Operating out of Tramore, Co Waterford, Hi-Tec Construction has grown from strength to strength since its inception in 2010 and is now very much a well-established building construction company. Building Ireland spoke with Managing Director Sean Finnegan to learn all about the ins and outs of this thriving business down in the Deise County.
These are busy times at Hi-Tec Construction and the plan for Sean Finnegan and the rest of the team in Tramore, Co Waterford is that they keep things that way right through to next year.
Having established the company in 2010, Sean himself qualified from WIT as an Architectural Technologist 15 years previous and had always held ambitions of going out on his own in the construction sector.
Today, Hi-Tec Construction is very much a well-established construction business that holds an architectural edge over its competitors.
Building Ireland touched base with Sean Finnegan recently to hear more about the company, the impact the Covid-19 pandemic had on business and some of the projects its currently immersed in.
“Right now, we’d be operating with one full-time here, two part-time staff and a couple of sub-contractors, so it’s a mixed workforce,” he outlined.
“This year has been busy for us so far after Covid put a dampener on things a bit. During the lockdowns, we had no choice other than having to shut down some jobs that were non-essential and after that we worked through it.
“I suppose the biggest thing was the shortage of materials and then the price of materials going up as well. It’s an expensive time to be building at the moment and every contractor is in the same boat.”
Indeed, these are unprecedented times for the Irish construction sector when it comes to the high cost of building materials.
Nonetheless, Hi-Tec Construction remains busy and, in fact, sees its books full for the remainder of 2022 with projects which are close by to them in Tramore.
The company’s services include Passive house Construction, Eco Construction, Renewable Energies, General Construction, Extensions, Renovations and New Builds.
Its innovative team is led by Sean himself and ensures clients will live in a home that they are more than satisfied with.
“At the moment, we’re in the middle of a new build which is in Tramore where most of our work is in and around,” said the Managing Director.
“We’ve a couple of extensions on-going as well as a big refurb project which would’ve started for us six months ago.”
A couple of months before the Covid-19 pandemic arrived and changed the globe, Hi-Tec Construction featured on RTE’s popular TV Sunday evening programme ‘Room to Improve’.
Looking back on the experience now, Sean said that featuring on the show in October 2019 certainly drove up interest from clients and that on the programme itself, he and the team were eager to make the most of the opportunity to showcase their talents.
“Being on the show definitely saw more interest from clients,” he stated.
“It was an experience and the scheduling is done in tight timeframes and definitely puts a lot of pressure to get the show out in the space that they have.
“It was a great experience all in all and raised the profile of the company as well.”
So, all of that considered, the burning question is what has been the secret to Hi-Tec Construction continues success over the last dozen years?
How has a small start-up, born in the midst of a tough recession for the Irish construction industry, grown year on year into the success story that it is today?
For Sean, it was about taking it one job at a time at the very beginning and letting the finished projects talk for themselves when all was said and done.
“We have the architectural background, with me having graduated from WIT, and I bring that side of things to the building business.
“When we started here it was in the middle of the recession and getting jobs at the start was a slow process. I took on one job at a time and it just grew bit by bit from there.
“I honestly think that it takes 10 years to get a business established, if not more than that, and it’s a long process but we’ve gotten there.”
Adding that personal touch to the work is also something which has very much come up trumps for Hi-Tec Construction over the past 12 years.
Looking towards the coming months for his company, Sean sees busy times ahead and hopes that they can continue well into 2023 as he looks to maintain the current size of the business (for now).
“We’re at the other side of Covid now hopefully and we’re busy at the moment.
“We probably have a workload there for the next six months or so, so we can’t complain. At the moment, we’re actually turning away projects because our books are full. That’s just the way it is.
“We’re happy enough with our present size, but that’s not to say that things won’t change 12 months down the line.
“We’ll just have to wait and see where we are then,” he concluded.
Hi-Tec Construction
37 Moonvoy Bridge,
Tramore,
Co Waterford
Tel: 051 393 175
Mob: 087 418 1411
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.hi-tecconstruction.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, September 2022, Vol 8 No 9
