Life has forever been about three things for Gerald O’Neill: family, hard work and staying true to his word.
“People want to know they’re getting someone reliable. Customers want someone that they can count on,” said the owner of APM O’Neill & Sons, a highly rated asphalt, paving and masonry company based in Medford.
“Times are hard. People are giving you their hard-earned money,” he continued. “I owe it to them to do the job right the first time.”
A native of Ireland — specifically County Carlow in the southeast part of the country — Gerald volleyed back and forth between the Old Country and the United States across his childhood. He fondly remembers tagging along with his dad Thomas and grandfather Patrick Murphy on masonry and asphalt jobs in both countries.
“I loved it. It made me feel like a man to go to work with them,” said Gerald, in his charming Irish brogue. “And at the end of the day, they’d give me five or 10 bucks for helping. And I was happy.”
Gerald, 45, is now more than three decades into his own stone mason career. His thriving business designs and builds landscaped driveways and pool areas, sports courts, entrances, walkways and stoops, patios, and parking lots for homes and businesses. (Scroll down to get in touch.)
APM O’Neill & Sons’ highly experienced team of craftsmen also construct kitchen islands, outdoor stoves, chimneys and sidewalks.
“My dad’s a mason. My grandfather was a mason. I’m a mason. I’m sure he’s going to be one as well,” Gerald said, pointing toward his 17-month-old son Thomas.
“It’s all I know. That and making babies,” quipped the father of seven, whose wife is expecting another son, Kevin, in July. (Gerald, himself the oldest of nine children, had six daughters before Thomas was born on Christmas in 2021.)
Gerald’s approach to family and work are intertwined with his traditional values.
“Family is your life,” he said. “I work for them. I just like getting up in the morning, working, and coming home and spending time with my family. We’re very old fashioned.”
To live up to his company’s slogan, “When second best just won’t cut it,” Gerald said his crews use the highest quality materials and employ the best practices on each project.
“If you do the job right and you have the best materials, then all it takes is a little bit of effort and pride to make it turn out right,” he said. “When you know how to do it, you work smart and you work hard. You start early, you finish late. And you don’t be drinking tea or coffee all day.”
“I take a lot of pride in whatever it is we’re doing,” he continued. “I rather spend my own money out of my own pocket and do it right, than cut a corner out of it. It’s very important to me to do the job right once and not have to come back. Keep the customers happy and they’ll speak good about you.”
He and the company guarantees maintenance free results and doesn’t accept deposits on jobs until the work is complete. And before a project begins, he works intently with his customers to help them conjure an image of what the finished product will look like.
“Sometimes, they can’t quite visualize what it is that they want. I help them with that at the beginning,” he said. “And then they’re so delighted when we get to the end of it. For me, it’s like a walk in the park, because it’s all I know.”
Indeed, APM O’Neill & Sons is highly rated in the industry for customer satisfaction. The company has earned the Agni Super Service Award for five years straight and is an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau, where it maintains a five-star customer rating.
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