Company History
Prior to OHi Building Services Oliver was Director and Partner in a Ceiling and Partition company for 5 years, during this period our work was mainly 60% Commercial i.e.- Suspended Ceilings, Partition Walls, Clean Rooms, Office Layouts and Retail Units in Shopping Malls. 20% Retail i.e - Shop fit-Outs, Coffee Shops, Hotel Spa and Estate Agents Offices. 15% Maintenance i.e.- Repairs, Replacement of windows, doors, ceiling tiles etc. Painting (mainly commercial).5% Residential Private Houses i.e.- Kitchen Fit-Outs Garage Conversions, Complete Refurbishments, Drylining walls and Carpentry (Replacing doors, skirting and architrave).
Time for Change
During tie second half of 2008 many of the larger building companies stopped building large commercial units, retail units and housing projects. OHi looked at this and decided to diverse some of its business towards the residential market. More and more house owners preferred to renovate, extend or convert their attic or garage for that extra space or rooms they required, rather than sell or buy a new home. This made a lot of sense with house prices falling dramatically nation wide. We are steadily increasing our business in this area.
However there are still people looking to build their dream home and are taking advantage of today's market prices. This is another area in the residential market OHi is looking at.
Down Turn in Business
In 2009 with the present down turn in business OHi found that most of its work was now 50% Residential from complete house renovations, refurbishments, conversions and extensions 20% Retail veterinary surgery, MRI imaging centre, Various coffee / snack bars students shops in colleges and universities.20% Maintenance commercial roof repairs, water damage and fire rating etc. Residential general maintenance and repairs caused by fire and flood to properties.10% Commercial Suspended ceilings and metal stud partitions.
Noticeable Change
Most of the work we did was in Galway, Co. Galway & Mayo area. We now find ourselves in Athlone, Shannon, Limerick and with the M6 motorway Dublin. The commercial side of the business has changed over the past months, where we would have supplied and fitted Stud partitions and suspended ceilings to create large open office space, staff canteen's toilet facilities and storerooms etc. While we still carry out some of this work we find we are doing more refurbishment of existing offices e.g. dividing office space into smaller units and carrying out more repairs and maintenance etc.
As far as the retail side of our business things haven't changed too much we still renovate retail units and customise them to suit our client's requirements. e.g. Veterinary surgery where we had to use specialised materials in regulations relating to Building, Medical and Fire Rating specifications for operating theatres x-ray and recovery rooms. Doctors' surgery admin office, waiting rooms changing rooms and toilet facilities. Coffee Shops in colleges and university's form installing tea stations to seating areas. Student stationary shops, Kitchen showroom layouts, Department stores, Shoe shops, and many other projects with in the Hair & Beauty sector.
In the residential side of our work we have seen a steady increase in business. This has been the major factor for OHi's diversity towards this area, here we find ourselves renovating complete houses, extending existing properties e.g. sun rooms, conservatory's, home office and home gyms etc. Attic and garage conversions have become very popular; the installation of new kitchens, bathrooms and wet rooms is also increasing steadily
OHi carry out general maintenance and repairs to existing properties due to fire and flood damage. We pride ourselves in offering the complete start to finish professional service.