O’Connell’s Plumbstore is Cork’s premier plumbing and heating supplies store and also provides an unrivalled selection of tiles and bathroom suites through sister company Riva Tiles & Bathrooms. We travelled to Turners Cross and touched base with managing director Martin O’Connell to find out more about these complementary, industry-leading family-run businesses.
Serving both trade professionals and the general public alike, O’Connell’s Plumbstore has quickly established itself as the leading supplier of high-efficiency heating and plumbing products in County Cork, supplying a who’s who of local main contractors, M&E contractors and plumbing contractors working on a diverse range of projects from domestic houses to nursing homes, hospitals, apartment blocks and commercial buildings.
Established in Turners Cross in October, 2017, the company stocks a comprehensive range of heating and plumbing supplies from piping to oil and gas boilers, air-to-water and ground-source heat pumps, electric heaters, radiators, hot water cylinders, cold water and oil tanks, pressure and circulation pumps, galvanised brazed and solder fittings, and motorised and manual valves.
The plumbing and heating store is supplemented perfectly by the presence of sister company Riva Tiles & Bathrooms, whose extensive showrooms – located in an adjacent building – offers a vast selection of bathroom, kitchen and hallway floor and wall tiles to suit every style, design and budget, bathroom suites and fittings, bathroom cabinets and units, baths, wet rooms and showers rooms, showers, towel warmers, taps, sinks and basins, mirrors and accessories.
The business has enjoyed steady growth since its inception just over four years ago, currently generating direct employment for a twelve-strong team of vastly-experienced and highly-knowledgeable personnel, who are always available to provide unrivalled levels of customer service and expertise.
Managing director Martin O’Connell, who runs the business alongside his brother James, attributes the fantastic success of O’Connell’s Plumbstore to a winning combination of excellent products and the fact that he only employs people with a wide knowledge of heating and plumbing, meaning that essentially there are trade professionals on both sides of the counter!
“Ultimately, it all boils down to having a good supply of products and providing a good service,” he confirms. “Crucially, the level of experience and expertise we have here is second to none. Most of the lads came with us from the previous company where I worked before setting up O’Connell’s Plumbstore and they have 20+ years of experience, which makes a massive difference on the technical side. They can talk the same talk as our customers and are well equipped to deal efficiently and professionally with busy professionals.”
Referring back to the genesis of O’Connell’s Plumbstore, Martin – who has worked in heating and plumbing for a quarter of a century – reveals: “Having worked in the industry for more than 20 years, I felt the time was right to branch out on my own. We’d be very well known in heating and plumbing, my father having ran a plumbing supplies business for many years.
“We had our contacts built up in the industry and, realistically, after working for others for so long, we decided to go out on our own to see if we could offer something different and better, with a personal touch.”
Marrying proven products with stellar service at competitive prices, O’Connell’s Plumbstore has hit the ground running and grown exponentially since throwing open its doors to discerning domestic, commercial and industrial plumbing, heating and building professionals from across Cork city and county. “It’s going very well,” Martin confirms. “We have grown year on year and we still feel that there’s great potential for further growth in the coming years.”
Crucially, there is a wide choice of products available, resulting in bespoke solutions as O’Connell’s Plumbstore supply everything from commercial wall-hung Riello boilers to domestic boiler options; steel piping to Tiemme multilayer piping; Armaflex to foil back insulation; South Coast brass fittings; Firefly radiators to Merriott radiators; Ideal Standard to Sonas bathroom wares; and Joule to DJG cylinders.
Meanwhile, Riva Tiles & Bathrooms specialises in luxury porcelain, ceramic and wood effect porcelain kitchen and bathroom wall and floor tiles as well as a massive selection of bathroom suites / furniture and sanitary ware. From tradesmen to DIY’ers, they have the perfect plumbing, heating and tiling solutions to suit every need.
“We cover a lot of different areas,” the founder continues. “As well as domestic heating and plumbing supplies, we also look after commercial and industrial customers and have opened the bathroom and tiles showroom next door, so plumbers and builders can also avail of that service – again, dealing with experts. We have plumbers, builders and tilers coming in now and the two businesses complement each other very well.”
Renewable energy undoubtedly represents the future of heating and plumbing. To this end, O’Connell’s Plumbstore is at the forefront of the market, supplying a range of solar thermal panels, Photovoltaic (pv) panels, air-to-water heat pumps, ground-source heat pumps, hot water heat pumps, heat recovery systems, high efficiency radiators and energy-efficient underfloor heating solutions.
“In housing estates and one-off houses, underfloor heating and heat pumps – which come in multiple different units – and heat recovery ventilation are being used as standard now. Heat pumps work so efficiently that the demand for solar pv panels has dropped off significantly.
“However, where a contractor is working on a nursing home or large commercial building, although a lot of them prefer to go down the renewable energy route, it’s a lot more difficult to retrofit older buildings with those systems and often multiple high-efficiency gas boilers will be more suited to the project.”
Martin O’Connell has been actively promoting greater uptake of heat pumps going back more than twelve years. Have heat pumps revolutionised and transformed heating and plumbing? “Yes, although it has taken a while for people to embrace them and get used to them. The industry has finally caught up with the technology and every plumber in Ireland is comfortable working with them and installing them now.”
Adding Riva Tiles & Bathrooms to operate hand in hand with O’Connell’s Plumbstore has proven to be an inspired move and this aspect of the business is also performing extremely well: “The tiling and bathroom business is exceptionally busy,” Martin concludes. “With Covid, a lot of people have been renovating their homes as they have been spending so much time at home. There has been a massive increase in the amount of retrofits and renovations going on and you have to wonder when is it going to end. It can’t last forever, but for now we are extremely busy.”
It’s all go at O’Connell’s Plumbstore and Riva Tiles & Bathrooms and the future looks very bright indeed for both of these recently-formed and rapidly-growing businesses!
O’Connell’s Plumbstore,
5 Curragh Road,
Turners Cross,
County Cork.
Tel: 021 4317727
Web: plumbstore.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, March 2022, Vol 8 No 3
