Specialising in residential refurbishment and retrofit projects, Fourwinds Construction is a high-quality family-run contracting company fronted by brothers Mattie and Micheal Slye. Building Ireland travelled to Myshall in Carlow and touched base with the former to find out more.
Down through the years, Fourwinds Construction Ltd. (t/a MS Construction) has developed an outstanding reputation across county Carlow and beyond as a contractor of choice when it comes to home improvements. In terms of consistently delivering outstanding renovations and retrofits, nobody does it better and that’s why they are held in such high regard by local authorities and homeowners alike.
Mattie points out that good quality work and strong communication are key to the ongoing success and popularity of Fourwinds Construction: “Communication is obviously very important, as is having good workers, and being there when you say you are going to be there. It all comes down to providing a good service. We show up on time and we get the work done on time.
“We always do the work properly and leave a tidy finish behind us. If you do a good job, then you’ll get another one. The last thing you want is any callbacks. If you do it right the first time, then you’ll have no callbacks and word will spread about the service you’re providing.”
Having operated originally under the MS Construction banner, Mattie and Micheal, changed the company name to Fourwinds Construction five years ago. The Slye brothers, who went out on their own in 2014, have a strong building background, and a solid base of skillsets between them, as Mattie confirms:
“We grew up in it and love it. I was a block layer myself for a number of years and Micheal is a fitter by trade who did carpentry and a lot of chippie shuttering. So we can cover a good bit ourselves and we are both hands-on. We work every day – you have to if you want to come out with a wage at the end of the week!”
While some of us might see working as something of a slog or simply a means to an end, Mattie has a genuine passion for building and derives immense personal satisfaction from helping make homeowners’ dreams come true: “I do like it, in fairness. You tend to enjoy it a little bit more when you are doing it for yourself.
“I enjoy taking on the projects and seeing them through to a good finish. You pride yourself on doing good work. It’s nice to look back and see the work you’ve done on people’s homes and to see that everybody is happy. You can’t beat that feeling of having happy customers.”
This is an area in which Fourwinds Construction excels and something Mattie intends to build upon going forward. Casting his mind back to the genesis of the family business, he reflects: “We were still in a recession when we started up and things were quiet, so you really had to be on top of your game. Your price had to be keen and you had to do a lot of the work yourself to make it pay. It was a good learning experience for us and I’d say that if you can start up a construction business during a recession then you are doing okay.”
The same principles, core values, ethos and work ethic shine through at Fourwinds Construction today and times have improved greatly. “It’s going brilliant,” Mattie enthuses. “We’ve enjoyed one good year after another and the business has grown year on year, so it’s been great.”
Although the packed portfolio of completed projects also includes an array of excellent extensions, in the last two or three years, the main focus has been on refurbishments and retrofits. This includes a lot of Housing Aid for Older People and Housing Adaptation grant work on bathrooms and bedrooms, etc., roofing upgrades, local authority upgrades and SEAI grant energy upgrades.
Fourwinds Construction has worked extensively for Carlow County Council over the years and will offer its services to other local authorities going into the near future: “The goal is to continue providing a good service going forward,” says Mattie. “We’ll definitely be doing more energy upgrades; we’ll take on more of that work and more men to do it. We can do up to 200 of those in a year, so we are ready to roll if we can get into other counties.
“The retrofit work appears to have slowed down a good bit this year and the money just doesn’t seem to be there for some reason. Last year, we did over 100 but so far this year we’ve only done 25 or so. We have the capacity to ramp up that side of the business again.”
As well as working on a handful of local authority refurbishment and retrofit projects at the time of writing, Mattie and Micheal were also in the process of embarking on an intriguing new project, where their construction skills have been put to very inventive use:
“We bought a premises ourselves in Milltown, Garyhill– a pub with three apartments out the back – and we are doing it up. We’re going to renovate the apartments and fully renovate the pub as well. When it’s ready, the plan is to put a manager in there and reopen it, hopefully before Christmas. A lot of pubs have been struggling, but we’ll see how it goes. It would be nice if we could get that up and running, and generate a bit of extra income out of it.”
Mattie concludes by asserting that Fourwinds Construction would be nothing without the brilliant team of workers who turn up onsite day in, day out: “We have seven here full time at the moment, including ourselves – all good, experienced lads, most of whom have been with us a long time. We’re lucky to have them. It’s not easy to get good men in construction these days, so when you find them you have to hold onto them.”
Fourwinds Construction Ltd.,
Coolnashegaun,
Myshall,
County Carlow.
Tel: 085 1688096
Email: [email protected]
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, December 2025, Vol 11 No 13
featured, Fourwinds Construction
