Formerly trading as Rays Roofing and Home Renovation, RBK Construction is an industry-leading general contracting company specialising in stunning bespoke extension, renovation and new build projects. Building Ireland touched base with visionary hands-on proprietor Ray Kelly after he was once more shortlisted for a prestigious ICI Award.
With their own in-house team of highly-skilled tradesmen, RBK Construction bring exceptional workmanship and meticulous attention to detail to every project.
Specialising in all aspects of construction, including but by no means limited to new builds, extensions, home renovations, bathroom refurbishments and all aspects of roofing, RBK Construction is synonymous with the consistent delivery of the most exacting building standards.
The company’s track record for achieving client satisfaction and immaculate portfolio of completed projects speak for themselves, so it was no surprise to learn that RBK came to the judges’ attention ahead of the 2025 Irish Construction Industry Awards.
For the successful completion of a truly-one-of-a-kind, 40 square metre extension to a family home at Carragh, County Kildare, RBK Construction have been shortlisted in the ‘Contractor Residential Project of the Year – Under 5M’ category. Ray agrees that the nomination represents a welcome endorsement from his industry peers:
“Absolutely – it’s always great to have your name out there and circulating. We rebranded last year and changed the name of the company, so every little bit of publicity we can get under our new name – RBK Construction – is welcome.
“I invest a lot of time into getting the name out there and have a fairly strong presence on social media, which works well for me. Being on the shortlist for an ICI Award is definitely an added bonus in terms of both recognition and publicity.”
For the exceptional project that has been shortlisted, RBK Construction completed an extension to a family home to accommodate extra living space. They delivered within the timeframe, with the family’s budget to the forefront of their mind. Complete client satisfaction is proof positive that this challenging project was a huge success for RBK Construction Ltd. and the property owners.
For the project in question, the client wanted to incorporate a sunroom living space, bedroom with wet room ensuite into the original building for his mother-in-law, so that she could live with her family but still retain her own independence and living space. As many aspects of the original house had been built by her late husband, this was of huge sentimental value to her and therefore a very stressful and upsetting time to see some of his work taken down.
Ray and his team met with the lady, took all her concerns and anxieties into account, and worked closely with her to try to alleviate them. They wanted to be as respectful as possible and came up with the idea of keeping the external wall that her husband had built, reusing the bollards he had used many years previously.
“Because the lady’s late husband had done so much work on the original house, changing the layout was very hard on the family so we had to work with them,” Raymond notes. “We demolished and removed the old conservatory area and in its place built a new self-contained apartment with bedroom, bathroom, ensuite and living area / conservatory with plenty of glass and a generous seating area for entertaining guests.
“It was a very sensitive project because there was so much sentiment tied into the original building, so it wasn’t easy, but Thank God it turned out well and the elderly lady was over the moon with the end result, which is all you want.”
Works onsite began in February 2025 and were complete by May. “Nobody likes having workers in their home for a couple of months but our team are very friendly and understanding, so that aspect of it went well. Everybody got along and the family were happy with how we conducted ourselves,” Raymond adds.
“As well as the extension / granny flat, we also created an opening in from the kitchen of the main house and built a large patio around the entire property, with ramps and steps. There was a lot of demolition and site clearance involved, too, and we had to get right down into it. This was by no means your average extension – I knew it was one that stood out and that’s why we put it on our website and put it forward for the ICI Awards.”
At the heart of RBK Construction is a wonderful team of skilled and experienced in-house tradesmen. Between onsite and office staff, direct full-time employment is currently generated for a crew of 24, and Raymond dedicates the ICI Award nomination to them:
“We have all our own trades – carpenters, plumbers, plasterers, electricians, groundworkers, etc. – and they are absolutely brilliant. To keep them all in work, we’d have up to ten projects running at any given time. A lot of these guys would have been self-employed and I brought them in to work with me. I’ve a good team and they are all handpicked. I look after them and treat them fairly; they repay me with excellent work.
“Everybody on the team gets on, and I have to say that is highly unusual in any working environment. For me, the fact that we all get along so well is one of the main reasons why it works. These are all outstanding tradesmen who are at the very top of their game. They know the standards I expect – and I will always insist on these standards. If something isn’t done right, I will have it redone, every time, even if it comes at a personal cost to me. I won’t accept anything less than perfection.”
At the time of writing, RBK Construction was engaged in ten full-house renovations for local authorities as well as four large private residential extensions and had just signed the contract for the construction of nine apartments. “There’s not much we don’t do,” says Ray. “We do some commercial work, too. We completely renovated a nearby chemist in Edenderry and also stripped out and re-tarmacked and re-piped a yard for a local dentist.
“We’ve been very lucky in the past four years or so in that we tend to get a lot of work relatively locally – in Kildare, Offaly and Meath, without having to travel to Dublin too often,” the managing director of RBK Construction concludes.
“Much of this is coming through word of mouth. I’m a firm believer that you should treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. I’ve built up a lot of contacts and would be out there a lot chasing work … when you do that, you have to back it up with quality work. Once you do it right, you’ll get more work.”
RBK Construction Ltd.,
Castlejordan,
County Meath.
Tel: 087 7106206
Email: [email protected]
Web: rbkconstruction.ie
Facebook: www.facebook.com/raysfoofing.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, Winter 2025, Vol 11 No 14
