Established in 2004, Doherty Finegan Kelly (DFK) specialise in civil, structural engineering and project management. Over the years, the Drogheda headquartered company have enhanced their reputation at providing a high-quality service to their client base throughout the country with attention to detail and cost effective solutions being their priority.
The company is registered with the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland (ACEI) and all technical staff are members of Engineers Ireland & The Institute of Structural Engineers.
DFK are a group of highly motivated and dedicated Engineers and Consultants trained to deliver through their knowledge and expertise a tailored service throughout all stages of design from conception to handover.
Francis Doherty, Emmet Finegan and Cathal Kelly forged their experience together when forming the company and Emmet spoke to Building Ireland about the success of the business over the past 16 years.
Understanding their client’s requirements and listening to their needs has allowed DFK to form long term partnerships with their clients and build on principles and trust. Client’s trust DFK’s people, their approach, commitment and ability to question the unquestionable. Their designs are bespoke for each project based on their unique requirements.
Being Irish owned and operated has meant that the company looks at more than just the job or project at hand for both their employees and their clients. There is a real and vested personal interest taken in all aspects of their daily work to make sure that their reputation, acquired over many years, remains intact and in high regard throughout the industry for many more years to come.
Their diverse project portfolio allows them to find the right solution for every job. They have a broad portfolio of successfully completed projects across a range of sectors including civil engineering, commercial, hotels, leisure, listed, mixed use, refurbishments, residential, retail and temporary works.
As problem solvers, they seek solutions that achieve their clients’ aspirations. Their services cover every stage, from conceptual to detailed design and construction management.
“We have built our reputation on our client focus and hands-on approach. We are proud of the fact that the majority of our workload comes from repeat clients. This is achieved because of our relentless attention to detail and having an experienced team with drive and strong customer focus skills to ensure client satisfaction on all our projects,” said Emmet.
DFK pride themselves by continuously delivering a high-quality service that ensures all projects are delivered on time and within budget. Unwavering dedication and commitment to practice solutions that best serve their clients are the cornerstones of their business model.
Twenty-five people are employed by DFK, working out of three offices in Drogheda, Glasnevin and Limerick with Emmet stressing the important role that the employees play in the success of the business.
“We recognise that successful projects are delivered using experienced engineers, building surveyors and technicians. By using experienced decision making engineers, we reduce the client’s risk and add value to the design process. We ensure our project teams are highly motivated to provide client satisfaction and win repeated business.”
Word of mouth has been the best form of advertising for the company as Emmet revealed that they are only as good as their last job.
“We wouldn’t market ourselves too much and rely on our work as the best form of advertisement for us. Like I said, we have developed a client base that has resulted in us carrying out multiple projects for the same customers.”
Communication is key to the success of the business, according to Emmet who stressed that the three directors take the lead on all projects.
“The directors would be very hands on with our ‘director led’ approach very important to our clients. We speak direct to the client, which is very important as they know that we are just a phone call away at any time.”
DFK value their staff and in doing so, in-house training is an integral part of the business as it allows their employees to flourish within the company.
“The opportunities are there to grow within the company. We would offer a lot of inhouse training and that would be one of the reasons, why we have a small turnover of staff.”
The variety of works completed by Doherty Finegan Kelly varies in size and complexity as does the variety of client base. DFK work with numerous architects firms throughout the country from ‘one man’ operations to the larger practices in the country. We also work with the HSE, OPW, NORA, Sports Ireland, various County Councils (Fingal, Louth, Dublin City, DLRD, SDCC0, and other Semi-State Bodies.
“A large portion of our works are with developers, again ranging in size from the up and coming new boys on the block to some of Ireland’s biggest developers.”
Emmet stressed that 2020 is going to be a busy year for the firm as their order book is full at the moment as they look to branch into the U.K market.
“We are in the process of opening an office in the U.K, so it is a case of onwards and upwards at the moment. We are happy with the workload that we have and the industry is very busy. Hopefully, we can grow our staff over the coming months as well.”
Contact Details:
Doherty Finegan Kelly
Botanic Court,
30-32 Botanic Road,
Glasnevin,
9 Botanic Rd,
Dublin
Doherty Finegan Kelly
Unit B
Pennycorn Mill
11 Trinity St
Drogheda
Co Louth
Phone: (01) 830 1852
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, September/October 2020, Vol 6 No 5
