CA SKYHOOK INC

The guy from CA Skyhook never came out to give me an estimate. He wanted me to e-mail a picture of the staircase and I didn't know how to do that. I don't think he ever had any intention of coming out. He was very rude in the last e-mail and in return I sent him one back to let him know how awful his customer service was.

There were three different workers or crews that accomplished the work: the demolition and new framework crew, the wood worker/craftsman who added the hardwood, handrail and iron balasters to the framework, and the painter who stained, sealed and varnished the hardwood. The first crew placed protective sheets of plywood to protect our floor from damage. They also put up plastic sheeting around the work area to keep dust localized. This crew demolished the existing stairs and hauled it away. They then built and installed the framework for the new stairs. One part of the work Skyhook does not perform is drywall work. I did that myself. It took me 2 to 3 few days and less than $100 in materials. I also filled in some holes in the linoleum left by the previous stairs. It was handy that we saved some left-over scraps from when the flooring was installed years ago. Then the wood worker came to build the exterior portion of the stairs and handrail. He was very skillful at cutting and precisely fitting the hardwood components. No creaks or squeeks in these stairs. He took about 6 days to finish this portion. We had taken a sample piece of the european beech to Lowe's and applied about 8 different stains to see which one we liked. The painter applied the exact stain as our sample on the stairs, trim and handrail. When that dried, he started spraying on a tinted sealer, but his compressor quit before he could get very far and had to return the next day. We noticed the stained wood looked a little blotchy or uneven. We also noticed the tinted sealer was making the wood a little darker than the sample we liked. We decided we were OK with the wood being a little darker and the tinted sealer was eliminating the blotchy uneven appearance we noticed at first. Then the third day, he hand sanded or steel wooled everything and sprayed two coats of varnish. He was done. Lastly, the finish wood worker came back to install the iron balasters. Job finished. I estimate there were 14 work days involved by Skyhook to do all their work. We are very happy with the finished product. It turned out better than we had imagined.

Great! The new system was actually custom made on site. The work was done by a highly skilled, professional carpenter. Each piece was expertly fitted. Nothing prefab about this job. After the unit was installed, it was given a beautiful stain and paint. Both the carpenter who built the stair system and the painter are not just workers but highly skilled craftsmen who obviously take great pride in their work. On top of that, they are both really nice guys. And, this is a company that wants you to be happy with the end product. And, we are quite pleased. The look is one you might expect to see in a new custom home. This job was the kind of major interior renovation that could have turned into a living nightmare, but thankfully we picked the right company for the job.

My experience with C A Skyhook, Inc., was one of the most unusual and highly positive ones that I?ve had with a consumer business organization. It is a great pleasure to report on it. The interior staircase in our home, which we remodeled some thirty years ago, was left unfinished and it never had a permanent stair rail system. It was time, during a current room renovation project, to add one. Finding a qualified staircase builder is not an easy matter. It is a very specialized area, requiring a high degree of skill. Not many people have the background to do it well. I had taken several bids on doing the work from people with varying degrees of experience. Either the bids were very expensive and gave us limited choices, or the bidder wanted to build ?Gone with the Wind? in our living room. I was still unsatisfied when, while shopping at an unrelated store, I saw a section of installed stair rail that I liked. I made inquiry and was given a brochure published by its builder, C A Skyhook. Without much enthusiasm as based on our previous experiences, I phoned Skyhook and spoke with their sales representative, Elizabeth. Rather than just scheduling a visit from their salesman, she asked me to e-mail to them a rough drawing and some photographs of the staircase. A few days later, after she examined these, she then scheduled a salesman?s visit. The ?salesman? proved to be Mr. John Reinhold, the owner of C A Skyhook! He examined and measured the staircase, and confirmed its dimensions. He then spent a significant amount of time discussing our wishes for its design, and he also hand sketched several ideas for us to consider. He also explained that Skyhook does only stairwell work, both new and remodeling, and that most of their work is done for general contractors. When I asked whether he would be submitting a later bid for the job by e-mail, he said, ?No.? Instead he removed several sheets of paper from his brief case and handed them to me. These proved to be a full itemized preliminary bid, which he had already completed based on the photographs and sketches! The dollar amount was considerably lower than the other bids I had received. After I accepted the bid I went to Skyhook?s offices to make the final design decisions. I was very pleased to see that there was a complete wood-working shop on the premises, with a good inventory of woods and accessories and the shop tools needed to do serious parts fabrication! Installation of the rail system was done by finish carpenter Ethan, who was as good a wood craftsman as I have ever seen! He arrived with many of the parts pre-fabricated in the shop, a great time saver, although he also established his own ?traveling shop? under a portable canopy on the front lawn. Ethan was very skilled at making difficult ?cuts and joins? in the rail system pieces, as well as having a good eye for the overall design. He is also a delightful young man, and we spent many enjoyable hours while he worked discussing tools and wood-working techniques. Based upon his freely-given recommendation, I made a significant power tool purchase for my own shop! Wood finisher Shawn then spent as much time masking and protecting the areas adjoining the stairwell as he did eventually applying the finish varnish. He was very careful about details and the finished work showed it. Ethan then returned one last time to add the wrought iron balusters, and the rail system was complete! It is a stunning addition to the room, more than we even had hoped for! The craftsmanship is perfect, and the design highly complements the room. We could have asked for little more. My only regret is that we don?t have another stairwell for them to do (yet!). Without any reservations I can fully recommend C A Skyhook as a business which does very high quality work and maintains high quality business ethics.