Based in Kilcully, Co Cork, KQH Construction is a family-run company which has over 30 years’ experience in the construction industry. Building Ireland spoke with its Managing Director Aidan Green recently to learn all about the ins and outs of this thriving business – from its origins to the projects it has on-going at the minute.
KQH Construction has amassed a reputation for producing excellent projects time and time again, which had been the vision for its owner and founder Aidan Green when he first set-up all those years ago.
Today, the company employs six full-time staff and has some 20 subcontractors working with it as the projects continue to come thick and fast down in Kilcully, Co Cork.
Extension and renovation work is very much the speciality of Aidan and his team and, in more recent times, the business has diversified into energy efficiency.
Building Ireland touched base with Aidan to find out about this past year for KQH Construction and the projects it’s currently focused on.
“I’d be at this 31 years now, having had a building and plastering company before I set-up KQH,” he outlined.
“There’s two aspects to the company. We specialise in renovations and extensions and have also diversified into energy efficiency and Better Energy Homes in the last year-and-a-half or so.
“We’d be using airtightness and LED lighting on projects and it’s something which has taken off well for us over the last 18 months or so.”
It’s all a far cry from where Aidan started out more than three decades ago.
Having learned his trade in plastering and roofing, he took the decision to go out on his own and now oversees a compact team made up of qualified tradesmen who work together on a daily basis
“I spent most of my life at plastering and roofing before I started to get into extension and renovation work,” the Cork native explained.
“I kind of educated myself and started working with engineers and architects and it took off from there.
“My son, Des, got involved in the company then and was working with us but he’s since gone out on his own with his own plastering company.”
It seems it’s a case of ‘like father, like son’ between the Greens, and Des will no doubt put the shoulder to the wheel to try and create a success story like KQH Construction.
After all, it’s a company which came from humble beginnings to carrying out our work in the most professional and safe manner possible, liaising with its clients from the start of the project right through to the end.
At KQH Construction, they treat small jobs with the same respect as big projects, having built and designed homes and apartments from the ground up to carrying out smaller projects like painting and decorating small apartments for property management companies.
It’s a company which is proud of the fact that the majority of its workload comes from repeat business and that it has a strong reputation for competitive edge and reliable execution of all projects undertaken.
With all of that considered, it’s no surprise to see business thriving at the moment – even in the midst of a global pandemic.
“The lockdowns didn’t really affect us too much, thankfully, as we had properties to still work on,” said the Managing Director.
“Going forward, there doesn’t seem to be any stop to the projects. It’s just the material costs that are the biggest problem right now.
“The rate that they’re going up is absolutely ridiculous. There’s up to €20,000 in extra costs on one project that we’re on. It’s absolutely ridiculous!
“You’ve one or two suppliers that are good for telling you in advance but, after that, they’re not so great at it to be honest.”
Nevertheless, the projects still seem to be coming thick and fast for the company.
As Aidan himself pointed out, KQH Construction could be taking on another 10 to 12 projects if he wanted but is happy enough with where things are at the minute.
“We’ve an extension project in Passage West right now which would be in the category of Super Homes and the house itself is overlooking the ferry port,” said Aidan.
“We’ve another project on Blarney Street in Cork City that we’re six weeks away from completing. It’s an Asian takeaway with two apartments at the back of it.
“Then the third project we’re on at the moment is a house in Ballincurrig that was damaged by a fire. We’ve brought it back and it should be finished by the middle of October.”
He added: “The way things are at the moment; we could have another dozen projects on the books if we wanted to, but we’re happy with how things are at the moment.
“The work that we get is mainly through word of mouth and to give you can an example, we went working on a project in Blackrock (Co Cork) a couple of years ago and didn’t get out of it for two years with the projects we got after completing the first one.”
So, the burning question is what has been the secret to success for the business after all these years?
For Aidan, it has always been about two things in particular for KQH.
“I think it comes down to two things – quality of work and attention to detail that we apply to everything we do,” he said.
“I spend my day going around to the three jobs that we’re on at the minute and making sure that everything’s right with them. I’ve always felt that attention to detail is very important when it comes to this line of work.”
Looking towards the coming months for his business, the Managing Director is as optimistic as ever.
While rising material costs continue to be the toughest battle out there for businesses like Aidan’s, the Rebel County native is confident that they will eventually go down as he targets further expansion during the autumn.
“We’re adding two more lads in the next month and I suppose the hopes for the next couple of months are that the increase in price of materials will stop going up.
“After that, the future looks bright otherwise,” he concluded.
KQH Construction
The Bungalow,
Kilcully,
Co Cork
Tel: 021 421 1578
Email: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, December 2021, Vol 7 No 12
