Based in Foxford, Co Mayo, CGQ Developments Ltd is a construction company with more than 40 years’ combined experience which specialises in the construction of new houses and extensions. Building Ireland spoke with co-director Oisin Quinn to learn the ins and outs of what is a thriving young business out west.
Last year CGQ Developments Ltd registered as a limited company and it’s been a year like no other for the family-run concern operating out of Foxford.
The Covid-19 pandemic, and the government lockdowns which have followed in its wake in order to try and combat the spread of the virus, rocked the Irish construction industry to the point where jobs deemed to be ‘non-essential’ were shutdown practically overnight.
Nowadays, the situation is improving as government restrictions continue to ease more and more off the back of the vaccine roll-out.
For CGQ Developments Ltd, business is good with projects having re-opened and more work in the pipeline for the months ahead.
Building Ireland caught up with Oisin Quinn, one of two directors in the company, to find out all about the services they provide and the state of business at the moment.
“Conall started the company approx. 10 years ago as a sole trader, under the name of CGQ Building & Restorations. Then when I joined in 2019 we started trading as CGQ Developments Ltd,” Oisin outlined.
“We registered as a limited company in 2020 and there’s four working here full-time, including myself, Conal and our father, Gerry.
“Our bread and butter would be residential buildings for clients, specialising in full contract builds from site clearance to turnkey finish.”
Between Gerry, Conal and Oisin, the company operates with more than four decades of experience in the construction industry.
New houses and extensions are what the business is best known for, although the range of services on offer reach far beyond that.
As Oisin himself outlined, CGQ Developments Ltd provides a turnkey finish for its clients – and it had been the vision for his brother Conal when he took the decision to go out on his own a decade ago
“Conal looks after on-site operations and he would have started out with dad 22 years ago. He qualified as a carpenter and built up valuable experience in that time which gave him the confidence to set up his own business,” he said.
“I also started working for dad from a young age and, in 2005, I did a Quantity Surveyor degree in IT Sligo and graduated four years later. I worked for a large Irish construction company as a project QS for several years and also held positions in some smaller specialist contractors as an estimator.
“In 2019, Conall and I decided to join forces and set up CGQ Developments Ltd. I suppose it was always on the cards as we had talked about going into business together on numerous occasions but only came about then.”
The plan started to come to fruition at the start of the decade but the Covid-19 pandemic would certainly have a telling effect.
By the spring of 2020, construction projects deemed non-essential were shut down nationwide as government lockdown was introduced to battle the spread of the by now global virus.
Needless to say, CGQ Developments Ltd, a venture still very much in its infancy, felt the effects but, as Oisin explained, things now seem to be on the up for the family business.
“Covid would’ve definitely thrown a spanner in the works for us here, and we had to stop operations a few times, but we’re getting back into it now,” he said.
“Last year, we were shut down for an eight-week period and at that point we had a couple of jobs that were nearing completion.
“They stopped overnight basically and there was nothing we could do until we were permitted back on them.”
Today, the company is as busy as it’s ever been with work around its locality in Foxford and the surrounding towns.
There’s also more coming down the line as CGQ Developments Ltd looks to make up for lost time.
“We recently finished a large extension to a bungalow house in Foxford which also included a full refurbishment of the existing house,” said Oisin.
“We have other jobs ongoing at the minute including some one off new build houses, extensions, a commercial roof recover and most recently an extension to a national school in the county.”
The busy times look set to continue as restrictions ease and more and more businesses across the country begin to open their doors.
So, what is it about CGQ Developments Ltd that has its clients choosing it first ahead of other competitors out there?
Oisin himself points out that the Quinn name has a strong reputation for carrying out quality work on each project it undertakes.
“I suppose we have a reputation within the area for carrying out quality jobs,” he said.
“We set high standards for ourselves from the beginning to finish on a project and I think the customers we have can see that. We take great pride in seeing our work materialise into high end homes.”
“Along with that, we try to keep ourselves up to date with the newest technology out there in the construction industry.”
What more could one ask for in a construction venture which is more or less just getting off the ground?
Looking towards the coming months, Oisin says the company will aim at increasing its commercial portfolio and look to develop the business more into the commercial market along with maintaining a foothold in the residential area and look to grow its staff numbers along the way.
“We’re in a growth period at the minute and we’d like to move more into commercial works.
“So, hopefully we can delve more into the commercial sector while also keeping our residential jobs moving and possibly take on more staff as we get busier,” the co-director concluded.
CGQ Developments Ltd
Leckee,
Foxford,
Co Mayo
Mobile: 083 339 6386
E-mail: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, November 2021, Vol 7 No 11
