KLEINSMITH STAIR & TRIM

We had an old style "Brady Bunch" stairway with a pony wall, really short iron balusters, and a thick handrail, all painted white. This pattern was repeated in the living room and master bedroom as room dividers. Kleinsmith cut down the walls to stair-tread height and built new caps on the ends of the stairs and on the shorter room dividers. Then they installed a beautiful handrail and new wrought-iron balusters with baskets (arranged in a nice pattern). The result is beautiful, and it really opens up the views through the front of the house and updates the look to a more modern, elegant design. Surprisingly, this is one of the higher visual impact changes we've made, up there with kitchen and bath remodels.

Great craftsmnship at a very competetive price.

unknown

unknown

unknown

a year ago, maybe 2--dave and his excellent crew built me a GORGEOUS staircase.  After the job was completed, I asked for an additional handrail--they came out and installed it, no charge.
But recently, it seemed a little loose and wobbly.  i called, and again they came out, fixed it, no charge.
This is a really good company.

We hired Dave Kleinsmith to do our straircase remodling. We were interested in a wood cherry staircase. During our conversation,  Mr. Kleinsmith suggested to use wood birch instead becuase he mentioned it was durable, flexible with different staining colors and cost-effective. Specifically, when I inquired how long the stain would last he replied "at least 10 years". We followed his professional recommendation. Our porject was completed in February 2010. Since January 2013, I emailed him twice reporting that the color in the steps of our staircase was fading with normal daily use. Given his lack of response I called his office. I have never received any communication from his company addressing our concerns. I would recommend that when choosing a company for your staricase remodeling project you think of the warranty provided and of the responsiveness of the company. In our case the responsiveness of  'Kleinsmith stair & trim' was suboptimal to say the least.

Sexism is alive and well in the construction business.  You need look no further than Robert Fielding, Project Manager, who does the company bidding and much of the scheduling at Kleinsmith Stairs and Trim.   I wholeheartedly admitted to knowing little to nothing about rebuilding a staircase.  Robert showed himself to be condescending and arrogant.  Most words out of his mouth were misleading and directed at gaining business for the company and not helping the customer gain insight or knowledge on the
work to be performed.
The only reason I went forward with the project was I had heard great things about the finished product that the crew designed. 
They certainly did not disappoint.  From Levi, who did the demolition and installation of the balusters; John, who did the woodworking and installation; and Edri who helped me pick out the ?perfect? paint color, I could not be happier.  Of course, because of scheduling problems, the baluster installation took an additional week to schedule after the staircase was complete.  The scheduler only had my job on the books for over 5 weeks before the start of work ?
I would recommend Kleinsmith Stairs and Trim, notwithstanding the one bad apple in the bunch.  Beware also that there is
great difficulty reaching Robert on the phone, email or text messaging. The good news, however, is there is little interaction with him after the job has started and, in the end, you will have a lovely staircase to call your own.
 
 
 

unknown

The demo crew was great and it was a very extensive job.  All the way through the owner and Robert were right on top of the job. Damon, who did the woodwork was a Master Craftsman.  All the crew was professional and left us clean every night.  They stayed to their schedule. It wasn't inexpensive but the other contractors actually told us to find "stair" people to look at the job.  Kleinsmiths had no qualms about what needed to be done. I felt comfortable with their depth of knowledge.  A really beautiful outcome. We are very pleased.

From initial estimate to finishing stain, Kleinsmith was extremely professional and far exceeded my expectations with respect to both the look and sturdiness of the installed product. The design elegantly overcame the many challenges posed by the layout of the stairs, the workmanship was flawless, and the wood and hardware used were of excellent quality.

Throughout the project, they kindly explained the alternatives and rationale behind build decisions to my wife, who was overseeing the effort. Consequently, there were no surprises - other than the fact that we were amazed at how painless the experience was, and how well everything turned out.

Great job! Makes a world of difference in the look of our staircase.

They were amazing. I was in awe of how fast, personal, and high quality they were. They were great. I talked to three others and liked Klein the best.

I met with them a couple of times, they were extremely pleasant, courteous, on time, no issues but I didn't have any work done. There was nothing negative, it was very detailed, it seems accurate, they were on time, overall it was a positive experience.

Kleinsmith responded very quickly to my request for an estimate. He came to my house on the first day that was best for me and quickly took his measurements. He promised to provide an estimate in a day or two. It was a detailed estimate. We did not use him to do the work, but only because another company, similarly rated by you, gave me a lower estimate for the same work.

I used Klein Smith Stair and Trim about 5
years ago after a kitchen remodel. I realized that all my hand rails looked very dated. They replaced all my railings. They had many styles to choose from. I was very concerned about the railings matching my new floors and they did! Nice Job went smoothly.

Kleinsmith's craftsmen were efficient and highly skilled. They did an excellent job installing a solid maple staircase and two landings.
However, Kleinsmith does not respond to Emails in a timely manner. After work was completed and paid for on 1/14/2013, I requested a paid invoice be sent to me. As of 3/27/2013 I had not heard from him or his company. His craftsmen may be highly qualified and skilled, but his business sense when it comes to communicating with a client is lacking.

Contacted Kleinsmith by email about a stair remodel. No response, so I started getting other bids. About 2 weeks after my email I received a call from Kleinsmith asking if they had contacted me yet, and was I still interested? I had not selected a contractor yet, so I said no one contacted me but "yes" I'm still interested. They came the next day, surveyed the job and said they'd get back to me with a bid. That was 3 weeks ago. Apparently they didn't want the job. I would have appreciated a simple statement to that effect so I would not have been left hanging.

Dave, Robert and their crew of courteous skilled craftsmen transformed my staircase from serviceable to sensational. On time and within budget. Fully professional every step of the way, from design to materials to installation, to the final and quot;Oh, wow, it's beautiful.and quot;
Thanks to Angie's List for the introduction.

I really loved their approach and felt really good about the work they do. I've had several people tell me they have used him and he does excellent work. He took a sample of the wood I plan to use and he is making a sample of the actual color that I want. I plan to use him for the work soon.

Very good work, but failed to return to fix one small item

Great. This was a long project due to other contractors work schedule. Dave Kliensmith and his crew worked with us on scheduling and they were very patient and careing. We could not really visualize the finished product. Dave and his crew really exceeded our expectations, we are compleatly satisified with the outcome. Our home no longer looks like a and quot;tract home' on the interior.

We will recommend Kliensmith Stair and Trim to anyone considering staircase work.

Love my new stairs! Dave had come out over a year ago for an estimate and it was finally time to get it done. He came back for a new estimate but it was pretty much the same. There was a 2 week lag time to start the job. The crew was outstanding, on time, very nice and polite and did great work. The job took a little longer than I had expected but they came back when it was convenient for me to finish the staining and painting and then select the ballusters. It turned out great and I am so glad we took out the half wall.

Kleinsmith did everything we were quoted to perfection. They finished on time and did everything within the quoted price. The wroght iron they made was beaufiful, The wooden handrails were also perfect and just what we wanted. The stem wall that was built looks like it has always been there and the cap on it looks very professional. His railing installer and stem wall builder was a great guy and we were happy to have such a hard worker on our project. The stainers and painters did a superb job as did his drywall repair and tape guy. The work was finished ontime and the work area was cleaned each night before they left. His price was also extremely fair. This is an excellent company to hire if you need some finish work done and would like a new set of handrails in your house. I know you'll be thrilled with the outcome.

I was amazed at how smoothly this project went. Dave and his guys showed up on time every day. Not only that, they showed up smiling and happy. They worked hard, and were extremely neat. Considering they completely ripped out our stairs I was expecting a huge mess and they were tidy while they worked and cleaned neatly at the end of each day. Each of his workers was very aware of my two young children, childproofing the open stairs and wrapping any sharp corners for their safety. They also let my kids tag along and took time to explain their tools and what they were doing. This was above and beyond as I know it slowed down their work process a bit. After ripping out our old stairs, they replaced the stairs with custom built new wood stairs. The workmanship is amazing. After the wood was in, a second team came in to stain the stairs. It was a tough color to match but they worked hard to get exactly what I wanted. When the stain dried, Dave came over and we chose balusters that worked with the color. I wanted something unique and Dave worked with me to choose a design that was what I wanted. Because I wanted something unique, the company did not have anything in stock. We ended up ordering the balusters "unfinished" and Dave took them to San Diego Powder Coating. (He actually met me over there to help me pick out a color.) None of this was in the original budget, but Dave charged me no extra for all the extra work. He kept saying, "We want you happy," and I could tell that was exactly what he wanted. Because the balusters weren't in stock, and had to be taken to get powder coated, I was without balusters for about two weeks. Dave made a special trip to bring plywood over to block off the opening so my kids wouldn't fall through. I really appreciated this as it put my mind at ease. In any other house with no kids, the opening was no big deal, but with little ones it was a really nice touch. The day after the balusters came in, Dave was here installing them. I could tell he was as excited as I was to see this project finished. I have a new set of beautiful stairs that are modern and beautiful. Our staircase is a huge part of the entrance to our home and it has made a huge difference to update it. Everyone who comes to our house now comments on the stairs. Another neat thing about working with Dave and Kleinsmith Stairs is his policy is you pay nothing until the job is completely finished. I'd highly recommend this company! (His website has all sorts of pictures of the work he has done :))