As a quantity surveyor of 20 years standing, Tom McNamara has been in pole position for observing the Irish property and construction boom over the last decade.

The role played by his firm Tom McNamara & Partners - recently sold for €10 million - includes costing early design models and ensuring the project comes in on time and within budget.

"The big, big problem is when projects run over time," he says. "That's when they begin to go over budget; the hotel can't open on time, the delay has tax break implications. Time is the main thing."

The services offered by his firm include project management, so he has a ringside seat for viewing the profits being made by property developers.

Property developers, he says, are making margins of about 15 per cent, though with some projects this might go down to 10 per cent, while on others it might go up to 25 per cent.

McNamara says there is a risk involved in property development but he agrees that tax breaks which benefit property developers seem a bit much given the huge profits they have made and are continuing to make.

That said, he believes tax breaks could serve a useful function in some rural towns.

He does not believe there has been undue construction sector inflation during the past decade. "People overestimate the margins that general contractors are making. They don't make the same margins as developers."

Back in the early 1990s, before the boom took off, contractors were making such small margins that some were going bankrupt. That was not to anyone's benefit, he says, and it is a good thing that margins are now greater, at about 5 per cent or so. An "adjustment" was needed.

"The construction market has been pretty buoyant but there is still a good level of competition," he says. This is the case with contractors, sub-contractors and professional service providers, he believes.

He says the huge overruns on public contracts that so frequently make the headlines tend to be civil engineering projects rather than building projects.

"Civils are on the ground and that is where the trouble often comes," he says by way of part explanation.

However the broader problem, he believes, is a lack of work early on in the project, especially in relation to conducting comprehensive, on the ground surveys. Also, there is a tradition within the Department of Environment not to use quantity surveyors and to rely on civil engineers. He believes this often leads to cost overrun problems.

"You should be able to get cost accuracy of plus or minus 5 per cent at an early stage. When the design is fully developed, that should come down to 2½ per cent."

From Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare, McNamara qualified as a quantity surveyor in the mid-1980s at the age of 23, and began to work with Michael McNamara & Co. He worked in Dublin, Clare and London. In 1989, he bought a quantity surveying firm in Ennis for £5,000. "That's how Tom McNamara & Partners came into being," he recalls.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, the economy was nothing like it is now. During those times, McNamara says he learned to value each client, and he believes this attitude contributed to the growth of his business.

The firm is involved in providing services to the public and private sectors. From the mid-1990s the private developer business started to grow, and in the mid to late-1990s the firm began to develop its project management division. In late 1999, the company decided to open an office in Dublin to service its growing number of clients in the Dublin area.

While the firm provides services for substantial private sector developments throughout the State, it has also continued to grow its public sector work, which provides 40 per cent of its turnover.

McNamara's firm now employs 27 people. He has sold it for €10 million to London-listed Erinaceous, with another €3 million earn-out based on profit targets over the coming two years. He owned approximately 72 per cent. Fellow director John Kilroy owned about 22 per cent and director Kay Dawson owned around 5 per cent.

According to its website, "the Erinaceous Group provides a comprehensive range of property services to owners and occupiers of buildings in the public and private sectors, in both the residential and commercial sectors".

McNamara says he expects Erinaceous to buy an Irish property management company in the future, and possibly a facilities management company. With all the property development that has taken place in recent years in Ireland, this sort of service has to be a growth area, he says.

He will continue to work with his former firm's clients while also seeking to grow the wider range of services offered by Erinaceous. The acquisition by Erinaceous constitutes its first move outside England and Wales.

The plc offers public and private housing management services, tenant vetting services, and even property insurance.

"It is a top to bottom service," he says.

Its services also include overseeing regeneration projects, similar to regeneration in run-down urban areas such as Ballymun. It has a lot of experience in running such projects in England and will now be seeking to sell this service to local authorities in this State.