Stan's Welding

I called Stan's for an estimate on installling iron railings on the right and left sides of a concrete stoop at the back door. A recent fall by the elderly resident prompted us to install these rails. Stan's responded promptly by phone. I sent a picture of the stoop and got an estimate almost immediately along with sketches of two designs they suggested. We wanted the rails installed within about a week and Stan's was able to do it for us. They arrived on time, did a great job, cleaned up throroughly after the work was done and charged a reasonable price. I would use them again in a half second. Very responsive, reliablel and friendly to work wtih.

He changed his mind on the whole agreement.

Nice guy. We called one day, he did the welding the next day and apologized for taking so long!

The supports for our front stoop wrought iron railings had corroded badly and were no long anchored to the concrete stoop. The front stoop has six steps up to a landing. There is railing on all sides, plus decorative railing columns that support the roof over the front stoop. The railings were badly corroded on their top suraces as well. We investigated quite a few businesses (both local and not so local) that offered some sort of competence to fix our front railings. One wanted to remove our railings and take them to their shop. Others wanted to cut the corroded legs and weld in place a replacement leg which in turn was welded to a flat plate, which would be bolted to the concrete of the stoop. Stan's Welding stood out as the one place which seemed best able to recore holes in the concrete, weld in place new legs, anchor them with fresh concrete in the newly cored holes and put the same decorative leg and quot;feetand quot; that matched the legs that did not need repair. They also quoted a price to remove corrosion elsewhere on the railings and provide a primer and finish paint coating. Before signing a contract with them we visited Stan's Welding at their shop in Franklin Park and had a reassuring conversation with the owner, Stan himself, about our concerns about how the work would take place. We took detailed photographs of the condition of the railings and their support legs and posted them online. We took prints of these photographs along with us when we went to Franklin Park. The two fellows who did the work brought with them a portable welding machine and a portable electrical generator to power their tools. They were not completely fluent in English, but we managed to communicate well enough. They did not use weld arc shields, so we had to avoid being near to where they were doing their welding. Their repair work to the railings was excellent. Our railings are again securely anchored to the concrete stoop and the aesthetics of the work was quite good. The repainting of the railings was good, but we did notice afterwards a few places where some touchup work will be needed in the future. We are going to be selling our house. The front railings are now in excellent condition for this purpose. Their previous condition would have been a quite negative factor in presentation of the house for sale.

Office person called me back quickly and set up a time for a view of the work and estimate. I was able to get the work done from another provider before the estimate date. They seemed very professional and I would call them again when needing iron work done.

Stan's Welding Inc. is a problematic reck on just about every level. I would give them a F rating, but at least I got my iron railing back, albeit several inches shorter. Getting them to work with my contractor was a pain in the neck. On the first two encounters, Stan's workers showed up unannounced and began removing the railing and support from the front porch without coordinating with the carpenter to install needed support beams to hold up the veranda. I actually had to yell at the workers to stop, yank the power chord and physicality stand between them and my porch. To top it off, when I did get Stan on the phone the first time he insisted on arguing with me. Finally he agreed to coordinate with my contractor an agreed tare down date. And if you can believe it, they showed up unannounced yet again. After an hour of holding the disgruntled workers off, my carpenter showed up--having to leave his other project early. About a week later, Stan's workers showed up, yet again unannounced. Fortunately, my contractor and carpenter on site. They did a good job of sandblasting and repainting the railing. When the workers finished the install, they took off without stepping around back of the house and speaking to my contractor, ringing the bell to inform me they where finished. The next day, when my carpenter went to install the stairs we found Stan's Welding cut the legs to one of the rail stop short. We ended up having to cut into one of the stairs to make it fit, short of having them come back cut off the foot and weld on an additional inch on the leg. To add salt to the wound, Stan sent me a new bill adding on the cost of said additional work they had to do on install. My contractor informed me that the additional work was nonsense. The follow up phone call with Stan turned into an unpleasant shouting match. On the turn of a dime, Stan turned off the combative posturing and said he was no longer going to charge me the and quot;extra workand quot;--as if he was doing me a generous favor. Now all this took place in August of 2012. Nine months later, my iron railing is rusting all over the place and is in need of a new paint job! I guess rust primer is beyond Stan's Welding Inc.

My experience with Stan's Welding was very positive. Stan came out to inspect my fence on a Monday morning. I needed to install a welded box to hold my 3-gang mailbox, and make an adjustment on the gate so that it closed and latched properly. Stan had a lot of experience with this kind of job, and knew exactly what would be needed for the type of mailbox that I had already purchased. He suggested re-setting the post in new concrete to make the gate line up, and had a suggestion to fix the spring closer. He said they could get me the estimate by Tuesday morning and could schedule the job on Friday. I chose Stan over another contractor who sent an estimate, even though Stan's price was a little bit higher. I thought that his professionalism and knowledge would be worth a little extra, and I believe it was. I agreed to his price and returned the contract Tuesday afternoon, and his office said they would be able to schedule on Wednesday, two days ahead of schedule. The crew arrived promptly at 8am as we agreed and got immediately to work. I left for my job, and upon arriving home found the work to be complete and the area cleaned up. There were two minor items that had not been done that Stan and I discussed, and when I emailed the office on Thursday morning, they sent someone the same day to correct the oversight.

They never responded with a quote, frustrating that you have to beg for a quote.

emailed Stan via Angies List. CAlled back in less than 24 hours. Told me I could bring in the item to be welded and he would do the job while I waited. Great !!!

I would highly recommend Stan's welding. He was on time and on budget. Excellent service!

Went great - quote was fair ($45) and work was done very well.

The project started over a year ago. It was pretty rough going for quite a while. Like others mentioned, communication and follow through was severely lacking in the beginning. I stuck with Stan's because they provided the opportunity to custom design the ironwork and I believed they could produce a good product.at a good price .And i must say they were extremely patient with the countless changes I requested. Just when I was about to give up and go elsewhere there was a change in staffing and things turned around quickly.I began working directly with Stan on the technical side. He suggested alterations that were perfect solutions to a few issues we had. His time estimates for completion of fabrication, powder coating and installation were workable. Magda was brought in to the office and she is great; delightful, responsible and always follows up exactly as promised.The window grille installation went smoothly. The custom security door design was wrong. Stan immediately took responsibility and said he would remake a new one. He was good to his word and the proper door was finsihed and installed within 2 weeks. (The time lag there was due to powder coating schedules rather than Stan's delay.) The finished product is stunning. It was a bit difficult to select how to grade this contractor because my experience with them before and after the internal changes was just so different. However, in the end it all worked out well and we're very happy with the result.

They failed to show up for a confirmed appointment.

After they cancelled two appointments I knew i did not want to deal with this unprofessional company again or to waste more of our condominium associations time. Would not bother with this company, I am disappointed that Angies list still has them rated so high. Two F's in a row, people please take notice.

Mike came out and gave us a verbal estimate right away - however, it took over 2 weeks to get it in writing. The men showed up on the agreed day on time. We had several problems here: after installing the new locks, the front gate has to be slammed (with force) to close it shut. The entire gate rattles when this happens. The combination lock on the back gate stopped functioning after 2 weeks: one can enter without dialing the combination - simply open the door and walk in! This is exactly what we did NOT want - and why we hired Stan's in the first place. The lock on the interior gate opens when the wind blows too hard - and anyone can push it open without turning the knob. The main office sent the workmen with the 2 combination locks - but each lock was set for a different combination. This made no sense to us - as we are a residential customer and don't need 2 separate combinations for one dwelling. It reinforced our feeling that these folks really couldn't problem solve - and were only task oriented and focused. We had specifically asked for a metal plate or guard around the handles on the gates to prevent people from putting their hands in and opening the gate. This work was detailed in the estimate. This was never installed - and we were told they would come out and fix that. When I brought up the issue of having to forcibly slam the front door - the workmen told me and quot;That's what you have to do.and quot; When i brought it up to Mike - he tried to sell us a $250.00 hydraulic closer for the gate. We had agreed to have the hinges on the gates repaired because they were starting to rust - a separate line item in the estimate. The and quot;repairand quot; consisted of non-matching black paint that was applied so unprofessionally that we can see the splashes and mistakes on other parts of the gate. The paint they used created non-matching black patches - and now our entire gate will have to be repainted. The followup with this company is very lax. I've called twice since then and I've sent an email (which has still been unanswered) - to no avail. Their workmanship is a disgrace. The locks were so unprofessionally installed that the workmen didn't bother to remove the blue laminate/plastic that covers and protects the hardware. The lock plates weren't securely screwed in and both locks rattle in their fittings. If they decide to come and correct their work - we'll be delighted. However, we will never use this company again - nor will we recommend or refer them to anyone.

They have done a pretty good job. They could do better as far as responsiveness and being more communicative. Their work was pretty good. There may be some disconnect between the office and the folks that I talked to. They fabricate everything in their shop. They are a group of Polish folks who don't really speak good English. They definitely try and they are a pretty cool group of guys. They initially came out for an estimate in October and set up the back gate in November and did the front gate this past week. They still have a few more pieces they need to get in there so I'm hoping they get those installed pretty soon. Another company gave me a quote that was $1,000 higher. I think this work will be around $3,500 because I made some changes. Sometimes they seem responsive; sometimes they don't. It is taking some time to get the job done but when I've contacted them, they usually get back to me within a day. I may have them do some additional work in the spring.

It went well. Although they called two days before to reschedule.

Their work was excellent. Their work was very precise and professionally done. It was excellent workmanship. I would recommend them.

After a bumpy start I agreed to give Stan a second chance because he seemed sincere about wanting my work and doing a good job. As mentioned above the quality of the work and installation are very good. Despite what you'll read below, the gate will end up being fine. If you're asking why I let a gate that didn't match the specs agreed to be installed, it's because getting to the installation took too long and I wanted the job done. Lets just say lesson learned. Stan's employee told me they would address my concern about vertical bars being too far apart and someone being able to reach in and open the gate. Over the next six weeks I called several times and sent several emails to address the issues and complete the job. After six weeks I disputed the charge for the deposit on my credit card. That got their attention. Unfortunately Stan told my credit card company I was not responsive in this process. I'm happy to provide my emails and phone records if anyone is interested. Stan told me it would cost an additional $200+ to address the issue that should have been part of their design. He also told me the lockset I bought, which a locksmith told me was required for building / fire code purposes, was the wrong one for the gate they built. When hiring a contractor I expect them to know the building codes and take them into consideration along with my requirements to come up with the final product. That didn't happen with this project. After all this, I decided not to pursue a solution that required spending even more money with Stan. He agreed to settle for an amount about 20% lower than what we originally agreed to. I've since found another provider to address the issues.

Overall the experience was good. Beyond what I've already described, the only place they fell a bit short was responsiveness. It took a number of phone calls and emails to get to the installation. Otherwise, the team did a good job.

I asked for competitive bids from others. Stan's wasn't the cheapest, but I went with the best recommendations from Angie's List. The date of installation had to be moved back once due to some complications with Stan's scheduling, but this wasn't anything that would break the deal for me. When the workers came, they were polite, punctual, and extremely competent. I'm very happy with their work. This was a very different experience from the one we had with the construction of a spiral staircase on the back of our house. We went through three companies before the job was finally finished. Even then, the welds had to be redone and the paint job had to be reapplied because the work was so shoddy.

I spoke to them during the course of the quote. They followed up their quote asking if I had any questions and were very professional. I have not decided who to use for this project but they are at the top of my list of sub contractors that I am going to use. I will use them again in the future.

Scheduled an 11am appointment for a fence repair estimate. About 10:30am I received a message from Mike asking if I could reschedule. Before I could call back Mike called again about 11:20am and asked if he could stop by in 15 min, I reluctantly agreed. Mike took all the information, measurements and said he would be in touch within a couple days. I never heard back, when I followed up with the company by message I again never heard back.

Great experience with Stan's Welding. We had a metal balcony repaired (floor panel replaced, primed, painted railings). The crew arrived on time and did the work without much disturbance (all access/work done external to building). Balcony looked like new at the end of the day. I would recommend Stan's for future work.

He was prompt. He did what he said he would do. He was also on time.