Colin Casey Construction and Plant Hire is a construction and civil engineering contractor covering the North Cork and Cork City area. Irish Tractor & Agri caught up with the man himself to learn all about what is a thriving business down in the Rebel County.
These are busy times at Colin Casey Construction and Plant Hire in and the plan for Colin Casey and his team down in Cork is to try and keep things that way right through 2021.
Set-up in 2017, the company specialises in the construction of steel building buildings for the agricultural and commercial sectors and has grown by the year since its establishment.
Its services cover all over North Cork and surrounding areas, in less than half a decade, it has amassed an excellent reputation for its work to date.
Irish Tractor & Agri touched base with Colin to find out more about his young company – from its origins to the state of business today.
“We’re based in Ballyclough, just outside Mallow in Co Cork and we have a workshop in Castletownroche as well,” he outlined.
“The company is established four years and right now we have five staff, with my father Bernie Casey also helping us out.”
Right now, Colin Casey Construction and Plant Hire is currently working on a number of projects around North Cork.
The company is CE certified for the fabrication of steel buildings and business itself is booming at the present time, according to Colin, even in spite of all the challenges out there for companies right now.
It’s all a far cry from where Colin started years ago and his business venture has clearly evolved since that time.
“When we started out, we were just doing the concrete shuttering,” explained the Managing Director.
“Then we started erecting sheds and there became more and more of a demand for it. I’m a qualified structural engineer, I’ve a degree from Cork IT, so this helped in all aspects of the business.
“Once we started erecting the sheds, it just took off for us and we went about and started doing it all ourselves.
“We started fabricating the sheds ourselves last year and opened a workshop in Castletownroche to do so. We went about getting certification straight away in order to keep up with the requirements and there has been a strong demand since its inception.”
It certainly wasn’t easy at the start for Colin Casey Construction and Plant Hire. The company needed time to grow and evolve into what it is today and now, four years later, business has seldom been better.
“It was a steep learning curve at the beginning for us. It took a bit of time and, like any business I suppose, it wasn’t easy at the start,” said Colin.
“We started off doing smaller jobs and, as time went by, we were able to take on bigger ones more and more. It was just something we had to go through to get the experience we needed for this kind of business.”
On machinery end, Colin and his team in Kilgobbin operate a John Deere 6160r tractor and a number of trailers to transport materials and gear. They recently purchased a Manitou loadall to help with erecting the sheds.
They also operate a Kobelco SK140 SR excavator and Kobelco SK28sr mini digger and ensure to keep the machinery fleet up to date in order to ensure that customer demand is met regularly.
Right now, business is flourishing in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic and the government lockdowns which have followed in order to try and combat the spread of the virus.
Recent months have seen Colin Casey Construction and Plant Hire focusing on essential projects all around Cork and it has kept the company busy since the beginning of the year.
It also looks set to keep Colin and his team busy into next year as well, as the founder explained.
“We’ve been very busy lately and, as things stand, we’re going to be very busy for 2021,” he said.
“We have been carrying out essential works with customers during the lockdown which have kept us ticking over.
“During the first lockdown, we stopped for three or four weeks but, as soon as we got going again, we were flat out and have been ever since.
“Getting materials has probably been the most difficult thing for us as of late. That and the rise in costs of materials is a problem at the moment too.”
The company has a large project in Fermoy on-going at present and last year it completed works on a 20-until milking parlour in Ballyduff, Co Waterford.
Working on robotic milking parlours has become somewhat of a forte for the business lately and, of course, work on sheds and tanks continues weekly for its customers.
So, the burning question is what has been the secret to success for Colin Casey Construction and Plant Hire? How has it managed to build such an excellent reputation for its work around Cork in such a short space of time?
For Colin, he feels that personal touch and quality work go a long way in this game.
“I suppose maybe it’s because we have a small team and we’re all there on site with the customer,” he said.
“I’m there on the ground and then there’s the fact that we can offer the whole package ourselves and have control over the whole process.
“We’re always doing the best we can for the client here and I think they appreciate that.”
Looking towards the months ahead, Colin has a fair idea that his company will be staying busy as the books look full until early next year at least.
However, what the Co Cork native is hoping for above all in the long run is providing customers with an even more efficient service.
“We’ll be hoping to focus on becoming more efficient in what we’re doing and maybe refine things,” he said.
“We’re not trying to expand hugely because we feel it could end up dropping the quality in the long run, so we’re happy with our size and the people we have here.”
Great to hear.
Colin Casey Construction and Plant Hire
Kilgobbin,
Co Cork
Mobile: 086 198 6082
E-mail: [email protected]
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 9 No 4, July/August 2021
Colin Casey Construction and Plant Hire
