Family firm bouncing back after fire...‘We are getting back on our feet’

Less than two months after the devastating fire that completely gutted their premises in Trim, Timeless Sash Windows are back manufacturing and taking new orders.

Within 72 hours of the fire, the refurbishment element of the business was back up and running in the original Callaghan premises at Ongenstown, Boyerstown, while manufacturing recommenced just 11 working days after the blaze in a new temporary premises in Kilcock.

Managing director, Barry Callaghan spoke of the family's gratitude for the huge outpouring of support following the devastating fire and said within days they had received a number of offers of temporary accommodation.

"We are back up and running and getting back on our feet. We had to reduce things a bit but we are trying to grow the business back to where it was but we are over the initial hump," he said.

Unfortunately, they had to reduce their staff by about 20 per cent as they don't have the same capacity but Barry said they hope to reinstate the jobs over the coming months.

The fire on the evening of Tuesday, 19th April, totally destroyed the Timeless Sash Windows premises in the Eamon Duggan estate on the Athboy Road in Trim. Firefighters from several stations across the county battled the blaze and prevented it from spreading to adjoining premises and thankfully no-one was injured.

However, all their machinery and several weeks worth of orders were also lost in the blaze.

"The premises was completely destroyed and what is left will have to be demolished. All the machinery was destroyed in the fire also. There were a few small components and some tools that might be salvaged but nothing significant and all the major machinery, the electrical tools, the power tools and the three phase equipment were all destroyed," said Barry.

Despite the shock and devastation of that evening, within hours Barry said their thoughts were turning to they could do to get back up and running as quickly as possible.

"The fire was at 8.30pm on a Tuesday night and by 10pm that night, those type of thoughts were going through my head. What we could do get up and running again. We had orders to fulfil. It was an immediate response. We had a business, we had an order book and staff and suppliers so we had to see how we could move forward and find an alternative premises or facility as quickly as possible."

The family business has been in operation for almost 50 years, and manufactures bespoke windows and doors as well as refurbishing sash windows. Their biggest refurbishment project to date was the refurbishment of 220 windows in Killeen Castle.

They were quickly able to get the refurbishment end of the business going again at their original premises at Ongenstown, Boyerstown, and Barry explained that this part of the business doesn't involve heavy duty machinery and is more labour intensive.

Finding a suitable premises for the manufacturing part of the business took a bit longer, but within 11 working days, the company was back working, though at a smaller scale initially after securing temporary accommodation in the premises previously used by Leinster Woodcraft in Kilcock.

Barry told how they had a number of very generous offers from people they knew well and not so well regarding temporary accommodation and at one stage they had four facilities to look at.

"We had a number of options on the table and it took a week to ten days to review each of the options to see which was the most viable. We have about 6,000 sq ft at Ongenstown, Boyerstown. We moved from there to Trim four and a half year ago, so it was great to have that. The business had been based there for 40 years. We were able to do a lot of our refurbishment work there. A lot of it doesn't require heavy duty machinery and is very much labour intensive and we were back working there within 72 hours."

They didn't have the capacity at Boyerstown to facilitate the whole operation and they ended up moving their manufacturing business to a premises in Kilcock.

Barry explained that the premises previously used by Leinster Woodcraft had become available and that he is very grateful to Micheal Smmon who he said was very accommodating and very helpful. "He really worked with us and helped us get back on our feet and I will be forever grateful to him for that opportunity."

The premises pretty much ticked all the boxes as a bespoke manufacturing premises and had the high quality machinery they required.

"Not every joinery is equipped the same way and it was very similar to what we had in Trim and with some small additions allowed us be operational in a relatively short space of time." As well as the machinery, it also had the extraction facility that they needed.

A number of orders that were almost ready for despatch were destroyed and Barry said the first challenge was to make those orders again.

Just 11 working days after the fire, the machines were up and running again in the Kilcock premises, and Barry spoke of the great feeling it was to be taking raw timber and working with it again, after all that had happened.

He said huge credit must go to their staff who had gone above and beyond the call of duty to get back up and running.

"We had six to eight weeks of work ready to despatch which set us back but our customers have been very understanding of the situation and we are doing everything we can to ensure their needs are met."

Barry also thanked everyone who sent them messages of support and well wishes and said it gave them all a great lift at the time, and made things easier to deal with.