Based in Mohill, Co Leitrim, Kevin Gordon Ltd specialises in extension, renovation and ground works for its clients across the region. Building Ireland touched base with the man himself to find out all about the company, including its origins and the projects it has on-going at the moment.
Business is thriving these days at Kevin Gordon Ltd and the plan for the Co Leitrim native is to try and keep things that way right through to 2022.
Set-up as a limited company at the beginning of last year, Kevin Gordon Ltd now operates with three full-time staff and currently has a host of projects on-going throughout the Mohill area.
Kevin himself had been a sole trader for years before taking the decision to make his company a limited venture and, in spite of all the challenges that have arisen since, the work continues to flow with projects booked up into next year.
Building Ireland spoke with Kevin recently to learn more about the work his company carries out and how he got up and running after a spending two years abroad.
“I’m a carpenter by trade and I set-up the company to specialise in extensions and renovations along with ground works and finishing,” he outlined.
“Most of the work that we do would be around the area and around Mohill and we’d have a good reputation for delivering quality work.”
The origins of the company date back to the time when Kevin’s father John ran his own contracting business.
Now the proprietor of a popular pub in the town of Mohill, John worked in both Ireland and the UK and, when he returned home from the latter, he’d have his son by his side on the building sites.
It’s no surprise to see Kevin now following in the footsteps of his father in setting up his own venture and continuing the good work associated with the Gordon family name around the local area.
“My father was a contractor and moved to England where he had his own company,” Kevin explained. “When he came back home in the early 1990s, he continued building and from a young age I would’ve been with him on the sites. It was through working with him that I gained my apprenticeship.
“I went to Australia in 2012 and worked there for two years. I moved out there because I had started building my own house that year and while the work was here in Ireland, the money wasn’t.
“So, I moved to Australia and made enough money there to finish building my house with no mortgage.”
Kevin would return home in 2014 to get married and, since that time, he has become busier year on year with regards to projects for clients.
In January 2020, Kevin Gordon Ltd was established and right now the books are full up into next year.
Even the Covid-19 pandemic, and the government lockdowns which followed in order to combat the spread of the virus, which hit just months after Kevin’s limited company was born, hasn’t derailed the rate of work which is presently coming in.
“We’re very busy right now and right into next year we’re full up,” he said.
“We were never really effected by the lockdowns other than being shut down at the very start in March last year, but it actually kind of suited us.
“We had too much work nearly when we got back and you could say that we’ve been basically flat out here since May 2020.”
As Kevin mentioned, the work looks set to continue to flow well into next year with projects lined-up all over the Mohill region.
At the moment, the focus of course is to get the current work completed to perfection before looking further down the line.
“Right now, we’re on a bungalow where we’ve converted the garage into a house with a new garage going up. We’re just in the process of finishing it now,” said the Managing Director.
“We’ve another which is a two-storey house that’s actually close to being finished and then loads of smaller extension work after that, one of which is for a friend of mine.
“After that, we’ve bits of concrete work on-going so you could say that we’re capable of doing any job for a client, big or small.”
So, the burning question is what has been the secret to the success of Kevin Gordon Ltd in such a relatively short space of time?
With Kevin himself having started up as sole trader seven years ago after returning home from Australia, his now limited company has never been busier – even in the midst of a global pandemic.
The Leitrim native says the success has been simply down to producing good work for clients each and every time.
“I’m local all the time and I suppose a lot of the work is seen by locals. If you do good, quality work, you’re gonna get repeat business and we do good work here,” he said.
With projects booked up into next year, Kevin is hoping that 2022 will see the same rate of work that he experienced this year so far.
The only real challenge for the construction sector, as he pointed out, is the rising cost in materials at the moment.
“We’ll be hoping that it keeps continuing like this and hopefully that next year can be as good as 2021 has been so far,” he said.
“I suppose I’m hoping that 2022 doesn’t price people out of the work because the cost in materials at the moment is a concern.”
On the possibility of expansion next year, he added: “I’m happy with what I have at the moment staff-wise. We want to stay the size we are and I’d rather be on the jobs myself overseeing everything so as to make sure they’re carried out to a tee.”
Great to hear.
Kevin Gordon Ltd
Rosharry,
Mohill,
Co Leitrim
Mobile: 087 794 1966
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, January 2022, Vol 8 No 1
