Boasting an unrivalled reputation for excellence and consistently generating a large volume of repeat business from long-term clients, Denis O’Neill Electrical Services Ltd. is firmly established as one of Cork’s premier commercial and industrial electrical contractors. Building Ireland interrupted owner Frank Nodwell’s busy schedule to gain an insight into this industry-leading operation, which has been keeping the lights on for almost a quarter of a century.
Since its inception 24 years ago, Denis O’Neill Electrical Services has set the standard in electrical contracting, successfully delivering a vast array of projects across a wide range of sectors – including education, healthcare, sport and recreation, pharmaceutical and retail – throughout Cork.
With a crew of 40 experienced, qualified, motivated specialists on site alongside four admin staff, the company is as busy and sought-after today as ever it’s been, providing a range of electrical services such as the installation of floodlighting, MPLV systems, ICT infrastructure, fire alarms, PAT testing, planned preventative maintenance and facilities management.
“Things are very busy in the Cork area, with a lot going on and, encouragingly, also a lot of pricing, which is a good sign. We have plenty of current work, while future work also looks promising, so we are in a good position,” notes MD Frank Nodwell, who joined the company in 2001 and worked closely with the eponymous founder for many years before taking the reins four years ago.
On the back of providing prompt and professional solutions to longstanding clients, Denis O’Neill Electrical Services has been able to grow steadily and organically through regular repeat work. “We do a lot with MTU [Munster Technological University], which was formerly known as CIT, and also with UCC. Those are two of our biggest customers and we’ve actually been with UCC since Day One,” Frank continues. “John Cleary Developments and Abbeyside Office Interiors are two more important customers. For our regular clients, we carry out installations and also provide maintenance packages, so there’s a lot of project-based work as well as regular maintenance.”
Having already garnered 25 years’ experience in the electrical field – from working with the ESB for a decade from 1970 until 1980 and overseas in the Middle East from 1980 until 1984, acting in a managerial capacity on a number of large construction projects throughout Ireland and Europe – Denis O’Neill established Denis O’Neill Electrical Services Ltd. in 1998.
The company started out on a fairly small scale, with just three employees, but as its reputation for performance, reliability and efficiency grew, operations began to expand. Denis O’Neill Electrical Services is now owned and managed by Frank Nodwell, with offices, workshop and storage facilities on the north side of Cork city and contracts all over County Cork and into Munster.
For coming up on a quarter of a century, Denis O’Neill Electrical Services has strived to become a competitive player in industrial and commercial installation. Another factor which contributes to the success of the company is their vast experience: during the time they have been active at the forefront of the electrical contracting industry, they have assembled a team that is both experienced and knowledgeable within their chosen field of expertise, which consequently enables Frank and his team to offer customers a dependable and highly-competitive service.
“Reliability is key,” the Cork man confirms. “We invariably provide a service that clients know they can depend on. From the moment they contact us, they know they are dealing with a reliable contractor who provides a personal service and is always on the other end of the phone. If needs be, our regular customers can contact us at short notice and get a quick turnaround, which is important if you are working on facilities with students or on commercial fit outs.
“We have knowledgeable staff who can turn a project around very quickly. We are always at the other end of the phone and once they contact us, we can mobilise quickly and get to them at short notice. A lot of projects are priced and awarded in advance and, for those, we are onto our suppliers straight away to make all the necessary preparations and arrangements, but there will also be projects that need to be completed at short notice and we provide that service to our customers. With office fit outs, for example, they expect a very high level of finish but at the same time they also want the work done quickly.”
Being structured and organised is critical. To guarantee this, excellent staff is a prerequisite… “We have five foremen, all of whom have been with us for more than ten years. They are vastly experienced working in these environments, be it a university or a commercial fit out, and each of them is also used to communicating with and liaising with our clients.”
Denis O’Neill Electrical Services’ level of expertise can be gauged through the significant number of projects they have delivered, ranging from large industrial installations such as Cork Civil Defence Facility to school refurbishments such as Mayfield Boys NS and Togher Boys NS as well as commercial installations (e.g. Abtran offices in Mahon; One Albert Quay; Eighty 5 South Mall; 89/90 South Mall) and also healthcare projects such as fire alarm installations at St Stephens Hospital and lightning protection installation at Cork University Hospital.
They have also completed floodlighting installations at venues including Curraheen, Mardyke and Na Piarsaigh GAA as well as carrying out a comprehensive range of work for UCC and MTU from student facilities to laboratories, office and canteen facilities.
Cognisant of the importance of remaining abreast of innovation in the electrical industry, Denis O’Neill Electrical Services completed a number of projects for the ESB at their generating stations at Aghada, Inniscarra and Marina (until its decommissioning in 2019) and continue to carry out maintenance works at Aghada and Inniscarra. They also carry out planned preventative maintenance for companies such as Itron, RDJ, Qualcomm, KPMG, Forcepoint, Investec, Ardmore Shipping, PWC and Eventbrite and are on the OPW’s electrical contractors list.
Fully-accredited members of RECI / Safe Electric, AECI, the Safe T Cert, CEF, IOSH, CIF and SSIP, Denis O’Neill Electrical Services’ goal is to undertake all projects in a professional and constructive manner, with the keenest attention to detail and the highest commitment to quality, workmanship and design.
Last year was a landmark one in the history of Denis O’Neill Electrical Services as a sister company – Beltane Fire Safety Systems – was formed. The formation of the new company – which designs, supplies, installs, commissions and maintains active fire detection systems – was customer- and demand-driven, and Beltane Fire Safety Systems has hit the ground running.
Some recent and current projects taken on by Denis O’Neill Electrical Services include complete turnkey fit outs at Penrose Dock in the city centre for PJ Hegarty, a major new distribution centre for DHL in Blarney Business Park and a factory extension for Moog Ireland in Ringaskiddy.
A seamless and gradual change in ownership from the founder to Frank Nodwell enabled Denis O’Neill Electrical Services to continue to provide the high standards of service for which they are renowned during this transitional phase. “To be fair, Denis is a brilliant man,” says the current MD. “He had all of that planned out well in advance of his retirement and he managed the transition smoothly and gradually.
“Although he has now retired, he is still there for me if I need him. All the success of this company is down to Denis ultimately – he started the business up and was the one who built up such a good name and reputation. It’s now up to us to continue along that road.”
Looking to the future, Frank is confident that opportunities exist to grow the business further: “We have a positive outlook and I do see room for growth, certainly within the next 18-24 months,” he concludes. “Ideally, you are looking for controlled and sustainable growth, without compromising on service. We are all busy, which is great, but you have to manage it.
“When you are pricing new work, you have to be careful and make sure your existing clients are not affected. We have been with our regular customers for a long time and are not going to let them down. We do plan to take on new work, too, but good management and planning is very important, so we’ll be making sure our team in the office and men on the ground remain on top of everything.
“Our name has grown through reliability first and foremost and that is something we are not prepared to compromise on.”
Denis O’Neill Electrical Services Ltd.,
Unit 34,
Northpoint Business Park,
Mallow Road,
Cork.
Tel: 021 4308500
Mobile: 086 3824032
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.donelec.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, September 2022, Vol 8 No 9
Denis O’Neill Electrical Services
