Atlas Stair Building Company

We have a 1907 Victorian in San Francisco that we did a studs up remodel on, the last item we had replaced was the banister and handrail going to the second floor. We contacted numerous stair company’s to get quotes, we managed to hear back from only three of them and Ben was our final choice. On that note, I still don’t understand how so many contractor type business’s don’t bother to return calls for work you want to pay them to do? I’m clearly in the wrong business…
After talking with Ben, reviewing our project and visiting his shop, Ben gave us a very reasonable quote for the work. Ben is clearly an old school craftsman, exemplified by the fact that he doesn’t own a cell phone and does meticulous work, that seems from a bygone age. In this world of constant contact and immediate information, I could see how Ben’s not being «connected» could be a point of frustration for some but often times there is a price to be paid for having an old school craftsman do your work.
Now that the project is complete, we couldn’t be happier with the entire process and we love how the the entire stairway looks. If a friend asks me for a recommendation for stair work, or if we have another project ourselves, I wouldn’t hesitate to give them Ben’s number.
I’ve got to set myself a reminder to take pic’s and post them here!

Ben the stair man is awesome. He built a new staircase up to a roof deck that matched a staircase that was over a hundred years old. This man has mad skills and is s true artisan. He is a pleasure to work with and did a grade A job. If you need high quality work look no further.

Ben at Atlas Stair Company has completed 2 very beautiful stair railing installations for us in Pacific Heights for very demanding clients. He is honest, fair, and a very skilled old school craftsman. I would not hesitate to have Ben build a staircase for our clients again.

If you do not want to give your business and money to an unreliable, rude, and disrespectful person, you should avoid this man. Below is a description of the events that took place– all facts– so you can draw your own conclusions.
I called this «company» (which really is a single man operation) on Wednesday, June 27^th. Nobody answered and I left a message. He called me back the next day. I told him the situation with our stairs and that we needed to get this job done as quickly as possible (we had painters scheduled to paint the whole house and I didn’t want the new paint to be damaged when the stairs were getting fixed). He offered to come take a look at 10 AM that Saturday. Well, 10 AM came and went, nobody showed up or called, so I called. He answered, but offered no apology or excuse for not showing up at the scheduled time. Fine, I won’t make a big deal. He offered to come at 3 PM and did show up this time. He gave us his opinion on our stairwell. The plan was for him to replace the top 4 steps and then some hardwood floor guy he knew would refinish the rest. He told us that we should think twice about hiring just anyone who would come in with large machines and damage our stairs and that this guy he knows is the right guy for the job. We trusted his opinion and said «Good, let’s schedule». He then said he has some family things and another job to take care of, but that he would call us in about 2, maybe 3, weeks. (Meanwhile, the painting will have to get done as scheduled and we’ll have to pay for additional touch up paint later on). Two weeks passed, three weeks passed, no call… So I called him at the beginning of week #4, nobody answered. (By the way, he has no cell phone or email.) I left a message along the lines of «Hi, you came by and looked at our stairs at the end of June. You had said you’d call us in a few weeks, but we haven’t heard back. We really want to get this done as soon as possible, so please give me a call back. Thanks.» He called back 2 DAYS later. Again, no explanation or apology as to why he didn’t call us when he said he would. On top of that, he said «I took another job after I saw yours. I should be done with it next Monday. I’ll call you on Tuesday or Wednesday next week». Fine… we’ve waited this long, I can wait another week. I called back Wednesday late afternoon, anxious to get things rolling. Nobody answered. I left a message. He called back 2 DAYS later. Again, no apology. He said he just got done with the other job and asked what my availability is for the following week. I said I’ll be out of town, but my husband will be available and asked if he could call my husband to schedule. He said «Ok, I’ll give him a call on Monday». At this point I had had it. Why doesn’t he just hang up and call my husband right away? Why is it that he says he will call and then never calls? Why is it that when I leave a message it takes him 2 days to get back to me only to say he’ll call later? To top it all off, he actually said he hadn’t talked to that guy he was recommending. It’s been 5 weeks and he didn’t get a chance to call this guy! At this point, I was so disappointed, that I actually started crying and I asked him if he could please call my husband now. Our stairs look like a construction zone and I really want things to be done sooner than later. I asked him if he could maybe give me the number of the other guy he’s recommending, so I can call him since he hasn’t had the time to do it. You know what he says? «You’re so difficult to work with. I don’t even know I have a job here». Excuse me? How am I difficult to work with? He is either extremely forgetful or he doesn’t care. I really don’t mind people forgetting things as long as there is a sincere apology followed by some action to make things right. Apparently, nobody taught this man any manners. He said «I’ll call your husband» and hung up on me. He called my husband the next day to say he can’t do the job because I’m difficult to work with. There is nothing more to what has happened than what I just wrote here, so I’m not sure how he came to conclude I’m difficult to work with. So here we are almost 6 weeks out when we could have found somebody else to fix our stairs if he had been decent enough to turn down the job if he had too many other things going on in his life.
Anyway, I can’t say if this man does a good job or a bad job when he actually delivers on his promise to do the job, but I just don’t think rude people should be rewarded with jobs, so I hope you find somebody else to work on your stairs– somebody who will actually be happy that you’re giving him/​her business.

This guy is awesome, and so is the building. Inside there are examples of all things stairs, including railings, finials, different wood, different designs. In the back is his actual wood working shop. I called them in an emergency, needed a hand rail for a house guest. Despite their being totally booked they took pity on me and build a temporary post and railing so spectacular I still haven’t replaced it. It’s sturdy as all get out. Looks like they still haven’t bothered with email or websites. His wife just put up a site w Better Business Bureau, other than that they use this thing called a telephone.