Learn how King & Moffatt Building Services keeps its clients close amidst international expansion
At the core of any successful business lies customer care, and King & Moffatt Building Services is exemplifying what it means to be client focused. Founded in 1978, the business has spread its family-oriented ethos across Ireland, the United Kingdom and Mainland Europe, proudly boasting over €150 million in annual turnover.
Originally starting out as an electrical contractor, King & Moffatt has seen significant growth over the years and is now thrilled to offer clients the full scope of electrical and mechanical services, as well as integrated facility management solutions. 
“King & Moffatt is now 46 years old,” begins Gerry Walsh, Chief Operating Officer at King & Moffatt. “The business was started off by Pat King and John Moffatt. They were a couple of electricians back in those days and they’ve rapidly built the business up over the intervening period. Initially, it was purely an electrical contracting company primarily based in Carrick-on-Shannon in Ireland.”
Comprehensive service portfolio
In 1982, the company won its first large-scale food project for Hanley Meats in Rooskey, Ireland, and shortly afterwards King & Moffatt became a private limited company, taking on more large projects and eyeing international expansion.
“Eventually, we started to expand beyond our shores,” Gerry shares, reflecting on the business’ journey. “We moved to the UK with an ambition to expand into mechanical services, and soon took over a local mechanical contracting business. This acquisition diversified King & Moffatt into both mechanical and electrical services, and at the same time, King & Moffatt was also moving into the EU, primarily in Germany and the Netherlands.”
The company’s wide breadth of expertise allows it to provide the entire M&E service range. Building upon its electrical contractor roots, the business now offers full design, installation and maintenance to both low and high voltage systems. Similarly, its mechanical engineering division supplies design and build services, including heating and cooling systems, ventilation, drainage, and other plant utilities. Additionally, King & Moffatt has augmented its already-extensive span of services further with its manufacturing and pre-fabrication capabilities.
“Our offsite manufacturing facility is a 40,000 square-foot facility and is based in Carrick-on-Shannon close to our head office,” Gerry elaborates. “We build all mechanical, electrical and building management systems there ourselves. I think we’re quite unique in that we cover everything under one roof. We offer that service so we can deliver fully packaged units, skids modules, and whatever else our clients may want.”
Strategic partnerships
King & Moffatt’s extensive skill set is reflective of its passion for pleasing clients. The business is selective when choosing its partnerships to guarantee top-quality, bespoke service to every customer.
“Our business model focuses on contractor partnerships,” Gerry explains. “Our aim is to partner with a limited number of main contractors and not just chase everything that happens to be out there. At the moment, our main partners in the UK include TSL, Sisk, McLaughlin and Harvey, Sir Robert McAlpine, and Flynns. We don’t just chase every piece of work in every sector. That’s not what we do. We’re working with them from the perspective of wanting them to choose us because we’re the best option for them.”
Presently, King & Moffatt is looking at expanding its geographical distribution so it can extend its services to new clients across the continent.
“When opening an office in a new area, we always keep an eye on what the supply chain looks like in that location, what subcontractors they have, where they are based, and how far they are willing to travel,” Gerry states. “If we found that there was a draw to another location where we started seeing a centre of work building up, that will probably be a prompter for us to think about it.”
In 2024, King & Moffatt was excited to embark on its first North American project with Moffatt Automation, one of its long-term key strategic partners. While this is currently a single project endeavour, the business will remain ready, willing and able, should further opportunities arise.
Sustainable growth
At the moment, King & Moffatt is expanding its energy services division in line with its environmental commitment. “Our energy services division is one of our smaller sections,” Gerry shares. “At the moment, we’re looking at potential clients and what kind of energy projects they’re interested in. There is a standard suite of things that our clients look for in terms of sustainability. Heat pumps, whether they’re air-sourced or water-sourced, go into pretty much every building we build now. Solar energy is another big thing, and electrical car chargers are ubiquitous at this stage. When speaking to our clients, they’re going to be balancing their budget against whatever we propose, so we hope to maximise these opportunities for them.”
This dedication is also visible in King & Moffatt’s own operations. “We are committed to Net Zero and we’ve got a very well-developed road map to get us there. We’re incrementally building things into our own facilities to improve our energy management – anything that gets us closer to that net-zero target.”
Looking ahead, the future looks very bright for King & Moffatt. Sustaining its family-oriented values, the business is prioritising the robust relationships it holds with both its people and clientele.
“The company focus is really on our clients and our employees,” Gerry reveals. “Whilst we want to continue to grow sustainably, our focus isn’t on becoming the next billion-pound company. Our focus is to continue to do a very good job for our clients. To use Pat King’s own phrase, we aim to get the job done right and we want our people to feel like they’re part of the company.”
Consequently, the business is expecting huge growth this year. It has recently doubled the size of its head office in Carrick-on-Shannon, and has just opened a new office in Frankfurt to complement its centres in Wolverhampton and Scotland. Additionally, it will soon also be opening a new office in Dublin. Having surpassed its 45th anniversary last year, King & Moffatt is on a clear upward trajectory and is confident for the future.