Hunt Office Interiors is one of Ireland’s premier office fit-out / refurbishment specialists, working with companies from all sectors to deliver modern, well designed workspaces. With showrooms in Dublin, Limerick and Cork – and exponential annual growth being recorded – this unique client-focused company is in fine fettle.
Providing complete turnkey solutions – including design, supply and installation – Hunt Office Interiors has grown rapidly into an industry-leading office fit out and refurbishment specialist, invariably delivering exceptionally-designed and –finished workspaces using the most modern products sourced from leading manufacturers throughout Europe.
To cater specifically for the office interiors and fit out sector, Hunt Office Interiors evolved organically out of Huntoffice.ie, the original family business established by Limerick brothers Seamus and John Hunt, which continues to go from strength to strength as Ireland’s largest online platform for office products.
Through significant investment, expansion, strong contacts and listening carefully to customers’ needs, Hunt Office Interiors has established itself as the go-to contractor for office fit outs and redesigns, successfully delivering projects for a who’s who of multinationals and indigenous companies, priding themselves on attention to detail and quality finishes, sourcing top quality materials from recognised brands in the office furniture industry throughout Europe.
Providing a comprehensive range of solutions from state-of-the art meeting pods, to seating and desk systems, flooring, lighting and canteen facilities, Hunt Office Interiors’ portfolio of completed projects island-wide – from BWT Pharma, Amazon, Progress Software to Teamwork, Repligen, Abbott, Uniphar, Irish Life, The Bon Secours Hospital and many others – is testimony to their inherent ability to consistently deliver a bespoke client- and unique workspace-orientated design and installation package every time.
Providing a tantalising glimpse of their capabilities through state-of-the-art showrooms in Citywest, Limerick and Cork, Hunt Office Interiors work closely with a select network of renowned partners across Europe, all of whom are leaders and experts in their field. These suppliers design and manufacture signature products and furniture to the highest standards, helping clients create and realise their ideal work environment.
“We have a business model that works and customers get an experience they enjoy,” notes interiors director Martin Johnson. “The fit out company grew out of the original office supplies business and both are growing exponentially. Indeed, the diversification into office fit outs has grown almost into a separate business of its own.
“In the last three years alone, we have invested €1m into the company and that has been instrumental in helping take things to the next level. We opened the new showroom facility in Cork last year. While the main hub of the fit out business is in Citywest, the Cork showroom is twice as large and was developed to cater for major growth in Cork and Munster.”
The team at Hunt Office Interiors is also growing. “We have eight in-house fitting teams,” Martin continues. “While a lot of our competitors sub-contract everything out, we prefer to keep it in-house and maintain total control of every aspect of the project. We’re also expanding our teams of project managers and site managers.
“We want to maintain complete control of everything to produce the optimal customer experience. We place a very firm emphasis on customer experience. A lot of that was learned from the online side of the business and it works very well.
“We’re also different in that 90 per cent of our fit out business is engaging directly with the client and doesn’t go through tender or an architect. We can guide them through the entire process from start to finish and provide a value-added, one stop shop service. Clients like our approach and because of that we’ve experienced double-digit growth in each of the last five years and currently employ in excess of 70 employees in total.”
The office fit out arm of the business has developed into a massively important part of the overall company. “We’ve invested a lot of money and time into our facilities and our people, which benefits our customers, helps them keep a close eye on costs, provides them with a great customer experience and ensures complete control of the whole process,” Martin continues.
“We’re getting a lot of repeat business and this speaks for itself. Companies we first worked with six or seven years ago have now come back to us again, because they are growing. They are choosing to do business with us again and we are growing hand in hand. That’s a real confidence booster because the fact that they have stuck with us shows that the trust is there. The proof of the pudding is there when companies come back two or three times and engage your services over a number of different phases. That’s a great endorsement. We’re very proud of the fact that we get so much repeat work as well as new business.”
Although Hunt Office Interiors don’t actively pursue work in the UK, they have done a significant amount of work in London for Irish clients who are expanding or refurbishing their offices there, including one of their largest glass partitioning installations. “Glass partitioning is a big part of what we do,” says Martin. “We are unique again in that we buy directly from the factory in France, which gives us more flexibility with price and timelines. We have worked exclusively with our partitioning supply partner “Hoyez” for eight years and have grown together.
“We stock these glazed partitioning systems and can have them on site within a minimum of two weeks. We also have our own in-house fitters for glazed partitioning, which is also unique, and grants us further control over quality and time.
“We identify key suppliers of quality products and build relationships with them. Our model is to buy office furniture, seating, acoustic products and glass partitioning directly from high-quality suppliers in the EU to maintain a direct supply of all those products.”
Part of a company that will celebrate 25 years in business in 2024, Hunt Office Interiors has been enjoying tremendous growth in a relatively short period of time, emerging as a key player in the ultra-competitive office fit out and refurb market. Does there still exist scope for further growth?
“That’s the plan. Looking at the figures in the pipeline, we know we are going to grow again next year and the plan is to keep growing,” Martin concludes. “We are already a main player in the office fit out sector, offering customers a number of advantages that are unique to us, and we can build on that.
“It’s not easy, of course, but we have a model we believe in and one that works. We have a plan that’s working and we’re going to stick to it. We’ll keep investing to make sure we remain at the forefront of the market. Having recently refurbished the showrooms and office in Limerick as well as opening the new showroom in Cork, we will remodel the Citywest showrooms next year.”
Hunt Office Interiors,
Unit 13,
Orchard Business Centre,
Orchard Avenue,
Citywest Business Campus,
Dublin 24.
Tel: 01 6230623
Email: [email protected]
Web: huntoffice.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, February 2024, Vol 10 No 2
