Am Bratach No. 198
April 2008
editor@bratach.co.uk

Local lads set up building business in Tongue area

A brand new building business, Kyle of Tongue Construction, has been set up by Graeme Gunn, Melness, and Richard Mackay from Tongue.

Richard, a project engineer with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority at Dounreay, said: “We had heard stories of people locally who were finding it hard to get building work done and to add to that we knew of local tradesmen who were travelling long distances to work.

“We both recognised the potential gap in the market as it were, we discussed it a length, did some research into it and decided to go for it.” He hopes it will lead to lower prices, and people being able to get their jobs done more quickly.
Richard notes that there has been a lot of house-building in Melness and Tongue recently, which he sees as a sign of growing prosperity. He added: “I hope it continues, whilst still retaining the character which makes it what it is, and that in the future I hope the development is not just associated with house-builds, but also with projects which will benefit the area and encourage things like tourism.”

Neither partner will be giving up his “day job”, at least to begin with. “The role we have in the business will be to project manage the work (do quotes, plan work, manage accounts etc) which we can fit around our current working hours,” explained Richard. “Obviously, we will have to wait and see how things go. If it all takes off and we find we are spending more and more time on it, we may have to review that.”

At just twenty-six years of age, Richard Mackay hasn’t a lot of business experience to call upon, although the project management he does as part of his job should stand him in good stead. But fellow director, Graeme Gunn, 32, presently working offshore on drilling operations, has quite a lot, having been involved with a mussel farm and also a shellfish boat business.

They will employ two builders and a labourer, all local, who will mostly work as a team on jobs, depending on the size of job.

“Our main market will be general building activities, like blockwork for new-builds and extensions, blockwork sheds, harling, walls etc. Customer service will be a key aspect to our business, as well as doing a good job, as you often hear of people complaining about tradesmen not turning up when expected and so on.”

Their preference will be to take on work in the local area. “However, we are more than willing and will be capable of travelling some distance to jobs. Our aim is to build a good reputation in the local area and further afield and the only way we will do that is to get ourselves known and do work in other areas,” said Richard, who captains Tongue football team in his spare time.

The initial outlay to set up the business is “not tremendous” and is mainly associated with buying equipment, he said. “The main part is getting a quality workforce because, as with most businesses, the workforce is your main asset and they are the key to being successful, and I believe we have that, with who we have.

“It makes it easier because there are the two of us running things. I think it would be too much for one person to do whilst working full time but when there are the two of us it makes things easier. We have a good arrangement, as with Graeme working offshore for three weeks at a time, I cover most of the work then when Graeme is home, he is able to spend a lot of time on it while I am working. And obviously, on our side, a lot of the effort is in the setting up and getting started, once we are up and running, we will get into a routine and will have systems and processes in place, which will make things easier.”

Richard has lived in Tongue all his life, except for four years studying for a chemical engineering degree at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh. Family man Graeme spent his early years in Paisley, but has close family ties with Melness, where he has lived for the past twelve or thirteen years.

Contact Richard Mackay on 01847 600020 (e-mail: kotconstruction@btinternet.com)