For the best part of two decades, Dillon Brothers Construction have been delivering high-quality contracting solutions across Limerick and beyond. As Building Ireland discovered when speaking to Joe Dillon, the directors of this exceptional industry-leading, family-run operation are extremely passionate about all things construction.
Since its genesis in Pallasgreen, County Limerick in 2002, Dillon Brothers Construction has become synonymous with invariably delivering excellent building contracting services. While Dillon Brothers’ niche is renovations / restorations and luxury homes, a full range of cost-efficient construction services is provided, with the highest quality finish guaranteed.
One of the main strengths of the business is its experienced, dedicated and conscientious staff, with all the key trades employed directly in-house. “We employ a lot of our own professionals,” director Joe Dillon confirms. “When you have all the skills in-house, that gives you full control of quality, attention to detail and the timescale of every project. We do occasionally use skilled subcontractors on certain aspects of the job, but generally we bring our own team of tradesmen on site. Even though this isn’t the cheapest way to run a construction company, it grants us full control of quality and it means that there can be no blame game or passing the buck afterwards as we always get it right ourselves in-house.”
Everything is geared towards achieving complete customer satisfaction through every stage of a project, from the first point of contact right through to completion. “You are striving at all times to get the work done to the highest standards within the agreed timeline and within budget. To achieve this, you need to maintain a strong line of communication with the client,” Joe states. “This must be continuous throughout the lifespan of the project and it has to be a combined and coordinated effort between the builder, owner, architect and engineer.”
Communication is key to the successful delivery of every project. Safety is also paramount, as is ongoing training and upskilling. To this end, Dillon Brothers Construction run their own in-house apprenticeship scheme. “Apprenticeships are important so that you will have all the trades coming through. We take young lads in from school and – in conjunction with Solas – bring them right through their apprenticeship to qualification in their respective trades. We are also part of a programme with UL for work experience and we often have one of their lads on site.
“You have to think long-term. Due to the last recession, for example, there is a lull in carpentry from people in their early 20s to those in their late 30s, which is a big gap to fill. I believe that each and every one of us in the industry needs to promote building as a profession,” Joe continues. “Electricians and plumbing are great careers but we really need to get more carpenters, block layers and plasterers out there again. This is something that needs to be addressed urgently.”
Elaborating further on his vision for where construction should be going in order to become a more sustainable and viable vocation, the director of Dillon Brothers Construction adds: “The industry is getting better in that building trades are well paid. Construction won’t work with remote workers and office jobs. There is a limited amount of work that can be done from home but, at the end of the day, you are going to need people there on the ground physically doing the work. Good people are the lifeblood of construction and companies need to look after people, both their employees and their clients.
“You need to use top-quality materials, but first and foremost you have to have skilled and experienced staff to carry out the work. As a contractor, you are always conscious of the safety of your staff, their education, and how you can help them to become better at their job. The building industry needs to be better advertised and promoted; a good trade is a viable alternative to going to college or university. It’s a great option for people and you can get a really good career out of it.”
Experts in lead roofing restoration, Dillon Brothers place a strong emphasis on performance, quality and teamwork, adopting a hands-on management approach to ensuring client satisfaction. Family ownership of the business has led to the fostering of trust, certainty and value for clients. Dillon Brothers Construction’s overriding focus is on performance. They take their quality, safety and environmental responsibilities extremely seriously and pride themselves on their standards and exemplary track record.
Teamwork lies at the heart of the operation. They work together with their customers, professional teams and supply chain to develop innovative and value adding solutions, whilst bringing environmental, social and economic benefits to clients and the wider community.
“While our niche is residential renovations and luxury homes, we also carry out commercial, agricultural and environmental work,” Joe notes. “With renovations, we thrive on the challenge of bringing old buildings back to the highest standards.”
At present, Joe and his team are working on an extension and renovation of a house on the South Circular Road in conjunction with Carr Associates Architects, while they have also worked regularly at prestigious local landmarks such as the Adare Manor and Castlegarde Castle – doing restoration work on the oldest inhabited castle in Ireland!
“Attention to detail is key and this is something you can focus on when you have your own internal staff. Our business is well structured and we try to stick to projects that are as local as possible, because quality of life is also important. We have a family ethos and family is very important. When we take on work locally, every member of our staff benefits from the additional quality time they get to spend at home.”
Fronted by brothers Joe, Brendan, Liam and David, Dillon Brothers Construction generates direct employment for a team of 20. “One-off buildings are so finely-priced that it’s difficult to be competitive pricewise against companies who subcontract out all their work. We do some of these locally and travel a bit further for renovations and luxury homes – into Adare, Limerick city and County Clare, etc. Naturally, everything has to have a high energy efficiency these days so you have to be up to date in air-to-water and heat recovery systems as well as airtightness to achieve the highest U value on every project.
“We build a lot of passive-standard houses, which can almost run themselves, with their own heating system etc. We built our first near-passive home in 2009 and were way ahead of the curve with that. A passive home is essentially a small rectangular home with small windows facing north and big windows facing south. They aren’t extremely nice buildings architecturally but are very efficient. Today, every home we build is aerated and has an airtightness of less than one.”
The genuine passion and enthusiasm that the Dillons possess for building is one of the traits that defines them. “I find that most builders are really good and have the ability to do the job right, but will they always put the time and effort into every detail when the building is not their own? That’s the only question I would ask and I can honestly state that we treat every building with the same care and detail that we would exercise on our own home,” Joe confirms.
“We invest the highest attention to detail into getting everything perfect, as if you were moving into the home yourself. As most of our work is turnkey – as opposed to a builder’s finish, where you can just get out quickly – we look very closely at everything. We take responsibility for absolutely everything, down to the paintwork. The finish is always to the highest standard. It does of course come with headaches, but I’d sooner do it that way and make sure the client is completely satisfied.”
While the pandemic has impacted adversely on construction, Dillon Brothers were able to get through the storm relatively unscathed due to their ability to deliver quality agricultural buildings: “Covid has been tough and it’s stressful when you have a staff of 20 people, whom you care for,” Joe concludes. “As we are farmers ourselves originally and have done a lot of agricultural work over the years, we were able to create a lot of work for the lads doing milking parlours and sheds during lockdown.
“Building has been lucky in a sense but it has been difficult at the same time to make sure you are always complying with the restrictions. We’ve had to break the men down into skeleton crews and they have been travelling separately. Also, with so many people working from home, you have to keep the noise down more, while schedules and deadlines have gone out the window for obvious reasons.”
Dillon Brothers Construction & Civil Engineering,
Killuragh,
Pallasgreen,
County Limerick.
Tel: 086 380 9274
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.dillonconstruction.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, June, Vol 7 No 6
Dillon Brothers Construction & Civil Engineering
