The apprentice

With a career spanning four decades and having started out as an apprentice tool maker with Iralco before making huge successes of his auctioneering and insurance businesses Pat Davitt can probably afford to take it easy.But, the co-owner of Davitt and Davitt auctioneers on Dominick Street in Mullingar still makes it into the office 'most days' before 8am.'I stress most days but I do still work hard I suppose,' he laughed. 'Whether or not I am a good boss, well you"d have to ask the girls downstairs to find out that.'Pat started out in the auctioneering business in 1980 after completing a six year apprenticeship with Iralco and taking the title of Apprentice Toolmaker of the Year in 1975. After that he 'messed around' and had several jobs and even dabbled in some farming before he embarked upon a career in auctioneering.'I realised that I wouldn"t get the next job above mine because it was a family run business and so I was looking around for an opportunity,' he said.'I didn"t want a shop and I still wanted to be the little man and auctioneering seemed clean cut to me as there was no end product, you sold a property and got commission and that seemed to be for me.'But back then there were really very few property deals done and Castlepollard only had about 1,000 so I started an insurance brokerage to compliment the business.'At first I got business from Hibernian and then Eagle Star, Norwich Union and Zurich and I set up a brokerage. At the time everything had to be done by hand and you had to fill in a form and make a phone call for every quote.'You would ring a company and say "I have Joe Bloggs here and he wants car insurance" and you would have to do that for every company and fill in a form. Then you would have to ring a new company and go through the same process whereas now you can go online and have your insurance in five minutes.'But at the time there were very few properties being bought and sold so the insurance business was a supplement. I did sell the odd cottage as well but at that time the biggest sale would have been £5,000 and the usual price for a cottage was about £1,500.'The real market place was in Mullingar but because I wasn"t in the town then people didn"t to give you properties to sell. I kept looking for an insurance broker to go into business with and eventually I found Gerry Wallace and we started Davitt Davitt and Wallace. When I first started auctioneering I used the name Patrick Davitt but I didn"t really like the sound of that and so I changed to Davitt and Davitt.'But when I did the deal with Sherry Fitzgerald in 1999 it didn"t matter to me that my name wasn"t the first one above the door. Because my father hadn"t given me the business I just didn"t have that same baggage even though I liked the sound of Davitt and Davitt because it made us sound very established.'As for passing the business on, well my sons are seven and four at the minute and so I would be waiting a while to see if they want to go into auctioneering. In fact my nephew Aidan is now the biggest shareholder in the business which is great because different people have different ideas and that only adds to the growth of the business.'The problem with holding onto a business to pass on is that it can go down the pan while you are waiting and whoever inherits it nearly has to build it back up when they get it. I believe in pushing forward and moving on with things rather than standing still.'I have also sold my insurance business now but still have a great interest in auctioneering I still show people around houses. The current climate will show the difference between the skilled auctioneer and those who got into the business when things were a bit easier.'Years ago your book was the most important thing that you had, hence the phrase "put that in your book". For example I could meet someone on the street and they would say "I"m looking for a three bed semi and I want to pay £200,000" then I might meet someone else who would say that they wanted to sell a similar property and I would put them into the book too.'Then, if you had all the details in your book it was easy to match buyer and seller which is essentially what the business is all about. Whoever can do that now will still be successful in the auctioneering business regardless of how tight times are.'I still work because I love the business. Everyone has to work, whether it is for money or to keep a certain lifestyle or to stop you from milling around the house all day. Work is still very important to me and I can"t say that I"ll be giving it up any time soon.Pat has seen many changes in Mullingar in the last 10 years and said that he remains hopeful for the town"s future despite the current doom and gloom over the state of the economy.'I am actually from Castlepollard but count myself as being from Mullingar, whether they want me or not,' he laughed. 'The town has grown so much even in the last few years and I would say that I am very hopeful given the projects that we have in the pipeline, especially with regard to decentralisation and the central development which will bring changes.'One of my passions is the Mullingar Chamber of Commerce and I was also instrumental in getting the Midlands Gateway Chamber up and running, The Gateway Chamber will be vital in that if we have 1,200 members between Althone, Tullamore and Mullingar then we will have a huge amount of clout when it comes to getting industry in.'I am very proud of my involvement with the ATM project and would say that my other big achievement is the work that I do with the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers. I have been IPVA president twice and still chair committees and have contacts with auctioneers across Ireland.'But I suppose you are most proud of whatever you are doing at the time. In 1975 it was when I became Apprentice of the Year and when you are young you see someone who is president of such and such a thing and think God I could never do that and then suddenly you are doing it.'Really I am most proud of my wife Paula and my two sons Michael and Patrick, they are my best and biggest achievement to date.'