Rene and his team are master craftsman when it comes to quality stairs! What I will share is that I've been very fortunate to have Rene help redo 2 sets of stairs in 2 of our homes (he did our stairs in our starter home and most recently our "forever home"). When it comes to selecting someone to do such a large ticket item in your home, the things that stick out for me are quality, reasonable price, and timely responses -- Rene checks all of these boxes. Although he has a lot of business, one of his key differentiators is that he only works 1 job at a time, so he and his team will be 100% focused on your job, which ensures no distractions and also limits the disruption in your life since he's usually in and out in 4 days! Also, I've been fortunate on both occasions to have a turnaround time from initial contact/quote to completed stairs in ~2-3 weeks, which is great if you don't want to wait around for months trying to get on someone's schedule and live in a construction zone for weeks! But let me clarify, the 4 day turnaround time to complete the job is not for a lack of effort -- Rene and his team work VERY long hours on each of those days (think 12+ hour days), so you actually reap the benefit for less labor & overhead costs relative to other contractors, which translates to more reasonable pricing.
When I initially reached out to Rene, I called him and from there we just went back and forth via text. It's very easy to ask questions, share pictures of what you're thinking of, and also to get his perspective on what would work in your home and examples of his own work that align with your vision. Rene will personally come to your house and look at the stairs, provide his input on any modifications from the initial phone/text conversation, and if you decide to move forward will draft up the quote and take measurements so he can get to work in his shop!
Another thing I like to point out, for those of us who like to support small businesses, is that stairs is a family business for Rene. Other than himself, his son also is part of the team and sometimes even his brother will be there on the job! I appreciate that Rene stands by his work -- even offering a lifetime warranty on the woodwork installation and a can of the stain that he used on your stairs so that you can do small touchups yourself if you're so inclined (trust me, his stain is a good quality product! I've even used it to touch up my wood furniture that was a similar color).
Overall, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Rene and Contour Stairs to my family and friends, so I'd encourage you guys to check him out! In case you're wondering, Rene recently moved inland so although this Yelp page doesn't have too many reviews yet, you can check out his other Yelp page (search in Carson, CA) to see his many reviews with 5 star ratings, in case you need further evidence to give him a call. read more