Based in Hugginstown, Co Kilkenny, Cuddihy Construction Ltd has grown a reputation for building new and quality homes in the south east of the country. Building Ireland caught up with Managing Director Martin Cuddihy to learn all about this company – from its origins to the current state of business.
Cuddihy Construction Ltd has been established 13 years now and since ‘Day One’ the objective for its founder Martin Cuddihy has been “building quality houses for the future”.
To date, the company has delivered on its promise with evidence of its top-quality work now littered throughout the south east of Ireland.
Even in these unprecedented times, Cuddihy Construction continues to deliver on its promise with business thriving at the minute, according to Martin.
Building Ireland spoke with the man himself recently to find out more about the ins and outs of Cuddihy Construction and its rise over the past decade or so.
“We’ve been established since 2008 and we’ve two full-time on the books but I could have up to 25 men working with me at any given time,” Martin outlined.
“It’s mainly one-off houses, residential houses that we build here and I’d have between four and five houses going on a year now.
“We do an odd extension for clients but we’ve been so busy with the one-off houses, it has become our focus here.
“All of the houses that we build are A-Rated and we’ve become fairly well known for our houses around Kilkenny.”
Indeed, the company has grown an excellent reputation for producing houses that are of the highest quality.
Rewind back to the start and not many would have taken the chance of starting up their own construction venture in the middle of a harsh economic recession.
Martin Cuddihy was confident, however, that he could make it work given his experience and patience to start slow and grow things year on year.
“After I finished school, I went into Agri College and after that immigrated to Australia for five years,” he said. “I found it hard to come back and settle but knew long term that it would be the right decision.
“I did a lot of civil engineering work there and got some great experience during those years. After I came home, I started a plant hire business and just broke into doing private houses from there.
“I suppose I saw a niche in the market for building people’s houses and when I started (in 2008) it was slow enough with the recession after hitting. It turned out alright because I was able to do one house a year or maybe two, I didn’t have to go too big just starting out.
“Times were definitely tight but we got through it and around 2014/2015 it just got busier and busier.”
The work has continued to flow for Cuddihy Construction since and, right now, Martin and his team in Lismatigue could not be busier.
“My sons Eoin and James are really interested in the business at the moment and are a great help to me. It’s great to have them involved. Eoin is turning 16 soon and works with me during holidays and days off. He is in the van before me on the morning.”
While he may himself be an avid marathon runner, Martin pointed out that he’s happy enough to take it slow when it comes to his company’s growth as he doesn’t want to extend himself with too much of a workload as he keeps a good life balance with work, family and some running.
“We’re really, really busy at the moment,” he enthused. “People know what we’re like at this stage and I pride myself on my name and we pride ourselves in the work that we do here.
“Three to four houses are what I’m usually doing a year and I’m happy with that.”
He added: “Right now, we have four jobs on-going, one of them is a Georgian style house in Kilkenny and the other a bungalow in Hugginstown.”
The work continues to come for Cuddihy Construction too, with more projects on the way once Covid-19 government restrictions are lifted.
So, what has been the secret to success thus far for the company? How has a small start-up grown into a business which is now renowned throughout Kilkenny for its quality projects.
According to Martin, workmanship and attention to detail go a long way in this particular line of work.
“A lot of it is probably down to our workmanship,” he said.
“I should point out too that we work brilliantly with our clients and we’re very competitive as well. So I suppose a lot of it comes down to our workmanship when it comes to the quality of our projects.”
Along with all of that, Cuddihy Construction gives back to the local community as well by sponsoring Stoneyford Football Club and the annual Stoneyford 10k Challenge Road Race and Expo.
Looking towards the coming months, Martin is hopeful that the situation with the Covid-19 pandemic will improve first and foremost so there’ll be a return to some kind of normality.
After that, he wants Cuddihy Construction to continue on in the rich vein of form it has been for a while now while maintaining its small and suitable size.
“The last 12 months have been very difficult for everyone, hopefully it (Covid-19) will be wiped out with the vaccine roll-out,” he said.
“As for us here, we want to just keep doing what we’re doing. We don’t want too much work, just a steady flow of it.”
Cuddihy Construction Ltd
Lismatigue,
Hugginstown,
Co Kilkenny
Mobile: 087 291 0905
facebook.com/cuddihyconstruction
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, August, Vol 7 No 8
