FAQs
- How did you get started doing this type of work?
I began "tinkering" with welding in my early twenties. I was fascinated with how I could create almost anything that I wanted. I began crafting specialty tools that would make basic jobs that I was doing easier and more precise. I began making small ornamental items for friends and family almost immediately and found myself critiquing even the tiniest of irregularities. This caused me to start challenging myself to make better looking welds so that little or no grinding was necessary. I then began to focus on each cut that I made to be within 1/32 of an inch of what my plan was. In welding, you can get away with much more lenient tolerances, but I found the focusing on the smallest of details made the project more fun, faster and I felt much more satisfaction knowing that the best job was done. One day, my uncle who is a commercial general contractor, got in a bind with the welder that he was using for fabricating and installing ADA compliant handrails on his commercial accounts. Knowing that I was a fireman, he asked me if I was interested in making some extra money on my days off from the fire department. I figured, "why not?" After completing the first job, he quickly decided to offer me all of the ADA handrail jobs that he needed done. I agreed to take on some jobs "here and there", but that soon became a second "full-time job". I began to get requests from friends and family members to build ornamental iron (wrought iron, decorative iron) fences for them and other miscellaneous iron projects. I began to realize that I had an affinity for the ornamental work. I felt as though I could demonstrate my artistic side more by combining other peoples ideas with my own and greatly satisfying them with a beautiful piece of "functioning art". This made the fact that welding in the North Texas summers can be brutal, much more tolerable and a lot less like "work". Though I still do commercial iron fencing and railing, I have poured my heart and soul into more of the residential ornamental ironwork to both help my fellow North Texans with a project that they would like to have done on their property and have a strong sense of pride in the art that I get to create.
- What types of customers have you worked with?
Most residential jobs that I do for my clients involve decorative or ornamental iron fences and gates. Many are not-so-fancy perimeter iron fences and gates, but more than a few hire me to create artistic fences, stair rails and drive way entry gates for them.
- What advice would you give a customer looking to hire a provider in your area of work?
Go with your gut. This is the best advice I can give any potential client that contacts me. Meet with each and every contractor that you receive estimates from. Ask them questions. Ask for references and examples of work that they have done previously that is similar to the work that you are wanting to have done. In general, you will have a gut feeling in which direction to go. My clients will tell you that after meeting with me, having their questions answered and receiving a competitive bid for a superior product that their first instinct was to hire me. I have never had a customer disappointed in that decision.