Contractor profile

COMPANY: RD Electrical BASED: Lurgan, Northern Ireland FOUNDED: 2003 MAJOR PROJECTS: Quays Shopping Centre, Newry; Stormont Parliament; Boots The Chemist STAFF NUMBERS: 8

Home from home

Northern Irish business RD Electrical has built up a strong base serving the domestic market and retail sector, all from the comforts of a log cabin in the garden. But with the business continuing to grow, change may be on the cards

By Nick Martindale

Nestled away in the garden of a private house in Lurgan, Northern Ireland, is a rather impressive log cabin. Far from a tranquil place for family relaxation, however, this is the home of RD Electrical, and has operated as the company’s base since the business was first set up in 2003.

“I served my apprenticeship with a local firm in the Lurgan area and then I went to Australia for a year and decided that when I got back I was going to start my own company,” says founder Raymond Daly. “I was 20 years old when I got back and I bought myself a van and started doing small jobs around the town and it’s just progressed to where we are now.”

Initially the focus was on domestic jobs, he says, but has since spread into the commercial sector, taking on work on newbuild housing projects and shop fitouts. “I worked in the company on my own for about a year and then employed another electrician, and as the company developed I needed more help,” he says. “So after year one I employed someone and then another one the next, and the same year on year after that.”

The initial idea of working in the log cabin was to keep costs down, says Raymond; something which came very handy when the economic downturn – which hit Northern Ireland particularly hard – struck. “It meant our overheads were kept low so we could then keep our prices low and compete even through the downturn,” he says. “Prices dropped, but because we didn’t have any overheads or rates to pay we were in a position to act in line with the market.”

Jumping on the energy eff iciency bandwagon also helped. “We set up our energy auditing service where we would go out to clients’ premises and see where they could save costs,” he says. “A big part of that would be LED lighting and that basically kept us going for three or four years, and it’s still going strong. Around 30-40 per cent of our work is in energy eff iciency.” One recent example was the Quays Shopping Centre in Newry, where the company undertook a full LED lighting upgrade in the shopping centre and the external car park over a two-year period.

Record-breaker

Today the business is on course to hit the £1 million turnover mark for the first time, having grown around 30 per cent in the past 12 months, and typically takes on contracts worth between £5,000 and £100,000, serving the whole

> RD Electrical carried out a full LED upgrade at Quays shopping Centre in Newry

‘I don’t see why in 15 or 20 years we can’t be one of the biggest electrical companies in Northern Ireland’

Raymond Daly

£1m:

The amount RD Electrical expects to turn over this year

of Northern Ireland from its central location. “We’re never any further than two hours away from any part of Northern Ireland,” says Raymond.

Around half of its work these days is still in the domestic space. “We work for a number of building companies here, on apartment blocks, housing schemes and also social housing, so we’re spread across a number of sectors,” says Raymond, who estimates the firm takes on the electrical installation work in between 200 and 300 new houses a year for a mixture of private landlords and developers.

The business recently opened a testing division and has picked up a number of notable PAT testing contracts, including servicing all government buildings across Northern Ireland – taking in the Stormont Parliament buildings – as well as inspection and testing in branches of Boots.

Raymond also has designs on entering other new areas. Last year the business started a smart homes and home cinema service, which saw it win the domestic project of the year award at the Northern Ireland Electrical Industry Awards,

30 per cent:

Theamountby which the business has grown in the past 12 months

> RD Electrical’s eight staff include PAT testing engineer Stephen McLoughlin (above) and electrical engineer Aaron McAlinden (right)

alongside the title of domestic contractor of the year (and following on from winning the small contractor of the year accolade in 2013).

“The project for which we won the award was a smart home where they could control their blinds, lighting, home cinema and CCTV, all integrated into one app,” he says. “It’s a market that has grown quite steadily for us, and we see a growth in that area, with lots of enquiries. Not everybody goes for it because it is still quite expensive, but it is a sector that is definitely growing.”

Fire alarms is another area where the business has had some success, particularly when councils upgrade their housing developments, while electric vehicle charging points is on the list for this year. “We’d be targeting the domestic market for that again,” says Raymond. “We’ve not looked into that yet, but with the smart homes that’s where we’re going to be in two or three years.”

Branching out

Raymond’s own role in the business has also evolved over time, as the number of staff has risen. “I have seven employees at the moment and they’re all on the tools, and I do all the off ice work,” he says. “I’m supposed to be off the tools, but every now and then I jump in and help out, but the majority of the time I’m running the contracts, ordering materials, taking things to site and keeping people happy.” The plan is to take on someone else to help out with the day-to-day running of the off ice, he adds, freeing him up to concentrate on running projects and growing the business.

Yet continued growth for the business could finally spell the end for the log cabin, after more than a decade’s loyal service. “It will get to the point where we’ll need to move to commercial premises, but at the moment we’re just about on the limit of working like this,” says Raymond. “Maybe this year or next we’ll have to look at moving to somewhere bigger, because all we have is a log cabin and a garage. But I’ll not make that step too early. I’d prefer to wait and make sure the company is in profit and the money is there to support it.”

That’s not to say, however, that Raymond doesn’t have grand plans for the business he started from scratch 13 years ago. “I do think we could grow further,” he says. “At the minute we’re not able to tender for all work that comes into the off ice because we don’t have the resources. The next step is to employ a contracts manager and an estimator for the off ice, and we will need that within the next two years. But obviously we need to put other plans in place before that happens because the premises won’t be big enough.”

Further down the line, Raymond, who has a five-month-old baby boy, who he hopes might one day take over the business, has even loftier ambitions. “I think we could probably double in size in five years and I don’t see why in 15 or 20 years we can’t be one of the biggest electrical companies in Northern Ireland,” he says. “We’ll just keep chipping away until we get there.

“It won’t be an easy road, but we do want to be doing those bigger contracts in schools and hospitals,” he adds. “But I want to get it right first at the smaller level; you can’t run before you can walk.”

‘It meant our overheads were kept low, which meant we could keep our prices low and compete even through the downturn’ ‘We’re just about on the limit of working like this. Maybe this year or next we’ll have to look at moving to somewhere a bit bigger’

» Nick Martindale is editor of Connections • Could your business feature in Connections? Email nick.martindale@redactive.co.uk