 years’ experience in the industry, it seems the hunger to succeed and improve remains as resolute at ever at Carnaross Sand & Gravel.
Carnaross Sand & Gravel Ltd is located 2.5 km north of Carnaross Village, just at the end of the M3 motorway. They are easily accessed from the motorway and close to key routes for Navan, Mullingar and Cavan.
Carnaross Sand & Gravel
Carnaross,
Kells,
Co. Meath
Tel: 046 924 5137
Web: www.carnarosssandandgravel.ie
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, November 2019, Vol 5 No 10
