Bizstartup.ie - NewsFlatpack.ie feeding demand for self assembly

Treacy and his brother Kenneth spotted a gap in the market for a flat-pack assembly service and bought the domain name Flatpack.ie. This gave them the number one position on Google searches.

“I had been working in sales for a long time and was sick of all the travelling as I had two young children. I had always wanted to run my own business and when Ikea came to Belfast two years ago we saw the opportunity. We had done a lot of flat-pack assembly for family and friends, so we bought the domain name and worked on the business part-time for the first year,” Treacy explains.

“This time last year things got a lot busier because Ikea opened in Dublin. We got a fair bit of publicity in the main papers and on radio after issuing a press release and we were asked to take part in the ‘Flat Pack Challenge’ on The Ray Darcy Show on Today FM.”

The Flat Pack Challenge involved four people assembling a locker against the clock.

Becoming an official assembly partner

As a way of extending the business, Treacy approached a few companies offering to be their assembly partner, and recently became the official assembly partner for Mothercare. This means its fliers are on view in all Mothercare stores.

In addition, in the past month, an interior design company contracted Flatpack.ie to furnish five apartments. When business such as this comes in the brothers contract in extra people experienced in the furniture trade.

Treacy did a Start your Own Business course with Dublin City Enterprise Board and says his costs were low to get the business off the ground as he operates from an office at home. His wife Ellen built and maintains the website.

Since starting Flatpack.ie Treacy spotted another opportunity and set up Canvas Creations, which specialises in printing photos on canvas. Outsourcing production to a UK-based operator has allowed Treacy to undercut any competition in the Irish market for these products, he says.

Photo: Jonathan and Kenneth Treacy