Based in Carlow Town, Ryan Building Contractors Ltd is a family-run company which provides its clients with a wide range of professional services. Building Ireland touched base with co-director James Ryan, who is one of three brothers running the business, to learn more.
Business is good right now at Ryan Building Contractors Ltd and the plan for the Ryan clan down in Carlow Town is to keep things that way right through to 2021.
Owned by brothers Tom, Mick and James Ryan, all three men have been immersed in the construction industry since the mid-1990s and today their company prides itself on providing a wide range of professional services and being able to link these together to give a service which is a step above their competitors.
Established in April 2014, Ryan Building Contractors Ltd today employs eight full-time staff and specialises in large house renovations and extension work.
Building Ireland learned all the details about the company – from its origins to the state of business at the moment – from co-director James Ryan recently.
“We had all been working with large construction companies in Leinster since graduating from college until they unfortunately closed in 2010 due to the economic downturn,” explained James.
“We then started our own sole trader companies during the recession, doing smaller jobs such as renovating bathrooms and kitchens which quite quickly turned to full house renovations.
“We decided then to join forces in April 2014 and form the limited company Ryan Building Contractors Ltd.
“We hit the ground running as a limited company after winning a few very large contracts such as farmhouse renovations and commercial renovations with Toyota Ireland and Volkswagen.
“Usually, we try and keep three large projects running at one time with one of us on each job but find that we also always seem to have a few smaller side jobs running too.”
James also outlined that large house renovations and extension work is the company’s forte nowadays above all else.
As it stands, Ryan Building Contractors Ltd offers services in new builds, renovations, extensions and shop fitting to counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Laois, Wexford, Waterford, Kildare, Wicklow and Dublin.
“Our bread and butter here would really be renovations and extensions,” said James.
“We specialise in all above and I’d like to think that we have a good name when it comes to renovation and extension work all around the Leinster region here.”
Recent times have saw James’s son Jamie and his father Michael come on board with the company, as the family’s third generation begin to filter through at 44 Castle Hill.
Jamie comes in at a time when Ryan Building Contractors Ltd has never been busier, despite the current challenges out there at the minute.
Business has been booming since lockdown was lifted on May 18th – and even before it was initially imposed by the Irish government this past March in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We’re always busy, but for some reason from January this year we’ve been very busy,” said James.
“E-mails were coming in during the Christmas break and we were busy from the word go at the start of 2020. When lockdown came, we just had to close down the sites and get on with it.
“I’d a lot of work to do on my own house at the time and I suppose the other good thing was that we are not a big company and it wasn’t a case of us having 40 lads on site or whatever, so it’s not too bad.”
Indeed, the company has been ‘flat out’ since getting back out onto the sites in mid-May.
At the minute, there are a couple of on-going projects in and around Carlow town and two very large jobs just about to start next week in Kildare and Gorey.
“Right now, we’re renovating a house in Hanover in Carlow that was built in 1933,” said James.
“It’s a complete gut out with re-plumbing, re-wiring, Isover optima insulation system to all external walls and a small extension out to the rear.
“Mick was at a renovation of a house on Killeshin Road in Carlow recently, which was a full renovation on the inside of the house with the addition of two extensions to the rear. Tom is at the end of a large kitchen extension to the rear of a house in Larkfield and renovating a large part of the rest of the house also and he’s also renovating three houses for Tintean voluntary housing association so we have quite a few projects ongoing at the moment for us.”
It seems the company has had a quick rise since becoming Limited six years ago, so what has been the secret to success?
For James, a lot of it comes down to consistent quality of work and the reputation that goes along with it.
“It’s word of mouth really,” he stated plainly.
“We have actually won a few decent jobs in the past few years where we found out afterwards that we were not the cheapest price but that we were chosen because we came with high recommendations from earlier clients which is very nice to hear and then motivates you even more to deliver a high quality finish, so you can see why it’s important.
“We’ve a good reputation for the work we’ve done around Carlow over the years and even into Kildare and Dublin, but not as much as previous years.
“The motto here is to just get the job done right at all costs because it’s better than going back two or three times to fix it afterwards.”
Looking towards the months ahead, the company’s co-director is keen for more of the same with regards to the rate of business since back at the beginning of the summer.
2021 looks hard to predict at this stage, but Ryan Building Contractors Ltd remain as optimistic as ever.
“It’s very busy in Ireland at the minute,” James beamed.
“Come Christmas time, hopefully it will keep going the way it is now and the way it has been since last January.
“We started here really in 2011; in the height of the biggest recession ever and came through it without ever having an idle day so, hopefully we’ll be equipped for whatever else is set to come our way.
“I would just like to use this opportunity I suppose to say a big thanks to the main crew that have been with us over the last few years, our father Michael who at 73 would put it up to any young lad on the site. Also theirs Damien Hutton, Janis Zemetris, Jamie Ryan, Karol Ledowski and all the sub-contractors that have been battling hard over the last number of years to get the jobs over the line.”
Ryan Building Contractors Ltd will manage your job professionally, delivering your finished product on time and within budget. So why not give them a call today?
Ryan Building Contractors Ltd
44 Castlehill,
Carlow Town,
Co Carlow
Phone: 059 9176452
James 085 178 8643
Michael 086 8262435
Tom 085 281 0442
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.rbcltd.ie
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, January 2021, Vol 7 No 1
