Specialising in residential extensions and new builds across the Mid-West, John Foster Construction is a vastly-experienced and highly-regarded construction company renowned for invariably delivering quality workmanship and value for money. As John prepares to embark on an exciting new project installing prefabricated, rapid-turnaround home office extensions in conjunction with Celuplast Building Solutions, we touched base with the personable Limerick-based main contractor to find out more.
Boasting almost 20 years’ experience operating as a main contractor, John Foster specialises in delivering high-quality, value-added extensions, refurbs and new builds throughout Limerick and surrounding counties. Following in the footsteps of his father, Joseph, who was a building contractor since the 1960s, John established John Foster Construction in 2002 and it was registered as a limited company two years ago.
With a proven track record for completing numerous extensions, renovations and refurbs within the greater Limerick city region, John Foster Construction is currently finalising an exciting new venture in collaboration with Celuplast Building Solutions in Baldoyle Industrial Estate, which they plan to roll out in the near future.
With more and more people working from home due to the coronavirus restrictions and all the indications suggesting that this trend will continue indefinitely, John has spotted a niche for installing short-turnaround, prefabricated timber frame office extensions onto residential homes. For this novel service, the Limerick man will work in collaboration with Dublin-based Celuplast Building Solutions, who design and develop innovative, technologically-advanced alternatives to conventional building products and methods.
“We’re offering self-contained timber frame office extensions adjoining existing homes, which will have a turnaround time of just three weeks,” John reveals. “These will be pre-fabricated and factory engineered with a U-value which surpasses anything available through conventional building methods. They are constructed off-site, fully sealed and taped, and will also be cheaper than traditional extensions. There are also great time savings to be made as, once they are fabricated, we can install them in literally a few days on site.”
These advanced, energy-efficient next generation home extensions provide a spacious, open-plan extension to any home using cutting-edge construction techniques. The new extension will be not only affordable and quickly installed but is also comfortable and warm with an outstanding U-value of between 0.10 and 0.20 W/m2K, making it the most energy-saving home extension available.
Factory-built for consistently high quality, these extensions offer huge financial and performance advantages over conventional extensions. All components are pre-assembled and factory-engineered with high performance insulation. Installation is up to 50% faster than conventional construction, while prefabrication means savings of up to 30% on site labour costs and the high-performance insulation can achieve up to 60% lower energy costs.
“We’re anticipating that there could be big demand for these extensions and we’ll commence installations in the New Year,” notes John, who comes from a strong carpentry background himself and has a wealth of experience completing top-class, industry-leading extension, refurbishments and renovations within Limerick and beyond as well as complete residential new builds and some stunning, precise conservation / heritage restoration work.
“We completed a very nice period house renovation in Windsor Terrace, Dun Laoghaire a couple of years ago – a seafront Georgian property looking out over the bay, which we remodelled and reconfigured from offices back into a luxury home,” the Limerick man reflects. “A lot of our work would be remodelling existing houses in and around Limerick city which might be around 50 years old, upgrading them with extensions and complete refurbishments, upgrading the U-value and making the homes more comfortable, airtight and efficient. We also build new houses in green field sites, throughout county Limerick.”
John Foster Construction has the capacity to alter buildings in any way required – from installing new doors and windows to replacing floors, stairs, roofs or carrying out complete kitchen or bathroom fit-outs. They also make homes more user-friendly for disabled residents through grant-assisted modifications and have a number of commercial and educational contracts covering maintenance and modification works.
Holding a Degree in Wood and Building Technology, City and Guilds Certificate in AutoCad, Certificate in Energy Efficient Building Systems, Certificate in Renewable Energy Systems and Diploma in Project Management, John brings the highest quality to bear on every project.
“You have to be able to keep your clients happy all the time,” he states. “We aim to be flexible and available at all times. Problems will periodically arise and these have to be addressed, keeping the client satisfied and the program on track. Customer satisfaction is ultimately the most important thing.
“When we start work on a domestic refurbishment, we can use our experience to our client’s benefit by pre-empting what might or could go wrong from previous experience. There will be a process of ongoing consultation with the client, where we take them through everything, and advise them as best we can.”
John – who is fully up to speed on the latest renewable energy technology including, Air to Water heating systems complete with underfloor heating and HRV systems – has worked as far out of Limerick as Kilkee, Charleville and Silvermines but generally the vast majority of his work is within Limerick city and county. He carries a tight in-house crew of five tradesmen full time and also uses the services of skilled, tried and trusted subcontrators.
Apart from the initial wobble around March, the Covid-19 restrictions have not affected the business as adversely as first feared. “It has actually been a very busy year – busier than we expected,” John concludes. “There doesn’t appear to be much of a slowdown. We have a good bit on and it looks like the work is still there. The architects and engineers we deal with are of the same opinion, which is good to hear. We were warned about next year, that things could slow down significantly, but currently our order book is filling up fast, having secured some sizable contracts for the new year.”
And if there’s a positive uptake on the new innovative prefabricated home office extensions, John Foster Construction could be busier than ever!
John Foster Construction Ltd.,
18 Mallow Street,
Limerick
Tel: 061 748153
Mobile: 087 9582560
Email: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, February, Vol 7 No 2
