It’s been a very interesting job!

Established in 2003, Padraig Connell Consulting Engineers is a vibrant Planning, Architecture and Engineering Consultancy in Athlone, County Westmeath.

Padraig Connell Consulting Engineers specialise in bespoke house design, renovations and extensions. We understand the stress and difficulties that clients may have in achieving their dream home, therefore we offer the complete package from initial concept/design stage through planning and on to on-site inspection of works for mortgage purposes/stage payments and Certification in Compliance with Planning and Building Regulations. This results in the client dealing directly with one consultancy practice from start to finish.

We have looked at all areas from what we initially began doing in terms of planning and design, we have now moved into other areas such as civil engineering, architectural design work and structural design. The business has been very busy for almost 20 years and I feel very lucky and privileged to be able to say that, said Padraig Connell.

With it becoming harder for people to build their ‘dream home,’ what advice would he offer to anyone who may be about to embark on a building project?

“The reality of it is that people need to sit down and figure out their budget before they start even thinking of the size of the house that they would like to build. The house size (floor area) or number of rooms they might think they need might not fit their budget. In the past, we got lost as a nation as people thought they needed a big house however what ended up happening was the house was far bigger than they required and carrying huge financial pressure paying back for it! Now, people are beginning to realise that they have ‘x,’ amount of money and that is their budget and from there they need to begin to work out what they can achieve the house they want rather than building a huge house and being in a position where you can’t pay for it.

“A lot of renovation work stemmed from the lock down periods during the pandemic as people were beginning to enjoy their a house a bit more as pre-pandemic we were living in a rat race and we never got to enjoy our home. A lot of homeowners have also invested in their outdoor space whilst enjoying it throughout the summer months,” enthused Mr Connell.

“Over the last number of years, I’ve been in the fortunate position in that I have a lot of colleagues that I can rely on for advice and I’ve also been very lucky that I have been given a lot of advice from professionals down through the years. I would like to continue those relationships with those professionals whilst also being able to share the knowledge of what I’m doing with others.

The most import things in being self-employed is ethics and trust. Clients want to deal with people they can trust. The fact that I am a member of Engineers Ireland, Chartered Association of Building Engineers, The Institute of Fire Engineers and a Registered Building Surveyor is a clear indication to my existing clients and future clients that we are an extremely professional practice who abide by the ethics of the aforementioned associations.

I would hope to continue to retain staff whilst moving forward with the business. I’m extremely lucky to be in the business I’m in and I’m extremely lucky with the staff that I have and I’m extremely lucky with the body of associates that I work alongside. It’s been a very interesting job,”

concluded Padraig Connell.