JJ Duffy Construction Ltd is a family owned company based at The Commons, Navan, Co. Meath and customer care is at the core of everything they do.
With over 44-years-experience of operating all over the country under their belt, they provide a comprehensive range of services such as construction, ground works, property restoration, and property development, but their speciality is demolition and site clearance work.
The company has a proven track record across a range of construction and property sectors including the commercial, industrial, and residential fields and in industries ranging from retail, hospitality, leisure and healthcare.
A civil engineering contractor working through out Meath, Dublin and surrounding counties, they specialise in groundworks for one off houses, and offer a complete package from site clearance, foundations, drainage, site development, concrete floors and concrete footpaths.
In addition, they offer a plant hire service on their wide range of machinery to suit all requirements.
They carry out site development for commercial, industrial and pharmaceutical clients, including main drainage, site services, ducting, water mains and road construction.
Demolition & Site Clearance has long since been an area of expertise for JJ Duffy Construction. They have successfully carried out demolition works from small buildings/one off houses and partial demolition to major industrial buildings and apartment blocks.
They have worked on many listed buildings where they have carried out selective demolition, façade retention, internal demolition and complete gut outs.
Safety and environmental concerns, meanwhile, are a priority within the control of the business.
All demolitions are treated individually with different categories of materials being separated prior to demolition if applicable. They are fully licensed to dispose of all asbestos materials.
“In the last 10 years we have focussed more on the demolition side of things,” explained John Duffy who was practically reared in the family business that was set up by his father JJ.
“We have invested heavily in state-of-the-art demolition equipment and that’s the market we’re chasing. There are so many variables in the civil engineering and a lot of potential not to get paid. At least in demolition, once you get the job done there’s more chance of being paid. You are in earlier on the job and there are not many hold ups. You’re generally the first in on a job and the first out.
“The work we focus on is somewhere in the middle of the one man demolition contractor and at the bigger end of the scale. We demolish anything from small dwellings up to large industrial units and factories.”
JJ Duffy Construction services are very much in demand at the moment and their 20-strong workforce is currently kept busy on jobs at Belcamp College (Gannon Homes), Toyota Ireland (Kealy Construction), MSL Ballsbridge (Adco Construction) and a crushing job on behalf of Liffey Developments.
“We also do a lot of work for Townlink Construction and DHD Construction,” added John who studied Construction Management in college and graduated in 2002.
“We work all around the country but predominantly in Dublin city. There is plenty of work going on in Dublin at the moment but it’s very hard to get good work. There is a lot of bad work and bad rates out there which is why 80% of the work we do is for repeat clients. They know what they get when they deal with us and they know they can trust us to get the job done on time. The remaining 20% our work is for the guy who has a building that needs to be knocked, one off jobs.”
When asked why customers stay loyal to JJ Duffy Construction, John replied: “We’re big on the hands-on approach and we treat every job, big or small, as equally important.
“We offer our clients a personal service. They can call us day or night and we won’t let them down. If a job needs to be done around the clock, 24 hours, we can do that and we always meet deadlines.
“It’s a long road and you keep running into the same people in this business. That’s why it’s important to build and develop good working relationships.”
Looking at the bigger scheme of things, one major obstacle in the way of John and the team at JJ Duffy, and, indeed, the demolition sector as a whole, are the difficulties attached to disposing of materials.
“I would like to see more encouragement in the industry for recycling materials. It’s very expensive to dispose of material and there is very little incentive out there to do it.
“I keep hearing different state bodies going on about ‘Reuse, Reduce and Recycle’ but the time it takes to go through all the paperwork and permits is frustrating. The fact is that there is nowhere to go in Dublin to get rid of materials.
“I’d like to see a more pro-active stance on that end of the industry from the powers-that-be because we are creating a lot of waste and it’s difficult to price jobs when we’ve nowhere to put it.”
On a more positive note, John adopted an upbeat tone when the conversation turned to the company’s future prospects…
“We’re optimistic about the future. We have invested a lot in new machinery and we hope that we get the opportunity to make a decent living out of it. Like, everyone else in this business, we went through eight to nine very lean years and we’re still at it. Now, we want to push on and concentrate on making a decent living and providing employment to people.”
Any queries regarding demolition or civil works, feel free to give John a call at the numbers below.
JJ Duffy Construction Ltd
The Commons
Navan
Co. Meath
Directors:
John Duffy: mobile: 087 6821354
JJ Duffy: mobile: 086 2573273
Office landline: 046 9023215
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.jjduffy.ie
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, July 2017, Vol 3 No 6
