‘It is mad busy, people are buying to beat the band’
By Maurice Garvey
BEAUTIFUL weather and coronavirus restrictions have led to a boom in DIY projects and a backlog in customer orders online.
With so many people spending more time at home, this had led to an increase in demand for paint, gardening equipment, and timber.
TJ O’Mahony’s in Ballymount
The big DIY stores and smaller hardware stores are not open to the public at this time, but deliveries are doing a roaring trade.
“It is mad busy, people are buying to beat the band,” said a staff member at TJ O’Mahony’s Building Merchants in Ballymount.
“It is deliveries only with orders. People order online, click and we can deliver and just drop it at your front garden or door.”
O’Mahony’s launched an online platform on April 14, something they were planning to do, but this was accelerated due to Covid-19.
“Popular items are paint cans, anything garden related, small bits of timber, anything that is handy to do at home,” said the staff member.
This week, the government lifted construction restrictions, allowing the builds of social housing to continue.
“That’s our bread and butter and will increase a lot of business,” said O’Mahony’s.
A local paint store in Clondalkin said they are struggling to cope with demand.
“We are about 20 times as busy delivering paint to homeowners.
“Hopefully when all this is over, we will retain 20 per cent of the customers who usually go to the bigger stores.”
Woodies website indicates a delivery waiting time that has been extended to 14 days due to the “unprecedented customer demand.”
They said there is a limited number of orders they can accept daily.
B&Q and Homebase do not provide online deliveries.
On Tuesday, Pat McDonnell Paints in Rathfarnham said their phone lines were temporarily closed as they were “focusing on processing all existing orders.”
With the weather set to stay dry the pressure on DIY deliveries will remain.
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