The construction industry has certainly taken a turn for the better in the last 18 months to two years as development work gathers pace all over the country.
The Celtic Tiger is a distant memory and so too is the recession that followed, although both had a long standing effect on any business that came through them.
Hopefully, the lessons have been learned and Ireland will not see itself in that situation again. A more cautious approach to work is needed and it was no coincidence that of the companies that survived the recession, the majority have many years’ experience behind them.
Experience is vital in a situation like that and for this month’s edition of Building Ireland, we profile an electrical firm that is celebrating 20 years in business.
Moroney Electrical Contractors Ltd is a Kilkenny based company that began operations in 1996 and a steady growth has seen the business not only expand its list of services, but its customer base as well.
Situated in Purcellsinch Business Park, Dublin road, Kilkenny, the company was started by Sean Moroney who had a number of years’ experience in the industry before deciding to establish his own business.
Providing a quality service to their customers has been the main priority for Sean right from the beginning.
“If you don’t provide the service that the customers require then you will soon go out of business. It is all about the quality of service and making sure that the customer is happy with that,” said Sean.
“That is something that we have always focused on and it has stood us in good stead over the years. We would have a lot of customers that we would be working with for years now.”
Moroney Electrical provides services in the commercial/industrial sector as well as domestic and public lighting.
“The Commercial Division generally works with consulting engineers, architects, developers, builders or clients.
The services we provide include general lighting, emergency Lighting – full design, installation, commissioning and certificate issued. Fire Alarm Systems and Intruder Alarm Systems are also services we provide.”
Moroney Electrical Contractors will provide customers with a complete design service for any size lighting installation in domestic and public lighting and this sees them providing street and motorway lighting, pitch floodlights, electrical inspection/testing, house rewiring, periodic testing, immersion, timeclock and storage heaters.
Their customer base has increased over the years and long standing customers include Denis Guilfoyle Construction, Eugene Foley Construction Ltd, SIAC, Ormonde Construction Ltd, Conack Construction and Waterford County Council.
“A lot of our customers would be with us years and they are all great companies to work for. We know what they want and they know that we can deliver, so it works well for us all.”
Sean feels that one of the reasons that they survived the recession was the fact that they never forgot their smaller customers and were always willing to go to any size of a job.
“No job is too big or small for us and that is the way it has always been. Regardless of the size of the job we will do it and I think that is one of the reasons we came through the recession. We did have to scale back a bit, but so to had everyone else, but we managed to go through and we are back up to 40 employees now, while we would use some sub-contractors on occasion.
“We offer our services nationwide. Moroney Electrical enjoy the loyalty and guaranteed performance of our direct staff and specialist sub-contractors and suppliers that allow us to offer a greater variety of services.
“The best testimony to this is that our clients and their design teams continually request our involvement on tender lists or negotiate the contract with Moroney Electrical Contractors Ltd.”
Some of the projects that the company have worked on include M50 Public Lighting, Naas Road Widening Public Lighting, Waterford Bypass & Toll Plaza, Spencer Dock Bridge Dublin, O’Moore Park Portlaoise, Kilkenny Parade, Ballyvaloo Retreat Centre Wexford, St. Luke’s Hospital Out Patients Department, Wexford General Hospital, Glanbia, Coolmore Stud and Step House Hotel Borris.
Moroney Electrical has grown to be one of the leading electrical contractors in the South East region and to maintain this level of service, Sean added that they continually re-train their employees to keep them in touch with the latest advances in the industry.
“Employees are being retrained all the time to ensure we update our skills and keep abreast of new technology and techniques. We try to take on a few apprentices every year, but in all honesty, it can be hard to get apprentices these days as the construction industry was not the best avenue to go down over the last few years.”
All in all, Sean is pleased with the growth of the business over the past couple of years as they look to the future with a degree of confidence.
“There is a good deal of work on at the moment and it certainly has picked up over the last year or so. If we can continue to provide the level of service and look to ways maybe of improving it then I think we will be ok. Like I said, we have a good core of customers there and as long as they are happy with the service that we provide, then we must be doing something right.”
Moroney Electrical Contractors Ltd,
Purcellsinch,
Dublin Road,
Kilkenny.
Tel: +353 56 7751141
Fax: +353 56 7771484
Email: Director/Contract
Manager: [email protected]
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, January 2017, Vol 3 No 1
Moroney Electrical Contractors
