Aaron Farrell was just 21 years old when he set up Aronmar Plant Ltd in February, 2017. Fast forward five years and the Ballybunion, Co Kerry operation is now widely known as a company that can be trusted to deliver on its promises.
Aronmar Plant Ltd specialise in contract crushing, screening, drilling and blasting and a lot of water has passed under the bridge since Aaron took the decision to follow in his father Michael’s footsteps. At any age it’s a brave decision to set up your own company but at 21 it took guts plus a determined work ethic.
Reflecting on the company’s first five years of trading, the now 26 year-old admits the growth has surpassed his initial expectations…
“Contract crushing and plant hire has been in the family since 1997,” he revealed in conversation with Building Ireland. “My father and three uncles were all at it but they gave it up in 2016.
“I saw the opportunity to start out myself, I had the work but I had no money! I wanted to do it so I just hired the machines to get going and then, as time went on, I bought machines as the money came in. That’s basically how I started, myself and three others and no machines.”
He continued: “It has evolved very well really since then. We’ve 50 machines now and 20 staff. We’ve gained a couple of jobs, we have taken on a few extra contracts in the last year or two so it is very much a case of so far, so good.
“Looking back, the stage we are at now, I probably would have hoped to have been here in about 10 years. That would have been the plan but we did it in five years. Yes, the growth has surpassed my expectations but it hasn’t been easy. We had a difficult two years in 2017 and ’18, it was difficult to keep the thing going and buy machines. Finance was difficult to get but we soldiered through it and we are, where we are.
“There’s a fella with me since day one, JP Kelly, who is my right hand man. He has made the hard decisions and the mistakes with me. We’ve been side by side throughout and the company wouldn’t be where it is today without him.
“Also, it goes without saying that my Dad who has been there and done it, has been a great assistance.”
Members of Aronmar Plant’s workforce hail from different parts of the country, including Kerry, Cork and Kildare, and having such a well spread out workforce means they can travel to wherever the work is. At all times they are committed to providing a top quality and reliable service to all of their new and existing customers.
The company’s speciality is providing chips for asphalt quarries in their locality and beyond. Ardfert Quarry Products in Kerry and McSweeney Bros of Cork are just two of their loyal clients that can testify to the reliable service and quality product that Aaron and his hard-working team provide, while Arkil are one of their biggest and longest customers.
“We’d cover Ireland and the UK,” he pointed out. “The plan for the future is to pick up a good contract in the UK. I’m only 26 years of age, the poker is hot inside of my fire and I’d be driven to expand the business into the UK.”
A policy of continuous investment in expanding and updating their fleet of machinery has been a cornerstone on which Aaron and JP have built the company on.
Currently the company’s fleet includes excavators, loading shovels and crushers and screeners – and it is kept busy on a variety of contracts. Distance is not a problem and they would like to think that their rates are among the best and most competitive in the market and their products of the highest standard of quality.
Aronmar uses machinery from a number of different brands from Terex Finlay to LuiGong excavators, Cat and Volvo loading shovels.
Supplier support is important to them therefore they only choose reliable sellers with strong support chains. If there is an issue that they may need support at the last minute, it is good to know help is only a phone call away, and all of their suppliers can, like them, certainly be relied on.
“We’ve plant to the value of approximate €7.8m now,” Aaron revealed.
The ever-burgeoning business prides itself on the longevity of their working relationships with all their suppliers and aim to extend this relationship to new and existing clients.
Aaron added: “We also pride ourselves on the quality of our products and our versatility. Production wise, whatever the customer requires on the day, if they want 10,000 tonne a day done to whatever tonnages they want on the ground, we can cater for it.”
Aronmar Plant Ltd
Ahafona
Ballybunion
Kerry
Tel: 087 93 99015
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.aronmarplantltd.com
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, May 2022, Vol 8 No 5
