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Cold email agency for Irish B2B and construction firms
WDI is a cold email agency in Ireland. We plan, write and send B2B cold email for Irish firms, with construction and trades as our main sector. We find the decision makers you want to reach, email them from separate sending inboxes set up for the purpose, handle the replies and book interested buyers into your calendar.
This page covers the email side of what we do: how the sending is set up, how the lists are built, how the emails are written for Irish buyers and what happens when someone replies. You approve the emails before they go. You stay in charge of pricing and closing.
Book your free sales auditWritten by Jack Doherty, Founder and CVO, WDI. Last updated 15 October 2026
What our cold email outreach includes
Cold email works when five things are done properly: the right list, sending that protects your domain, emails people will read, steady follow-up and fast reply handling. We run all five for you. Cold email is one part of how we find new clients for Irish firms. For the wider service, see our page on B2B lead generation in Ireland.
1. Researching who to email
We start by agreeing who your buyer is: sector, company type, role and county. Then we build the list for your campaign and check it before anything is sent. Addresses are verified, out of date contacts are taken out, and anyone who has asked not to be contacted stays off. We email business decision makers. We don't use consumer lists.
2. Setting up sending domains and inboxes
Your main domain is never used to send cold email. We set up separate sending domains that look like your brand, add the SPF, DKIM and DMARC records that mail providers check, and warm up each new inbox before a campaign starts. Each inbox only sends a limited number of emails a day.
3. Writing emails Irish buyers will read
Emails are short, plain and written for the person reading them. The sender says who they are, why they are writing and asks one clear question about the recipient's work. No hype, no American sales lines, no pretending to know someone you don't.
4. Follow-up and testing
Each campaign runs a short set of follow-ups, then stops. We test different opening emails against each other and keep the ones that get replies. You see and approve the copy before launch, and any changes during the campaign are shared with you.
5. Reply handling and booked meetings
Our in-house team reads every reply within 12 hours, and hot leads are passed to you straight away. Questions get answered, interest is qualified, and buyers who want to talk are booked into your calendar. You can see what was sent, who replied and what happened next.
Who cold email suits in Ireland
Cold email suits Irish firms that sell to other businesses and know who buys from them. It works best when someone on your side can take the calls and price new work quickly, because an interested buyer who waits a week for a reply often moves on.
A good fit
You have room for more work in the next six months.
Someone on your team can take the calls and turn prices round quickly.
Most of your work comes from people who already know you, and you want to reach firms that don't.
You know your buyer: main contractors, developers, QS firms, procurement teams or facilities managers.
Not a good fit yet
- You can't follow up or price new work at the moment.
- You sell mainly to householders.
- Your whole market is a handful of firms you could ring yourself.
We don't take on two firms that are going after the same buyers in the same market. If we are already working for a direct competitor of yours, we will tell you.
Cold email for construction and trades firms in Ireland
Construction buyers suit email well. They can be found by role, they buy again and again, and being known before a job or tender comes up makes a difference. As a cold email agency that works mainly with construction, trade and industrial firms, we know which roles to contact for each type of business.
| If you are a... | We usually email... |
|---|---|
| Specialist subcontractor (scaffolding, steel, insulation, roofing, groundworks, fire and security) | Contracts managers, QS teams, procurement and project managers at main contractors |
| Building products or materials supplier | Main contractors, developers, specifiers and buyers |
| Plant or equipment hire firm | Plant managers and project managers at contractors |
| Facilities or maintenance services firm | Facilities managers at commercial, hospitality and public sector sites |
Tender and pre-qualification cycles mean results in construction build over months, not days. A main contractor may not need you this week. What matters is that your name is in front of the right person when the next job is being priced.
If you want the full picture of how we win work for construction firms, see our page on construction lead generation in Ireland.
Book your free sales auditHow we protect your domain and get emails delivered
A common worry about cold email is that it will damage your company's own email. We manage that risk by keeping cold email completely separate from the address your team uses every day, and by sending at a pace mail providers treat as normal. This is how the risk is managed, not a promise that no email ever lands in junk.
- Separate sending domains. Your main domain and your team's day to day email are kept out of it.
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Set up and checked on every sending domain, so mail providers can see the emails are genuine.
- Warm-up first. New inboxes are warmed up before any campaign goes out.
- Low daily volume. Each inbox sends a limited number of emails a day.
- Clean lists. Addresses are verified before sending, bounces are removed, and replies are checked every day.
Many Irish B2B markets are small. You might have a few hundred real buyers in your sector, not tens of thousands. If your name gets a bad reputation with them, it is hard to win back. That is why we put accuracy ahead of volume.
Cold email, LinkedIn or both?
Email and LinkedIn do different jobs. Email lets you reach the right people in a steady, organised way and follow up on schedule. LinkedIn lets the same buyers see your name more than once, so the email is not the first time they have heard of you.
We run outreach on both channels. This page covers the email side, and cold email can run on its own if that suits you better. If you want both working together, see how we run email and LinkedIn outreach.
Results from Irish outreach campaigns
These results come from outreach WDI has run for Irish firms. Our outreach uses email and LinkedIn, so the figures below reflect the whole campaign, not email on its own.
Summit Scaffolding
Summit Scaffolding went from pricing around €250k of work a month to around €1m a month, compared with a year earlier. Through the outreach it also started talking to two developers it had no previous relationship with.
Keith
Summit Scaffolding
“From €250k to €1m”
WDI: What would you say has been the most important thing for you guys so far?
Keith: I would say the marketing end of things has been huge. It has really opened up doors that I didn't know were closed. It's kind of opened up my own eyes. Marketing, I would say, has been huge for us.
WDI: So would you say it isn't just driving revenue, it's also attracting top talent to Summit as well?
Keith: 100%.
WDI: Before we started running outbound for you, how were you getting new business?
Keith: A couple of different ways. Originally there's CIS, Construction Information Services, which we have online, and you would target projects that are at contract stage, because that's where the scaffolding comes in. It would mostly be on myself, reaching out to existing clients: you have a job coming up? Then there's retention of the same clients, and word of mouth. A lot of my time would have went into that. That's where there's so much value in someone like yourselves. You're hiring somebody to do a job, so it gives you time to actually work on the business again. You need to be able to strategise, and then have someone create the sales, and you can manage those sales.
WDI: So you're working on the business, not in it.
Keith: Yeah. I'm working on the strategy of where we want to grow. I know the direction. I know how much sales we need in and what market we're in, but I don't have the time to go and get them.
WDI: You said you're pricing around a million euros of work every month now. Where were you last year?
Keith: I would say probably 25% of that at best, and it was coming in more sporadic than that. It was inconsistent, to be fair. Now the flow is just there. You're nearly picking and choosing. If your head is stuck making phone calls, ringing around, you're going to miss all that. You need to be a free thinker to be able to do all that.
WDI: There's a contractor listening who relies on word of mouth, has had consistent business for the last few years, but doesn't do any outbound. What would you say to them?
Keith: Get off the fence. Jump straight in. You've nothing to lose. It's all gain. If you haven't grown by now doing what you're doing, it's not going to change. So you need to change something.
Steel fabrication
Quoted on 42 jobs in three months of outreach and won four of them, worth around €500k in contract value.
Plant hire
Crane hire utilisation went from 30% to 85% within six months.
Pharma
Revenue from the work went from nothing to €1.3m over two years.
Results depend on your market, your offer and how quickly replies are followed up. We don't promise meetings or reply numbers. You can see more client results.
What to ask any cold email agency in Ireland
Whoever you hire, these questions will tell you a lot about how they work. Ask them before you sign anything.
1. Which domain do the emails go out from?
If the answer is your main domain, your everyday email is at risk.
2. Who owns the sending domains and inboxes if we stop working together?
Get that agreed at the start.
3. Where does the contact data come from, and how is it checked?
Unchecked lists mean bounces, and bounces hurt delivery.
4. Have you worked in our sector?
Ask which roles they would email at your buyers. A vague answer usually means a vague list.
5. Who writes the emails, and do we approve them first?
It is your company's name on them.
6. Will you also work for our direct competitors?
You don't want your agency emailing the same buyers for a rival.
7. What happens to replies, and how quickly are they answered?
A slow answer to an interested buyer is often a lost job.
8. What do you report, and how often?
You should be able to see what was sent, who replied and what came of it.
How we answer them: separate sending domains and inboxes that WDI sets up and owns, so your main domain is never touched; lists verified before sending; copy approved by you; one firm per set of buyers in a market; replies read by our in-house team within 12 hours, with hot leads passed to you straight away; and a pipeline you can see.
What drives the cost of cold email outreach
There is no standard price for cold email outreach. The cost depends on the size of your market and how much of the work you want us to take on. These are the main things that move it:
- How many relevant decision makers there are in your market, and how many you want to reach each month.
- How much research your list needs. Construction roles often have to be found by hand.
- How many sending domains and inboxes that volume needs.
- How many buyer types you sell to, since each needs its own emails and testing.
- How much reply handling and meeting booking you want us to do.
- Whether email runs on its own or alongside LinkedIn.
The free sales audit looks at your market and gives you a sensible scope.
Book your free sales auditAreas we cover in Ireland
We run cold email for firms right across Ireland.
- Dublin: cold email outreach for Dublin firms
- Cork: cold email outreach for Cork firms
- Galway: cold email outreach for Galway firms
- Limerick: cold email outreach for Limerick firms
- Everywhere else: all 32 counties.
Cold email agency FAQs
We never send cold email from your main domain. Campaigns go out from separate sending domains that look like your brand, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC records set up, inboxes warmed up before launch and a limited number of emails sent from each inbox a day. That keeps your everyday email apart from the outreach and manages the risk to your domain.
We build a fresh list for each campaign from public business sources, based on the sector, company type, role and county you want to reach. Every address is checked before anything is sent, and out of date or bounced contacts are removed. We only email business decision makers. We don't buy consumer lists or email members of the public.
Yes. We write the emails for your buyers and you approve the copy before the campaign starts. If we test a new opening email or change a follow-up during the campaign, we share it with you first. The emails are short and plain, written for Irish readers.
The first job is research, setting up sending domains and warming up the inboxes. First replies usually come within the first few weeks of the work starting. Construction and industrial buyers decide slowly, so bigger results build over the following months, and the strongest results tend to come at six months or more. We don't promise a set number of meetings.
There is no standard price. The main drivers are how many decision makers there are in your market, how many you want to reach each month, how much research the list needs, how much reply handling you want us to do, and whether email runs alone or with LinkedIn. The free sales audit looks at your market and gives you a sensible scope.
Yes. Cold email can run on its own, and some firms prefer to start that way. LinkedIn does a different job: it lets the same buyers see your name more than once, so the email is not the first time they hear of you. The free sales audit looks at whether email alone or email with LinkedIn suits your market better.
No. Most of our clients are construction, trade and industrial firms, and that is where most of our experience is. We also run cold email for other Irish businesses that sell to businesses, such as a pharma client of ours. The test is the same for everyone: a clear buyer, room for more work and someone to take the calls.
See if cold email will work for your market
The free sales audit looks at who your buyers are, how many of them there are in Ireland, what a sensible scope would be, and whether email alone or email with LinkedIn fits. You come away knowing whether cold email is worth doing for your firm.
Book your free sales auditOr call +353 61 788 722, or email contact@thisiswdi.com.