Based in Bantry, Co Cork, Droumleigh Construction Ltd provides its clients with all types of construction work throughout the Munster region. Building Ireland touched base with Managing Director Damian O’Neill to learn about the ins and outs of the business, it’s current projects and hopes going forward.
These are busy times at Droumleigh Construction Ltd and the plan for Managing Director Damian O’Neill and the rest of the team down in Bantry is to try and keep things that way for the foreseeable.
Established in 2000, the company has grown its reputation over the years for work that its second to none and that reputation has been developed through delivering professional and high-quality building projects time and time again.
Indeed, Droumleigh Construction’s past work has seen it carry out top of the line projects in the healthcare, commercial, residential, educational industrial, leisure and hotel sectors for its clientele.
Having initially started off working predominantly on residential projects, more recent times have saw the company focusing on some major projects for the HSE, keeping it busy throughout the Covid-19 pandemic as a result, and that same rate of business has continued through to the present time.
Building Ireland caught up with Damian O’Neill recently to hear all of the details.
“Business is good now in fairness, there has been no slow down really,” he outlined.
“I suppose, anything private would be slowing down a bit because of the cost of materials, but we don’t do a massive amount of private work because we’re with the HSE a lot of the time.”
The former Cork GAA midfielder added: “We never stopped during the pandemic because we were doing emergency Covid work for the HSE.”
Current HSE projects see the company immersed on works in two different units in Bantry General Hospital, while it also hopes to submit planning permission for a new Tusla building in the same town in the coming weeks.
With eight full-time staff on its books right now, Droumleigh Construction is a modest sized business which helps it to tender competitively for its projects.
For more than a decade now, the business has built up a strong relationship with the HSE and, as things stand, there are enough projects on the company’s books to keep Damian and his team busy for the next 18 months to two years.
The MD was good enough to take some time to discuss some details on current projects, along with recent past ones.
“We finished a multi million euro project in the hospital in Clonakilty that was a 20-bedroom extension,” Damian stated.
“We also did an office refurbishment in Cork and they both would’ve been completed just towards the end of the last year.
“Currently, we’re in the hospital in Bantry undertaken the enabling works elements where there are two big jobs on, which are the Stroke Rehabilitation Unit and the new Endoscopy Unit.
“We’ve been dealing with Tusla for the last number of years and, after coming back to us on it, it’s been decided now to have all of their offices that are in the different towns in the one building here in Bantry and that’s what this project is.”
Also in the works is a 12-house project in Schull which is situated on the same site as the west Cork town’s Primary Care Centre. They are accredited assisted living houses for elderly people and work is set to commence soon for Droumleigh Construction on them, with planning permission already having been granted.
As the years have gone past and his company’s solid reputation has grown along it, Damian and his team’s focus has been more and more towards commercial projects, with a particular emphasis on the healthcare sector.
Droumleigh Construction directly employs eight full-time staff at the moment which are vastly experienced and skilled, while the company also uses a team of quality subcontractors that have been tried and trusted and can be depended on to get the job done right every time.
For more than a decade now, Kevin Johnson has been employed as a Quantity Surveyor with Droumleigh Construction and his excellent knowledge of the HSE has been instrumental for the company along the way as they’ve gained and delivered projects in healthcare sector.
Kevin is one of several key personnel that have been with Droumleigh Construction on a long-term basis, with one member of the staff – Office Administrator, Brid O’ Connor with the company for more than two decades now.
So, all of that considered, the burning question is what has been the secret behind the success of the business over these past 23 years?
How has a small start-up grown from strength to strength to the point where it is now thriving as a medium sized construction venture with excellent projects and a glowing reputation amongst its clients?
Damian, an All-Ireland U21 winning captain with Rebel County back in 1994, doesn’t hesitate to credit the team at Droumleigh Construction for its continued success, and he also points out that staying relatively small as a business has played a key role in its longevity.
“I kind of prefer to have one or two good sized jobs and then we can concentrate on and get in and get out fast and there’s no messing around,” said the MD
He added: “We don’t have massive overheads. We’d be a small enough company, so we can tender competitively. If we’re interested in a job, we go fairly competitive for it.”
Looking towards the coming months for the business, the Bantry native is happy to report that the project books are full up for the next year or so.
No doubt it’s the way he would’ve wanted it when he first set-up his construction firm back in 2000 and, you can be sure, Droumleigh Construction will continue to deliver high-quality projects for its clientele in the most professional manner.
“The good news is we probably have two years’ work ahead of us without taking on anything else.
“We’d always try and keep six to 12 months ahead of ourselves the whole time but, like I said, we don’t want to over stretch ourselves either,” he concluded.
Droumleigh Construction Ltd
Bridge Street,
Bantry,
Co Cork
Tel: 027 52822
Mobile: 086 267 5341
Email: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, May 2023, Vol 9 No 5
