Stairs seemed to be another of those slightly mysterious house-building things, that it was never quite clear exactly how we would get them built. There are a few online ‘stair-builder’ websites, but our house (of course) had a slight quirk in the structure, and so it just wasn’t possible to go that route, even if we’d wanted to.
Given the nature of our space, it was also fairly vital that our stairs looked good. They are fairly centre-stage in our big room, with everyone entering the room underneath them, and a pillar coming down from the top landing to the end of the run of kitchen units. At this stage in our build, they also needed to slightly punch above their weight in terms of looking good but being produced on a fairly modest budget – at least relatively modest as far as bespoke staircases go.
Having procrastinated for a long time, at the start of the year, I decided that I really did need to get on with working out how they were going to happen. I spoke to a few people, Steve and I googled a lot, I spoke to some more people who either didn’t come back to me, came back to me saying that they couldn’t do our location, or replied with the most ludicrous estimates (almost as much as our entire house kit in one instance). And then my internet searching directed me to Jack Hyams. Whilst I knew nobody who had worked with Jack, over the course of a couple of email exchanges and conversations, he seemed to be someone who we would be very happy to work with. Of course for people working on our house, I’m aware it’s ‘just a job’ to them, but there are some people who are just that bit more interested (or at least give the impression they are) and care more than others – Jack is certainly one of those.
There wasn’t any particular rush at the start of the year, as we agreed the stairs would be installed after the wooden floor had gone down, so it was definitely a summer job. In the end August turned out to be stair month – and (almost) just in time for when we had visitors staying with us.
What was clear when Jack arrived, along with colleague Mike, that instincts had been correct. Installation did take longer than Jack had implied – 3+ visits in the end to finish it all (the + visit going to happen shortly) – but the most important thing is that the stairs absolutely live up to any expectations we had. Beautifully handcrafted, with care, and with our budget always kept in mind. This was definitely one of those jobs (like the plastering), I was very glad to leave to experienced professionals!
