An established main contractor with an unrivalled track record for excellence across all sectors of the building industry, Karl Strong Construction Ltd. has in recent times found its niche in civil engineering contracting and is currently providing exceptional sire development services on major projects across the Greater Leinster area. We spoke to Louth man Karl about the illustrious history and current wellbeing of this industry-leading company.
Having delivered a variety of magnificent residential, commercial and education projects over the years, serving both public and private clients, Karl Strong Construction established a fantastic reputation as one of the premier civil engineering, building and fit out contractors operating in Louth and surrounding counties.
Renowned for meticulous workmanship, Karl and his team completed a wide range of projects over the years, ranging from high-end contemporary or Georgian dwellings (including new builds, extensions and refurbishments) to multi-million-euro commercial, retail, industrial and education projects, with each and every job in the company’s impressive portfolio delivered with precision, professionalism and the keenest attention to detail.
However, for the past twelve months or so, KSCL has been focussing almost exclusively on the civils side of things and the change of direction – effectively a return to the company’s roots – is reaping benefits: boasting the men, machinery and experience to get the job done thoroughly and on time every time, Karl Strong Construction invariable provides civil engineering excellence that few can equal.
And the fact that Karl has a wealth of experience of working as a main contractor himself means he possesses an innate understanding of exactly what clients expect when they engage the services of a civil engineering contractor!
“I’m a civil engineer myself and that’s what I actually started out doing,” the personable Drogheda-based contractor reveals. “After I went out on my own, I added the construction element to complement the civil works and it proved very successful. Up until a year ago, we were still doing commercial fit outs and one-off houses. We had a lot of really great trades and got to work on some very nice projects but – as that work became more difficult due to a shortage of skills in the industry and because I had a lot of plant and machinery – I decided to step back from it and to diversify back into the civil engineering.”
Today, Karl Strong Construction specialises in civils (site development) and commercial (retail warehousing) projects, predominantly covering counties Dublin, Louth, Meath and Wicklow. “Essentially, we go in for developers and take on all the civil works for them,” Karl explains. “We’re currently doing a 90-unit development at Delgany in Wicklow for D|RES Properties where we’re looking after everything up to floor level including all the roads, sewage, services, footpaths and walls. We started down there in September and expect to be on site for up to 18 months.
“We don’t go any further south than Wicklow and we have worked in North Dublin, Louth, Meath and into the West Dublin / Blanchardstown area as well, which gives us a good catchment area and allows us to pick and choose our projects.”
Having worked extensively in construction for coming up on two decades, Karl has developed strong working relationships with a who’s who of key contacts across the industry, from Flynn Management & Contractors to DFK Consulting Engineers, DBFL Consulting Engineers and many others.
At the heart of the business is a magnificent fleet of machinery and a crew of skilled operators. To this end, the current calendar year got off to a flying start when Karl took delivery of a compact and exceptionally-versatile new Hitachi ZX160LC-6 excavator from TBF Thompson. “We’ve got a couple of new Hitachis from them recently and we’re very happy with them. Hitachi is the most reliable and least troublesome machine for construction and we stick with them, while TBF Thompson provide an excellent service and are a great outfit to deal with.
“We have our own dump trucks and track machines and we also hire in some additional machinery from Boles Hire as and when we need it,” Karl continues. “I find it better to go down the hire route for teleporters as you are never sure how many you’ll be using at any given time. You might only have work for one this week but then all of a sudden you could need five of them.
“It’s all about efficiency and finding the approach that works best for you in keeping overheads to a minimum. I personally find that it’s best to run my own dump trucks and track machines but to hire in everything else short term.”
Of course, high-quality machinery needs to be complemented by skilled operatives and this is an area where Karl Strong Construction is not going to be found wanting: “I always have a good crew of lads, although it’s very hard to hold onto good men for any length of time. But we only use the best. Generally, we would have up to 20 men on site at any given time, between direct employees and subcontractors. We subcontract the muck shifting, for example.”
Every day is different and there is no typical job as Karl Strong Construction takes on civils projects ranging from €5-6,000 up to €8-10m. Margins are tight and, with the cost of materials and labour skyrocketing over the past 18 months, Karl saw no option but to scale back on the residential work and move more towards site development. He did, however, build a spectacular 6,000 square foot property overlooking the sea in Rush last year and remains open to taking on residential or education work in the future if the right opening comes along.
“Civils will be our main thing going forward but, who knows, in twelve months’ time that could change,” he concludes. “We have experience of all sectors of construction and, whatever challenges the future brings, we’ll adapt accordingly. We’re very happy in civils at the moment and have a good bit of work in front of us. Everything is volatile but you have to keep moving and adapt.
“We used to take on a lot of refurbishments and we were very good at that work, alongside the one offs and fit outs, but we can’t get the trades to do the work anymore. It’s a serious struggle to get block layers at the moment. For now, we’re very comfortable with site development work and it’s steady so that’s what we’ll focus on.”
Karl Strong Construction Ltd.,
Mell Industrial Estate,
Toberboice Lane,
Drogheda,
County Louth.
Tel: 041 9800803
Mobile: 086 8042700
Email: [email protected]
Web: kscltd.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, June 2022, Vol 8 No 6
