Alameda Metalworks

Initially it took some effort to get the principal to come out and scope our project. He thought the metal was OK but severely rusted, and offered an estimate of what was needed to do the job. When the crew came to remove the railing, while slow, they seemed competent. I even emailed the owner telling him I thought the crew was very conscientious. But when it came time to do the hard part, remove the balcony, at that point communication started breaking down and the crew started complaining. As an engineer, I had some sound advice on how to proceed but they chose to do it their way. OK, it got done. I should have done more diligence. The company I think is geared towards artsy-fartsy metal work, not real production work. Their shop doesn't even have an overhead crane for lifting! Had I known this I'd have chosen a more professional, production oriented outfit. Along the way I was told how great their welders were, how clean their beads. The final product I have has some nasty beads, and they never ground off the splatter. So all the talk of extremely talented workers was B.S., at least in regards my project. They did some parts pretty well, but not without a lot of back and forth that wasn't necessary. Sadly, they also wanted to work to whatever schedule they dreamed up, ignoring multiple emails regarding the schedule and my drop dead dates. It took a letter from our legal counsel to get them to finish the project. We grew so frustrated we hired another outfit to re-install the railing, balcony, and stairs. If you have a small artsy type project, like a small hand rail or gate, they might be a good outfit, but I would check with several other firms. You can probably do better. They are not setup to do a large project of any kind. In hindsight I should have gotten a fixed price, and set deliverable dates with penalties for missing deadlines.

This business demonstrates the kind of poor customer service people come to Angie's list to avoid when trying to find contractors or tradespeople. It is listed as a welding business and it's listing on Angie's indicates that it does "small jobs". I have a small repair job and tried to contact the business by phone, but there was no answer or message option. After several tries I finally got an answer machine message directing customers to the business web site and indicating that an email about the job would be the best way to get a response. I sent an email with pictures and an explanation of what I needed. It has now been a week and I have received no response at all, even to indicate the email request was received. This is a fabrication shop and perhaps they are too busy to do small repair jobs. If that's the case then most people would probably understand that when it was explained. I certainly would. What is not exceptable or professional is to simply ignore customer inquiries.

The company never responded after our initial discussion so it did not go well at all.

TIM WAS VERY PROFESSIONAL AND MANUFACTURED THE RAIL ON SIGHT AND TOOK IT BACK TO THE SHOP TO COMPLETE THE WELDS AND SPECIAL PAINTING AND COATING. TIM DID AN EXCELLENT JOB AND WE LOVE OUR NEW HANDRAIL. I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND TIM AND ALAMEDIA METALWORKS.

I found Alameda Metalworks on Angie's List and gave Tim a call. From start to finish Tim was great to work with. I described the project and he worked with me making suggestions that helped keep the cost down. I had a design in mind and we discussed it. Tim offered extremely insightful input due to his expertise working with steel that made the finished product much better than the original design. The work was done in a timely manner and the craftsmanship was superb. I would definitely call on Tim for any further metal work i would need in the future. Thanks Tim!

Although there were a few delays, the end product is well worth it. The railings are very attractive, sturdy, and all hand made. Tim was eager to try something a bit different and was not at all daunted by our suggestions and revisions. He is very easy to work with, as is his crew. The railings are a real asset to the house. We enthusiastically recommend him and his employees. They are real professionals and very nice guys.