When Eamonn Gallagher returned from Connecticut to his native home in Bun a’ Leaca, Gaoth Dobhair, with his wife Christine and their young family over 2 years ago, he was out of work with a family to provide for.
After spending over 10 years working in the construction business in the US, Eamonn saw a gap in the market. He saw a global business opportunity, which he could run from the Donegal Gaeltacht, that would involve costing materials, labour and equipment for large scale construction projects across America. And that’s exactly what he did!
The company is helped out by Údarás na Gaeltachta’s enterprise development scheme which assists entrepreneurs by encouraging new investment in Gaeltacht areas, nurturing already established businesses, and enhancing the skill base of those living in Gaeltacht communities!
“We knew that we would return home one day and when you finally make the decision, you have to do whatever you can to make a living. It was daunting at first as to how we would start the business, but then I realised that with the use of modern technology and software, I could provide the service from Gaoth Dobhair to Connecticut.”
“Then it all just fell into place and I am delighted to say that today, we employ 5 people from the locality and have orders secured already for the rest of 2016”, says Eamonn.
“I approached Údarás na Gaeltachta when I returned home, and I have to say, the support and enthusiasm for my business idea was overwhelming. They were finalising the construction a state of the art enterprise centre called the Áislann in the Gaoth Dobhair Business Park at the time.”
“We soon moved in and Meastóirí Domhanda Teo was born. I honestly feel that without their support the business would not have got off the ground as quickly. I now have a team of talented staff all from the Gaoth Dobhair area, and we are extremely busy costing multimillion projects in Connecticut, New York and Boston on a daily basis from Áislann Ghaoth Dobhair.”, says Eamonn.
Eamonn is one of the well known Gallagher family from Bun a’ Leaca whose family had the Gallaghers Kitchens business in the 90’s. Due to a downturn in the economy, which led to the unfortunate closure of the business, Eamonn decided to travel to Connecticut where his brother was based, and he soon discovered there was a huge demand for carpenters and framers there.
Eamonn has worked on a large number of framing projects and has worked for some of the largest multi-family wood framing contractors in America providing services and quality wood framing for large-scale projects across the States. These connections have helped him to create a very impressive portfolio for his Donegal Gaeltacht operation.
Róisín O’Donaghue, operations manager at Meastóirí Domhanda Teo, says, “Using state of the art software allows us to reduce the amount of time it takes to cost estimate a project by up to 30%, it allows us access to plans, instantly helping us to bid more work in less time. We can share large scale framing project plans online with the subcontractors and we can work from any location at any time.
“In fact, the time difference between us and our clients in the States is an advantage. We have a report on all of the costings waiting in our clients inbox by the time they start work the next day. We facetime or Skype our meetings in the afternoon, it’s nearly as if the client was in the office with us.
“Our software allows us to integrate easily from measurements to materials and, combined with our teams framing experience and client base, this gives us huge advantages in the industry”.
“Moving home was most definitely the best decision we made for our family. We missed Gaoth Dobhair and our children are so happy here, even though they were born in the States, they will tell you that this is their home. Myself and my wife are delighted that we made this lifestyle decision for our family and setting up business here was the right decision for us.
Our plans are to increase our client portfolio across Ireland, UK, Europe, Asia and as far as Australia over the next 2 years. We hope to create more employment and we believe that we have the right people, right here. We welcome opportunities to provide an estimating service for any construction project in Ireland and beyond”, concludes Eamonn.
To learn more about Údarás na Gaeltachta’s enterprise development scheme you can visit their website!