Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Chris Moore is the F. Ball technical representative for north and south Ireland. He now lives in Ballyrobert, a small village north of Belfast, with his wife and four young children, revealing that they have recently welcomed a new baby to the family. “We’re definitely being kept entertained!” he laughs.
Chris has worked for F. Ball for 14 years, though he originally wanted to be a farmer. “There are a lot of farmers in my family, but when I left college I worked in a protective coating and concrete repair business with my uncle”, Chris recalls. “After a while, I decided to take a different path with a building company called Larsen, where I worked as a sales rep, then in the contracting division, and occasionally as a site manager before joining F. Ball.
“It’s the on-site aspect that I like the most about being an F. Ball technical representative. I’m always kept on my toes with different situations and scenarios every day, and I get huge satisfaction from seeing a job through to its completion.”
As the F. Ball technical representative for Ireland, both north and south, Chris makes about 20-30 site visits per week, though this can vary greatly. “This time of year in particular is extremely busy”, he comments. “Coming up to the end of the school holidays means I have lots of 12 hour-days.”
Yikes! We wonder whether Chris shares any common weather-related issues with technical representative for Scotland, Alan McEwan. (As suspected by Alan in our last interview.)
“Definitely – it is no doubt colder and rainier over here than in England!” Chris concurs. “Contractors are aware that curing takes far longer in the winter, for example. Another common problem I’m faced with over here is clients not wanting expansion joints put down in the floors because they think it ruins the aesthetic. Trying to convince them that these joints are necessary can be a big task.”
So what does Chris do to relax outside of work? (With a new-born baby, we suspect that relaxing isn’t particularly high on his agenda.)
“I played rugby for about 20 years. I tried to keep it up as a casual hobby but the older I get, the longer my body takes to recover! Every weekend is taken up by my kids now.”
That figures. Apart from being a super-dad, does Chris have any other achievements he’s proud of?
“I was on the winning team of the Ulster Championship Young Farmers Tug of War, roughly 10 or 11 years ago. It’s not that amazing an achievement!”
Considering how many farmers there are in Ireland, it certainly is! When are these tech reps going to stop being so modest?