Iron & Oak

Just needs stain and paint, but the unfinished oak looks pretty good!

In the past three years, we’ve had a lot of tradesmen, contractors, and renovation “professionals” in and out of our house. Unfortunately, I’ve usually been underwhelmed by these professionals and their approach to doing the job. Although the work ends up being passable, it feels like we limped through the finish line of every project we’ve done so far.

They all sort of start the same way - fill out a request for a quotation. Getting a hold of these guys always seems to be tough. On one hand, you’re annoyed because you’re looking for someone to give your hard earned money to in exchange for their service. On the other hand, you’re empathetic to the demands of their work (which you don’t possess the time or skill to do yourself, hence the request for a quotation), so you want to give them some grace. Furthermore, they always seem to be busier than they can handle, and we all know what that feels like, too.

So you cut them some slack, and maybe things progress to a site visit to scope out the job. They often arrive later than they said they would. They sit in their car for 15-minutes before they come into your house, as you pace the front hall (because you’ve been anticipating their arrival as per your intermittent communication).

Finally, they’re in your house and you’re going through the job with them. Sometimes, they ask questions you don’t have the answer to. I used to feel bad about that, until I realized that the real professionals I’m going to tell you about shortly, know how to ask the right questions, and then use the expertise that you hired them for to fill in the gaps. During our basement underpinning, one of the project managers asked me where I wanted the discharge vent… Discharge for what? Liquid? Gas? The toilet? Is this vent interior or exterior? Does the discharge need to move vertically or horizontally? Hell if I know… 

I have no shame in admitting what I don’t know, especially when it comes to renovations. But I’ve had this experience enough times to wonder if they know what they’re doing. It erodes your trust and makes you feel like you have to supervise a job that you know little to nothing about.

Let’s skip ahead and say that you finally get the job on the calendar. The work is scheduled to start on some date in the future. You’re cautiously optimistic until that date comes and goes along with a flurry of emails - some that are responded to within minutes while others take weeks.

By some act of God, the project gets off the ground. Workers show up, your house gets torn apart, there’s dust everywhere, and you have no idea when the project will be completed, how much it’s going to cost, and what decision you’ll have to make next. You try to be kind and understanding when things don’t go as planned, but eventually you realize that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. The job gets done. Delayed and over budget, but you don’t even care because it felt like a root canal from start to finish, and you’re happy enough with the work because it’s finally over. 

Sound familiar?

Well I’m happy to report that not all hope is lost my friends! This week, my faith was restored in small business trades. We hired Iron & Oak to finish our interior staircase that connects the main-floor to our newly finished basement. I know what you’re thinking - who cares about the staircase? To which I would tell you to tear the treads, trim, and risers off your existing stairs and see what’s underneath. You won’t like it…

From the time we initially reached out, our experience with Iron & Oak was so refreshing. They are a two-man show, led by Spiros who started the business in 2014. After some back and forth via prompt and professional email communications, we scheduled a site visit for measurements at 8:00am the next morning. He parked his truck outside my house at 7:58am, and was shaking my hand with a smile at 7:59am. I was already sold; that’s how low the bar is.

Trying to explain how you want an unfinished staircase to look is more challenging than I anticipated. Spiros was patient and acknowledged that stairs were an unusual job that most clients have a tough time articulating what they’re looking for. In fact, that’s why his business only does interior stairs and railings. It’s such a specific and often overlooked part of a project until you end up in the same situation as me!  

Immediately, I felt heard and trusted that he had the skills and experience to do this job to the standard I wasn’t sure how to communicate. He showed me several different examples of jobs he’d recently completed to help me understand how the details of each job would match the similarities and differences in ours. 

He was polite and articulate. He wasn’t trying to sell me anything, at least I didn’t feel like he was. I just saw a guy who understood exactly what we needed, and he moved around like he’d done it a thousand times before (because he has). That’s something you can’t fabricate with an Instagram account and some power tools. That confidence is earned the same way a powerlifter earns a 700 lb squat or a marathoner runs a sub 2:20 race - it only comes from doing the reps. You can’t cheat the grind.

The rest of the project went exactly how I hoped and expected it to after our initial interaction. The communication was consistent and clear. Anytime they had to visit our house to take a measurement or double check some part of the job, they showed up on time and were respectful of our home. We scheduled a date for the install. They showed up on that date, at the exact time that they promised they would. When they worked in the house, they spoke to each other respectfully and talked about the job with a positive attitude. 

Overall, it was the best experience I’ve had with any contractor or trade since we bought our house in 2018. And as a small business owner myself, it was such a poignant reminder of the things that really matter when it comes to providing a high quality service.

Communicate. Be on time. Set expectations. Do what you say you’re going to do. Be polite, positive, and professional. All of these are qualities you must possess in addition to the actual skill required to do the work at a high level. It’s very similar to being a personal trainer or a strength coach. The ability to see and correct movement is a given. Most trainers miss all the other stuff and then wonder why there’s no longevity in the industry, or why people look at personal training as a part-time job or hobby instead of a career. I think that the trades have the same challenge. Trainers and good tradesmen assume that being good at the job is enough, and further, justifies being lazy and unorganized when it comes to the other parts about running the business. 

I’ve heard gym owners rationalize messy bathrooms and poor business practices by saying, “well, I’m a coach, not a businessman.” You have to be both. If you want to be treated like a professional, you have to act like one. Great trainers know that being able to coach a great workout isn’t enough. You also have to be organized, on time, and genuinely care about your clients and their progress. You have to plan ahead with thoughtful training progressions while being flexible to the individual needs of every client you train. You have to work and train with a gusto that implies what you’re doing matters, because it does. 

Thank you to Iron & Oak for not only doing a great job on our stairs, but also for setting and holding a standard of excellence in your industry. You’ve inspired me to keep pushing to do the same in mine.

You get 1440 minutes every single day. Communicate. Be on time. Set expectations. Do what you say you’re going to do. Be polite, positive, and professional.