I obviously care more about spiral stairs then the average person. They are my life and I spend more hours thinking about how we add or improve to the product so that we continue to be the highest quality spiral stair in a kit or one piece form in North America than I care to share with the public. What is not so obvious however is how many spiral stairs we create for television shows and movies.

Just last month we manufactured two custom spiral stairs for the television show “Law & Order SVU” on NBC and “Bones” on Fox. I have to admit I think it is fun to create our product for these types of uses and I wish there was a better way to get the video or pictures of our stairs in the sets(the same people in purchasing usually don’t return our calls when we try to get pictures of our stair). I have also recently started the habit of pausing shows or movies on my television to rewind and see if it is our spiral stair. Usually you cannot tell because it is far in the background, but I always like to try.

I have also been known to swerve on the road when I am at the beach because of the quantity of spiral stairs off decks in coastal environments. It’s worth it though and my friends are accepting of my ways and even encouraging me with pictures of their favorite spiral stairs from around the world or “spiral stair tours” when I am visiting a beach. Much thanks to all of them and hopefully we’ll have some better luck with these last two spirals in terms of picture or videos for the website.

Sam

Hi.

I’m writing today because I was inspired by someone who decided not to purchase a spiral stair from us. The person I am discussing is Nikki from Dallas, TX.  Now before you think I’ve lost it I admit to wishing that we could have sold her one of our spiral stairs. Instead we received our brochure in the mail from Nikki in the original packing with a note that read,

“This will not work for us, but instead of recycling I thought you could send it to someone else. Thanks ”

I was specifically touched because in today’s world of marketing we are bombarded with companies trying desperately to tell us how environmentally conscious they are. On the contrary this felt understated and simply genuine. I couldn’t have been more impressed. Thank you Nikki, I personally delivered the brochure to the person that sends brochures to make sure we use yours next.

Here at Salter Spiral Stair we take a number of measures to be environmentally conscious. For example go out of our way to purchase recycled materials (specifically metals), we use FSC certified lumber (http://www.fsc.org/ – responsible forest management), we recycle all our wood dust and scrap, properly dispose of any materials which require it, and are constantly looking at more ways to eliminate our carbon footprint. Are we perfect? Certainly not. Are we improving and striving to be more consicious? Absolutely and proud of it.

Thanks again Nikki for reminding us we are all on this planet together…

So it’s Friday. I just had another 14 hour day and we just got back to the hotel from the final day of the Deck and Remodeling Trade Show.

Wake up 6:30. Shower and grab some food. 7:15 I start the drive to a customers house. He had stopped by the booth on Wednesday and was raving about how he just put in one of our spirals this year. So I asked and he was kind enough to oblige to allow me to come out to his house and take some pictures for the website. It was a very nice house and stair so I look forward to getting those up.

Then I was back at our booth around 9:30. My plant manager Dave was doing well chatting with customers. Then after about six more hours on our feet the show was over. Needless to say it is quite tiring being on your feet for the entire time (we opted for no chairs). Then we had to dissasemble a 2,000 lb booth and pack it away for shipping. That took about five more hours. I have to hand it to Dave for being a great support and enthusiastic. We had a game plan and stook to it.

All in all we are very pleased. We made a lot of great contacts and spread the word about how a Salter Spiral Stair can be a great addition to any contractor’s arsenal of products. Whether they are off a deck or interior, a spiral stair saves room, looks great, and assembles a lot quicker than a straight stair.

Sam

It’s 5 Am and I have to quickly finish packing and get to the plant to meet my plant manager Dave Lewis to start the drive. We finally pull out around 7 after we finish packing the truck, print diretions, gas, water, etc.  We managed only to get lost once and still made it in under 10 hours. Not bad…

Day 2. We wake up in Indianapolis and decide to scout out the convention center. We had a couple sizable pieces to carry in since they either weren’t finished when we sent the truck or were breakable and didn’t want to risk shipping them (i.e. television).  Luckily with some driving down the wrong way on a one way street, sneaking in a back door, and someone looking around the corner before we wheeled the cart around any corner we made it without detection. The guys setting up the booth next to us laughed as they saw what we were doing. This is our first show though so we were pretty happy about that.

All things considered we spent about 8 hours setting up the booth and are 90% done. We then met two college friends of mine who are in town consulting. Good to catch up with Noah and Emily, looking forward to seeing them more this week… Dave and I are going to listen to a couple speakers that are speaking today. You can look at the picture of the booth so far here on our facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Collegeville-PA/Salter-Spiral-Stair/104347107387#/album.php?aid=165088&id=104347107387&ref=mf .

We forgot 3 things, broke one piece of our neighbors (which I am replacing today this morning) and are excited to talk to customers.

Sam

Hello to all,

We recieved this email from a happy customer named Jim in Maryland. The stair is a 5′6″ Power Coated Aluminum Spiral Stair. As you can see it has three center balusters to meet code as well as diamond plate treads for slip resistance. Some other notes – this stair has continuous sleeves so the treads stack up exactly and the center column is hidden in the stair (I consider the best option we have in terms of value for added attractivness and ease of installation), custom baluster tips which are milled and coped so there is no fitting from the balusters to the handrail, finally a code platform with two platform rails.

Here is Jim’s note from his e-mail: ” I just wanted to get this short note off to you to tell you how completely satisfied I am with the spiral stairs I bought from Salter Spiral Stair. The product was delivered on time with no damage. I was able to follow the instructions and assemble the stairs as directed. The finished spiral staircase is beyond my expectations. It looks fantastic. See pictures. I know you and I had many phone conversations before the final order was placed. I must admit I was concerned with all the details, but everything worked just as you said. Thanks for taking the time.”

We couldn’t be happier Jim to help you. Thank you.

Jim’s Pictures are our facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Collegeville-PA/Salter-Spiral-Stair/104347107387 and his specific album is here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=157855&id=104347107387&ref=mf

Don’t forget to become a fan of Salter Spiral Stair while you are looking! Thanks.

Sam

Tuesday Morning,

I spent some time today to visit a customers home near the plant. He recently purchased and installed a customer powder coated aluminum spiral. I hope the pictures will be on the website soon. Additionally, I took a short video of the customer discussing a little bit about his spiral. He considers it a deck stair which is intersting because a true wooden deck stair is the largest competitor to a spiral stair in terms of exterior options. What most contractors and deck builders really don’t know is that you can install a spiral stair faster and about the same price as a wooden deck stair with a mid story platform.

My reasoning is simple. A spiral takes 1 day to assemble. A deck stair is most likely at least two. A deck stair also will require at least six footings and a mid story platform where you switchback going the other way.  The extra labor plus materials makes a spiral stair about the same price and even cheaper if you go with a galvanized option. This scenario assumes about 12 foot deck which is about average for our customers.

If anyone has any questions or disagrees with me shoot me an e-mail to discuss. Spiral are the same price if not cheaper, faster to assemble, look great, and save space inside and outside a home…

Sam

So I’m finishing up some work this Sunday afternoon with the U.S. Open on the television in front of me. Two things interested me today from the telecast

1. Roger Federer is amazing. He doesn’t over power you or is so fast nothing gets by him. He is just a perfectly fundamental tennis player. He can beat you so many ways he seems perfect and he never beats himself. It almost seem cruel to the other players because he beats you on international t.v. and doesn’t even break a sweat. With all the Americans beaten already, I find it hard not to root out loud for him to beat everyone… for a sixth straight U.S. Open title?!?!

2. I saw a commercial for a Ford Taurus SHO. I remember reading the WSJ article that they were planning on killing the Taurus model. I for one have a special connection the Taurus SHO because my first car on the road was a used SHO edition. So I was happily surprised when I went to the website to find out more about the new Taurus I was happily surprised to see that it looks like a very nice car and while I have converted to an SUV person due to my lifestyle (skis, bikes, camping, etc) if I ever go back I would certainly entertain the new Taurus especially the SHO edition, http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/taurus/ . 

Finally work, I’m trying to consolidate all my notes, to-do lists, thoughts, concerns, ideas, etc. I have a pile of notebooks, notepads, napkins, scrap pieces of paper piled next to me about three inches thick. Then I plan on reviewing all of these once they are consolidated and first group them in some categories and then rank them in order of importance so I can be most efficient at work this week. Looking forward to a productive week with lots of revenue… Sam out.

Hi,

After a long weekend and a way too much time in the office on a Sunday (today) I’m going to go for a run. I’m excited to start the week though and finish the month strong. This time of the year a number of employees are out for family vacations since school is out, but we have had a number of people step up in both production and the office. I always like to see what suggestions people come up with when they fill in for someone in terms of efficiencies or suggestions. A new set of eyes can do a whole lot.

This weeks goal. Work on my time managment so I don’t get bogged down in one project or too many details…

Sam

Today was long yet exciting for me. I woke up early and drove out to the New Jersey shore so that I could meet one of our best dealers at a job site. They were putting in one of our aluminum deck stairs and I was looking forward to not only discussing the project and our product, but to take some pictures of them installing it.

For those of you who don’t know we do not install our spiral stairs. Instead we choose to manufacture the highest quality spirals and ship them around the world. This ensures some of our contractor and builder customers that we will not be competing against them on regional installs, but more importantly it allows us to focus on being the best manufacturer possible. This is why I was so excited to meet the installers becasue we always need more field knowledge about what is working great and what needs improvement. While we already have the best spiral on the market, we are constantly striving to improve. This is not some marketing ploy, I personally make it my business to strive for perfection.

That being said I came away with one idea, a bunch of good vidoes/pictures, and a better relationship with one of our installers. I’ll be busy after the holiday posting these things to our facebook page which you can find here… Salter Fan Page – Facebook. Have a great weekend…

Sam