With a century of service to the construction industry providing the soundest of foundations, Seamus Foy & Sons is widely regarded as one of Ireland’s premier building contractors, consistently delivering top-quality new builds, extensions and renovations / home improvements across the midlands and the Greater Dublin area. We met director Philip Foy to find out more about this exceptional, industry-leading family business.
The genesis of Seamus Foy & Sons Building Contractors dates back exactly 100 years to 1919. Since then, successive generations of the Foy family have handed the business down from father to son, establishing a widespread reputation as the go-to building contractor of choice not just in the midlands but further afield.
The current business was established more than three decades ago by the eponymous Seamus Foy, who is assisted in day-to-day operations by his three sons and fellow directors James, Stephen and Philip.
From their base in Rhode, County Offaly, Seamus Foy & Sons Building Contractors specialise in constructing new houses, providing a complete service from start to finish. They are also synonymous with providing exceptionally high-quality home extensions and renovations, their reputation for excellence such that they successfully completed a massive transformation of a detached 1950s home in Rathfarnham, County Dublin for a riveting recent episode in the twelfth series of RTE’s flagship architectural renovation television show, Room To Improve, which aired to quite a fanfare in September, 2019.
Versatility and client satisfaction are at the heart of the renowned County Offaly headquartered building contracting company, whose highly-skilled and experienced tradesmen are as comfortable working on small renovations as the largest, most challenging new builds. Members of Homebond and The National Guild of Master Craftsmen, they have demonstrated their vast expertise in different types of home construction down through the decades, possessing the creativity, skill and versatility to deliver a wide array of home construction projects efficiently, on time and to programme.
“Our approach is that no job is every considered too big or too small,” says Philip. “From the smallest job to the largest project – such as the one featured on Room To Improve – we’re equally comfortable. We specialise in new builds, extensions, renovations, conservatories, schools and grant and insurance work. We will complete all projects to the most exacting standards and pride ourselves on the quality of our work. The business is going extremely well at present and we are delighted about that.”
What has been the key to Seamus Foy & Sons Building Contractors’ continued success over the years? “We bring a lot of enthusiasm and passion to every project and I feel this is very important,” Philip notes. “Also, as a family-run business, we tend to offer a personal service and we’d have a close working relationship with each of our customers. It’s a job to us, obviously, but at the same time it’s not something we can knock off at 5pm every day. You live and breathe it and you invest yourself fully into every project, leaving no stone unturned to guarantee total customer satisfaction.
“Any home will only be built once and will probably only be refurbished once, so we like to make sure our customers are happy because it’s a big, big deal to them. Even when we’re not working, the business is a major talking point when we get together – what can we do for people to make them happier and to make the job better?”
By constantly striving to improve themselves and by employing their own tradesmen in house, Seamus Foy & Sons Building Contractors attain an uncanny consistency in project delivery, which results in their customers having complete confidence and peace of mind. “We have all our own staff, while the three brothers do a lot of the work ourselves, including groundworks, block laying, brickwork and roof work,” Philip continues.
“As we don’t need to take on tradesmen or rely on any input from third parties, our customers can have the utmost confidence that the exact same standards and quality will be there that were evident on previous projects.
“These lads are all vastly experienced and highly skilled. They have been with us for years and we don’t take on anybody lightly … they will have to be proven and have the experience and credentials to be able to work to the standards we expect.”
Regarding the catchment area covered, Philip reveals that Seamus Foy & Sons Building Contractors work predominantly in the midlands and the Greater Dublin area: “Most of our work at the moment is in the midlands, Dublin and Kildare. But we have completed projects all over the country, including Galway, Roscommon and Mayo, for example.
“No matter how far from home a project is, if we take it on we will fully commit to it. We’ll never refuse a job or refuse giving a quotation over location. Right now, we’re just about to start two private new builds – one here in Rhode and another in Dunshaughlin, County Meath.
“While a lot of the final specs of a project depend on budget, as a contractor we will always put in the same effort and workmanship whether we are working with expensive or more affordable materials. No matter what tiles or timbers are being used, we will give all the work the same attention to detail as we’re fully aware that this is our customer’s dream house and we’ll give them all an excellent, perfect finish that’s both sound and aesthetically pleasing.”
Working on Room To Improve S12 E3, Seamus Foy & Sons Building Contractors gave TV viewers an insight into their outstanding capabilities. What was it like being part of the show? “It was brilliant. It was absolutely fantastic to work alongside Dermot Bannon, who is one of Ireland’s leading architects and the project turned out very well. Some of his ideas are great and it was a pleasure to be able to turn them into reality. We were asked to tender for a few more jobs in the wake of the show airing so overall it was a successful experience.”
Going forward, Philip foresees a period of steady, organic growth for the business: “We can expand in that we have a good system in place whereby each of the four of us can supervise a job,” the amiable Offaly man concludes. “Between the four of us, we can carry a fair workload, which a lot of construction companies might not be able to do.
“We’re happy to take on as much work as we can handle realistically without compromising on quality or letting our standards slip. The key is to not overstretch yourself. We’d always have three or four sites running at any given time and we stagger them so that they are different stages, making sure the quality never drops.”
Seamus Foy & Sons Building Contractors,
Clonmore,
Fahy,
Rhode,
County Offaly.
Tel: 046 9739171
Mobile: 085 1760645
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.seamusfoyconstruction.com
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, February/March 2020, Vol 6 No 1
Seamus Foy & Sons Building Contractors
