Customer welfare key for the O’Byrne Services team - Kilkenny Live

O'Byrne Services, located at Unit 16 Hebron Industrial Estate on the outskirts of Kilkenny City has become one of the county’s most trusted and customer friendly businesses since first entering the local market over 25 years ago.

Fast forward to 2024, and after riding the smooth and troubled waters of the ever-changing Irish economy, Conor O’Byrne — alongside a dedicated team of tradesmen and office staff — continues to provide key household services in a timely and efficient manner, making them a must-call service for homeowners in County Kilkenny and surrounding counties.

The breakdown of a boiler or shower can be a stressful and often expensive period for families and while many providers are available at the dial of a phone, O’Byrne Services offers so much more than that. As their professional workmanship and reasonable prices are second to none.

O’Byrne’s oil boiler servicing consists of a full service to the burner and change out of jet. They then Hoover out the chamber clean and check the baffles are in the correct position.

They check gaskets and seals and then analyse your oil boiler to ensure it is running at its proper efficiency. The local service provider also includes oil tank replacement.

The service doesn’t stop there. If you have suffered a loss of water pressure at your taps or your flow has been reduced substantially, then your pump is most likely to be at fault, especially if you live in an apartment.

At O’Byrne Services they offer both the supply and repair of shower boost pumps to get your system back to normal. O’Byrne Services supplies and fits Monsoon shower booster pumps, which are some of the best pumps on the market.

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Mira, Aqualisa and Triton showers are some of the most recognised names in the shower industry and the company’s professional service engineers are on hand to advise you in terms of any repairs that your shower may need and can supply and install these brands for you too.

O’Byrne’s have been selling, repairing and installing these brands of showers in Kilkenny and the surrounding areas for years. Their policy is to provide you with outstanding customer service at the best possible price. And that’s not all!

As the cold winter months approach, assistance is on hand for any domestic disasters with your radiators.

If you found that the radiators in your home are not as warm as they used to be, but are still warm around the top and sides but cold in the middle and bottom then you probably have radiator sludge, something which will happen to most central heating systems sooner or later.

This means a colder home, higher energy bills, and the possibility of causing further damage to your central heating system. That’s where O’Byrne Services can come to a rescue with a team of dedicated engineers who will go above and beyond to assist their loyal customers.

Working for O’Byrne Services is more than a job for Company Director, Conor O’Byrne and Services Administrator, Ann-Marie Hughes, it’s an integral part of their lives.

Conor set up O’Byrne Services in 1999 and has been running the business successfully since then.

The well-known local man is a qualified oil boiler technician and is Oftec registered and services oil boilers and repairs, fixes showers and installs existing showers not only in County Kilkenny but all over the South East.

Meanwhile, Anne Marie originally joined the company in 2003 and spent five happy years with the company before rejoining the company in 2017.

Since then, the company has gone from humble beginnings to a huge customer base that shows no sign of decreasing. So, what’s the secret?

According to Conor and Ann-Marie, customer satisfaction is at the heart of what they do, with a heartwarming message or hand-written card from a customer a vindication of their hard work and determination to be a reliable service only a phone call away.

For Ann-Marie, a job that may be seen as an inconvenience to many is a joy to travel into every morning.

"One afternoon a week I might have to work from home and I hate it, I just love coming into the office and the busier we’re getting now the more your day goes by," she said.

And while Conor may be out and about carrying out the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the work, alongside fellow members of the O’Byrne Services team, having Ann-Marie back at base is equally as important to the smooth running of the business as their awareness and ability to lean on each other’s strengths the secret ingredient to the success of this well-oiled machine.

"Ann-Marie basically runs the business because I’m on the tools a lot, she runs the day to day stuff," Conor commented.

"I met a woman in the carpark today and she said can you book me in for a service? I said give Ann-Marie a quick call because it’s all controlled from here (the office)," he added.

And even with a customer base well into the thousands, local people doing business with O’Byrne’s, customers continue to appreciate the swift in person and on phone response times.

As I prepare to enter the offices of O’Byrne Services, based in the typically busy environs of the Hebron Industrial Estate, the hustle and bustle of commuting traffic and staff from neighbouring businesses rushing back to works is swiftly placed to the back of my mind as I enter what I can only describe as a pleasant, family-friendly and as the phone rings on arrival. I see first-hand what the O’Byrne experience is all about.

I take a seat in the office a panic-filled call from a customer with boiler and shower concerns is greeted by a relaxed Ann-Marie in the office, who not only arranges an engineer to visit the home swiftly, but also lends constructive and helpful advice down the line all while assuring the customer that everything will be okay. While keeping a level head can be difficult in such testing situations, the O’Byrne’s mantra is simply customer care.

"I had a lady ring me this morning, we have another Conor who works with us as well and he did two services and she said 'I’m ringing you this morning to just commend your staff and yourselves in the office' and that’s lovely to hear," Ann-Marie recalled.

"That’s part of the ethos of the business, be good at what you do and customer care is number one," Conor added.

For Conor, customer care is not simply for business gain, it’s part of his DNA - previous roles in the hospitality and sales sectors have given him the necessary ‘people skills’ to build long-term relationships with customers and many life-long friends in the process too.

The benefits of these relationships are immeasurable with business being just one element of the O’Byrne's experience for a customer.

Conor and his team take pride in honesty in what they do, from having the necessary training to charging a fair and reasonable rate. O’Byrne Service believe in holding the strong relationships they have with their customers dear and not taking advantage of customer loyalty.

"Some people do get taken advantage of (in the industry) but we won’t go out and change out something unless it needs to be changed out," Conor said.

"It’s a customer for life. We get calls from new customers who have had bad experiences down the line," he added.

"The amount of people who say to me 'will they turn up?' but once we have the time and the date they (our staff) will be there and I think that’s what stands to us," Ann-Marie commented.

The company’s cost-friendly approach with the customer’s welfare in mind is also taken on board when it comes to that all important decision whether to fix or replace a boiler with the company firmly believing if a person has trust in you to carry out works inside their home, no unnecessary works should be done 'for the sake of it' simply for financial gain according to the pair.

Why? Well, for Conor and Ann-Marie, family is everything and whether it be the shower not switching on the morning of a mad dash to work and school, or radiators not working on a cold winter’s night, many people in the locality call on Conor and his team at the most difficult times of their domestic lives and in doing so, allow the O’Byrne's brand into their private family home, an honour and responsibility not lost on Conor.

"Even this morning there was a key left out in a flower basket for me so I’m going into the house and they leave me the code to their electric gate so yeah that is a privilege that somebody feels confident enough to let us in when they’re not there and they ring me and say what needs to be done and we go ahead," he said. "As I said, I won’t go and change a shower on the wall for the sake of it, it’ll only be changed out if it’s not possible to fix it."

As the days, have become weeks, months and years for Conor, highs and lows have crossed his path since first entering the industry in 1999.

From the excitement of starting the business, to regrouping and rebuilding after the financial crash, there’s been no shortage of hurdles to jump, but as the years clock by, his desire to get up for work each morning and serve his wide-ranging customer base shows no signs of wavering.

"I’m of a generation who worked hard and I like working,” he said. “Ann-Marie would be similar, she likes to come into work - we both love it."

"And I think the staff do too because the variety is there every day," Ann-Marie stated.

"You’re not doing the same thing, you’re going from customer to customer," she added.

So, the days never become dreary for Conor and co as they face new experiences and challenges on the beat each day.

For Ann-Marie however, logistics are king, with appointment dates and times her forte as she sails the ship from back at base in what. It can be a gruelling challenge, but it’s one she relishes as both Ann-Marie and the engineers on site constantly learn from one another.

"You pick it up as you go along," she commented, with everybody sharing their expertise to get the best outcome for the customer.

"If I was unsure of something I’d ring Conor and I’d go 'what do you think?' but as time goes by you pick up knowledge."

And with knowledge, advice and shared experiences in the workplace comes a strong bond and relationship with Conor and Ann-Marie not only as a support blanket with work queries but with general life too as the business’ strong belief in family, from there’s to yours and amongst each other is key to the longevity.

From advice to sharing a laugh, the positive rapport they share is reflected in their work as their state of the art vans pull up outside homes with the customer greeted at their doors by an O’Byrne smile and top quality service.

So here’s to the next 25 years after a quarter of a century of many great times. But what would do the duo recall as the highpoint of their careers so far?

"The opening of this office," Ann-Marie recalled, stating that turning point as well as numerous subtle advances over the years marked positive new chapter’s in the company’s development.

"It’s the little things like the new phone system to a desktop, there were all big changes. To get things like that were massive," she added.

"Just the whole thing has grown," Conor stated.

"Since we moved in here we got our new vans on the road," Conor added with a beaming smile as the official, specially made branded vehicles signpost — a major milestone in the company’s history with new uniforms and other branded company gear solidifying O’Byrne's as a local force in boiler and shower repairs in the South-East.

Official bodies such as Kilkenny County Council and other agencies have even shown their belief in O’Byrne’s ability to get jobs done in a timely manner and to a high standard.

"We’ve not looked back," Conor said, adding he hopes the O’Byrne name can continue to serve in the industry for many years to come.