Based in Kilteely, Co Limerick, Paddy Burke Contractors Ltd offers a full land reclamation for its customers all around the Treaty County and beyond its borders. Irish Tractor & Agri touched base with the company’s owner and founder Paddy Burke recently to learn all about this thriving venture down south.
2021 was one of the busiest years to date for Paddy Burke Contractors Ltd and the man himself says the plan is to try and keep things that way down in Kilteely.
Established in 2006, the company provides drainage work, excavation, lime spreading, slurry spreading and land reclamation work, as well as many other services for its customers.
Since ‘Day One’, Paddy has been committed to providing a quality service to his customers and the wide range of services that he offers sees him as first choice amongst so many of them.
Irish Tractor & Agri spoke with the man himself to learn find out more about the company which has turned 16 years old – from its origins to the state of business today.
“We’ve one full-time and one part-time working here,” he outlined. “We’d bring in more during the busy part of the year but there’s two here and basically what we do is provide a full land reclamation service.
“We also provide service in drainage work, burning off ground, re-seeding it, mulchers, saws, so basically if someone was to take on a new farm and it needs work, we can go in and sort it out for them.”
Now providing the service more than a decade-and-a-half, Paddy Burke Contractors Ltd is very much an expert when it comes to full land reclamation.
Rewind back to pre-2006 and Paddy himself had spent years in construction business along with helping out silage farmers during the summer times.
The experience counted for a lot when he went setting about starting his own contracting business – one which is now perhaps going stronger than ever some 16 years later.
“I was working on the buildings and doing excavator work. I also worked with the silage workers as well,” said Paddy.
“I saw the chance to start this business up in 2006 and back then it was tough getting off the ground, and we were putting in long days at it.
“I started off with a 130 Hitachi and I suppose the business just grew from there year on year to the point where it’s at now.”
The building trades would be rocked by the economic recession come 2008, so perhaps it’s safe to say that Paddy got out at the right time and made the right decision to set-up his own venture when he did.
Today, the business is flourishing with 2021 having been one of its best years to date.
“Last year was very busy for us and hopefully that continues on through this year,” said the Managing Director.
“In 2021 alone, we could’ve reclaimed over 350 acres so that goes to show how busy we were over the past 12 months.”
In order to cope with the busy times, you need good reliable machinery and Paddy Burke Contractors Ltd has some of the best in its fleet.
The company added a new Hitachi at the end of last year and has put it to good use ever since.
Having started with much less 16 years ago, Paddy appreciates the machinery he has in his yard and it’s the main reason why he maintains his tractors, tankers and low loaders to a tee.
“We have three tractors, two of them are Claas and the other is a John Deere,” he said.
“We’ve an earth seeder that we bought two years ago and a Conor slurry tanker. We’ve also got two lime spreaders and Volvo low loader in the yard.
“As for new stuff we’ve brought recently, we have a new Hitachi that we bought in December from Fergal Cleary in Ennis and we also got a brand new one in 2020 as well.”
The company added a new Rotavator in August of last year, too and you can be almost certain that they’ll be upgrading the fleet in Kilteely again in 2022.
So, what has been the secret to the success of Paddy Burke Contractors Ltd down through the years?
How has a small start-up grown into a thriving contracting business which holds an excellent reputation amongst its clients.
For Paddy, much of it has come down to the trust he’s earned from his clients over the last decade-and-a-half.
“I think they’d have great confidence in me down through the years and they know that we get the job done from start to finish and get done right,” he outlined.
“We can do everything and I’d also be a supplier of lime which sees them coming here first as well, so we try and cover all bases for them.”
Looking towards the coming months, the Limerick native is hoping for more of the same.
Business was good in 2021 and this year has started off in the same vein, so the hopes are that it continues with plans no doubt to add one or two new machines along the way.
“We’ll probably look to upgrade one of the tractors this year because to provide a good service, you need good machinery.
“We’d also do a lot of passage repair this time of year (January-February) and a bit of maintenance as well, so maybe we’ll get into more of that.
“We have vibrating rollers that make sure water doesn’t get into the passages, so we provide a good service there as well.
“With 2022, hopefully we can keep as busy as we were last year and maybe add a few new machines along the way,” Paddy concluded.
Here’s hoping.
Paddy Burke Contractors Ltd
Kilteely,
Co Limerick
Mobile: 087 622 4621
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 10 No 4, July/August 2022
