Since its inception three year ago, Mourne Timber Frame has quickly established a stellar reputation for expertly delivering fast, efficient and economical new homes that offer outstanding performance as well as unbeatable levels of convenience. We travelled to scenic Kilkeel in County Down to get the lowdown from hands-on founder / proprietor Christopher Quinn.
For convenience, speed, efficiency, service, quality and performance, a Mourne Timber Frame home ticks all the boxes, providing the client (generally a self-builder or small contractor) with an end product and level of service that’s second to none.
Headquartered in Kilkeel, County Down and established in October, 2021 by Christopher Quinn and his wife Amanda as a sister company to Quinn Joinery & Roofing, Mourne Timber Frame manufactures and erects superior-quality, airtight timber frame shells in double-quick time island-wide.
Although the company is very much in its infancy, they have hit the ground running, exceeding client expectations on every project delivered thus far and further growth is inevitable as demand for their services continues to rise.
To give an indication of the standard of service provided, for a recent project in County Galway, the MTF team took just four days to erect, felt and lathe, stand internal walls, airtight and insulate a bungalow. Christopher, who at 33 is Ireland’s youngest timber frame company owner, agrees that speed and efficiency are two of the company’s biggest selling points:
“We’re not the biggest but we are very efficient in our work,” the Down contractor comments. “We have a small crew and we like to work on small developments and sites, but once we are on site we are fast and efficient.
“But we’re not rushing around. The reason we can get in and out so quickly is that we have already done a lot of our preparations offsite, have studied the plans and know exactly what’s happening before we arrive. We’d already have been talking to the client for a couple of months beforehand. When we show up, it’s show time and we don’t hang around unnecessarily. We give the client exactly what they expect and the client is always happy that they can move on to the next phase.”
The service provided grants the client an exceptional shell, factory built, expertly fitted, including internal walls and an airtight membrane on the ceilings. Christopher goes on site to oversee every project himself and when his team moves out, everything is ready for electricians and plumbers to arrive and begin first fixing immediately.
Reflecting on the genesis of Mourne Timber Frame three years ago, Christopher reveals: “When I left school, my first job was working as a timber frame erector. I’ve been doing this since I was 15 or 16. I spotted a gap in the market for one off houses and small developments. Everything is going big in Dublin and the big builders don’t want to know about the small jobs, so it was hard for people to find a small timber frame company doing small projects.
“For me, it was a no-brainer to set this company up. I had plenty of connections in the industry. I followed my intuition and started Mourne Timber Frame to provide a service that nobody else was providing. While we’re not as big as others, we can match the big boys for quality and for the direct approach we take. There’s just one point of contact in the company and that’s me. I’m always available. The self-builder can contact me any time.”
An island-wide service is offered. “We cover every county in Ireland and we also have timber frames going to Scotland at the end of the year. Our market is essentially: the self-builder building one house; the developer building one or more houses; or a small contractor. We’ve also got into public sector work, delivering small extensions on schools, etc.”
The volume of projects being turned around is increasing year on year. The first units were handed over in September, 2022 – eight social houses in County Offaly for Heather Homes – and last year Mourne Timber Frame were awarded another development of 24 new houses in Dromiskin, County Louth, 20 of which were completed at the time of writing.
“Everything else at the minute is private one offs,” states the MD, who is pleased to report a healthy order book ahead of him and lots on interest in both Mourne Timber Frame and Quinn Joinery & Roofing (established in 2012), with both companies dovetailing perfectly together. “We have houses coming up in Limerick and Laois later this year and a couple closer to home here in County Down as well. There are also 17 more units going up in Dundalk, County Louth either late this year or early next year, so we have plenty ahead of us.”
At the heart of the company is an excellent team of nine – four in the factory (including Christopher’s father Canice) and five onsite (including his bother ‘Jimmy’). “Dariuz, who has been with me five or six years, is the main man in the factory and he organises everything there. All the team are brilliant – I’d have nothing without them.”
Key to Mourne Timber Frame’s consistent achievement of complete customer satisfaction is the personal touch invariably provided. “We give a personal touch and the client always knows exactly what they are getting,” says Christopher. “When you pull up onto the site, you wouldn’t know from looking at us who the owner is because I’ll be there the same as the rest of the lads. When the client sees us hands-on, that gives them a bit more trust and confidence.
“We give them good lead times, too, and we do everything we possibly can to keep the client happy. Obviously, if there is an issue before us with the groundworks or something, there will be a slight knock-on, but we keep the client in the loop at all times and provide constant and strong communication.”
Mourne Timber Frame has come a long way in a short space of time and the founder’s decision to follow his intuition and set up his own timber frame company looks better with each passing day. “I had to do it, I had to follow my gut,” he notes. “I was still young but my thinking was ‘this is something I could do for the next 30 years’.
“The timber frame companies we used to work for wanted us to get 30 or 40 men sometimes and it’s hard to find that kind of manpower. I decided that it made more sense to retain the core of good men I already had, to do our own thing and to focus on work we can deliver on.”
Looking to the future, sustainable growth is very much on the cards for Mourne Timber Frame. “Because we are not too big, we can focus on service, providing a personal touch and growing organically,” Christopher concludes. “I have no notion of going massive. We will grow, but at a slow pace. We’ll expand steadily but we’re not in any rush to do so. The main thing is that we continue to provide a fast and efficient service, with a personal touch and without compromising on quality.”
Mourne Timber Frame,
40 Greencastle Street,
Kilkeel,
County Down.
Tel: +44 7756 405716
Email: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, November 2024, Vol 10 No 11
