Established 15 years now, Ray O’Brien Building Ltd is a building and civil engineering contractor which focuses on high safety and quality standards. Building Ireland touched base with Ray O’Brien recently to hear all about this thriving construction business situated in Co Clare, and the projects that it has on-going at the moment.
When Clare man Ray O’Brien first got off the ground with his construction firm a decade-and-a-half ago, he did so with the intention of building a company that’d one day be renowned for its quality projects around the Banner County and across its borders.
Today, Ray O’Brien Building Ltd stands very much as a tried and trusted building and civil engineering contractor that is known for its high standards of work and competitive pricing on projects.
The company has six full-time staff on its books, with Ray O’Brien heading it up as Managing Director and his wife Annmarie working alongside him in the business.
Building Ireland caught up with Ray to learn more on the ins and outs of his company – from its origins to the overall hopes he has for it going forward.
“I trained as a carpenter and the main crew that we have here would be carpenters and block layers,” he outlined.
“We’re mainly building one-off houses and do a bit of farm work there to with a few sheds, drainage and we also do a bit of plant hire as well.”
Rewind back to 2009 and the picture was a lot different. Ireland was in midst of a harsh economic recession which hit the construction industry as hard as any sector.
For Ray, getting his new venture off the ground at that point in time was no easy feat but, as the months and years rolled by, Ray O’Brien Building grew bit by bit to the point where it’s now as busy as it has ever been.
“We were doing mainly second fixing roofing when we started here and we took on a big job in Limerick during the recession and it went alright for us,” explained the Managing Director.
“We got a few one-off houses then off we’ll say maybe friends of people that I knew that were looking for a builder and we started from there.
“It just developed and got slightly bigger every year to the stage where we’re at now where we’re happy with what we have at the moment. We won’t be looking to go any bigger either.”
The reason for that simple fact is that the company couldn’t be busier at this point in time, with general building works and farm sheds on-going and also lined up.
Ray and his team are immersed in projects all over Clare right now and, with the lack of tradesmen out there at the minute, the wisest move for business is consolation first and foremost.
“It’s mental. It’s actually too busy,” he said of business at the moment. “You can’t get enough of bodies. We could actually double the staff that we have there, but you just can’t get them at the moment.
“We have just finished a one-off house there for Michael Kelleher and we have two more coming up. We have another house there in Liscannor there that we’re just getting off the ground.
“We just have the subfloor in and we’re just building it up now, and we also finished a farm shed for a fella there last week as well.
“We’re doing a retaining wall in Moy Hill Farm too, so it’s fairly busy for us there at the moment. We have another house in Liscannor in the middle of August and have another job in for Clarecare that’ll be starting for us on September 1st.”
So, all of that considered, the clear question is what has been the secret behind the success of Ray O’Brien Building Ltd to date?
How has a small start-up grown into what is now very much a thriving building and civil engineering firm that holds an excellent reputation amongst its clients?
For Ray, he sees much of it coming down to the reliability and competitive prices his business provides for the customer.
“We’re local and, I suppose, it’s down maybe knowing the people to start off with and then price has a lot to do with it as well. You have to be keen as well,” said the Banner County native.
“We do a good job and we’d be on the job ourself 90 per cent of the time, so it’d be done as right as we can do it.”
Quality work at keen prices is guaranteed at Ray O’Brien Building, hence why the company is going as strong as ever a decade-and-a-half on from its inception.
Looking at the coming months and towards another year for the company, Ray is as optimistic as ever business-wise, with his main concern being the limited amount of young people in the trades in this country at the present time.
“If we could get up to 10 (staff), it would be ideal because we would have the work for that many.
“They just don’t seem to be there anymore; younger lads aren’t getting into it. We had two apprentices qualified with us this year and we should be starting two more, but they’re just not there.”
He concluded: “I’ll try and get a holiday! After that it’s just to stay going, I suppose. Isn’t that it?”
Hear, hear.
Ray O’Brien Building Ltd
Maghera,
Lahinch,
Co Clare.
Mobile: 087 937 4060
Email: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, November 2024, Vol 10 No 11
