For over 30 years Hardwood Design, Inc. has been providing architects, builders and homeowners with beautiful stairs and stair parts. A few of our services include: CNC precision, custom fabrication, design & engineering, fully assembled in shop staircases, custom and stock part sales and precise installation. Whether you have one part of your stair that needs replaced or you need a full flight of custom stairs, Hardwood Design is here to help you.
Few shops can match our design and engineering capabilities. If you have an idea in mind for a specific staircase project, our design and engineering team will help you develop a concept that will realize this vision.
The Hardwood Design Inc. design team is dedicated to determining the overall appearance of the stair and every minor aesthetic detail. We offer customers an extensive photo gallery of completed projects as well as archived CAD drawings to draw ideas from. We also have a wealth of reference books on stair designs and can provide website links to interested customers that show thousands of stair and rail ideas.
We pride ourselves on bringing customers into our showroom, which displays samples and mockups that help them delineate size, scale and appearance before investing in the final concept. Our creative in-house designers are always helpful and make themselves available throughout the drafting process.
The engineering process determines how the stair is put together, how it functions and feels and the logistics of the process from drawing to installation. We use ergonomic rules of thumb to establish rise and run geometry and profiles, and then create shop drawings and models that clearly communicate the construction details to you, the customer, and to our shop fabricators and installers.
Our engineers uncover flaws in design prior to actual fabrication through constant review of shop drawings, models and mockups, then modify load calculations to ensure safety, function and code conformity.
We actively participate in trade groups and conferences, like the Stairway Manufacturers Association, in order to stay up-to-date with the latest trends, technologies and stair-building techniques. Our continuous improvement of processes enables us to provide greater value to our customers.
To qualify as a stairbuilder, you have to be much more than just a gifted woodworker. Our people are passionate about the trade and have the creative talent to craft projects that are thoughtful and beautiful. With hundreds of complex staircases successfully completed, we are creative problem solvers, equipped with vast experience that we can apply to unique projects that other shops wouldn’t dare undertake.
We are sized and equipped to handle several complex projects simultaneously, while other shops are too small to handle large jobs or too big to pay attention to the details of more ornate flights. Our perfectly sized 15,000 square foot workshop is divided into dedicated fabrication departments that allow our stairbuilders to focus all of their attention on each task at hand. This includes a curved stair area that has a 20-foot-tall ceiling, allowing us to form and bend curved stringers and railings.
Other departments include the straight stair shop, which has low benches to facilitate assembly and a bench room, where craftspeople use hand tools and bench vices to do all of our handwork and component assembly. We even have staging areas for incoming materials and outgoing orders, and office space for our designers, project managers and our sales and accounting departments.
We inventory a large selection of raw materials to hand select and match for each project, having established a supply chain of vendors and trade partners over the past two decades.
Quality is valued over quantity at Hardwood Design Inc. Instead of mass-producing stair parts, we put all of our efforts into the high-quality projects that our customers approach us with. Our business model can sustain itself during any economy, because our aim is to maintain our reputation as a premier stairbuilding operation that is trusted throughout the region.
What we create takes talent, tools and experience, as each piece gets our thought and attention – from a single rail fitting to a fully assembled stair. Stop by our Exeter, Rhode Island, workshop to see what we are capable of, or reach our offices by phone (401.294.2235), fax (401.295.1086) or email (info@hdistair.com).
At Hardwood Design Inc, we can guarantee all of our staircases are made with precision because we use top-of-the-line Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining in our workshop. These devices allow us to carve and route a wide array of stair parts for customers – whether they are interested in having us create and install an entire flight or would like our designers to craft a signature newel post.
This machine is a 10 horse router driven by a computer controller. With this we are able to cut and profile a wide variety of materials including solid wood and panels. The material is held in place on the machine bed by two powerful vacuum pumps so that blanks and finished pieces can be loaded and unloaded efficiently and safely. The router can be programmed to select and automatically change cutters that are stored in a rotating tool holder on the machine.
Before we actually cut into any wood, our designers create a very specific AutoCAD drawing for the machine to follow that a programmer converts to machine language using MasterCam. The accuracy of the CNC allows us to produce designs that would be impractical, if not impossible, to make by hand.
We retain all of our old drawing blocks for potential customers to browse. These illustrations offer customers design inspiration as well as hard-copy examples of our designers’ skills and expertise.
A CNC cut piece is not only higher quality than a handmade piece, but it is also less expensive and has a much shorter turnover time from order to delivery.
In addition, there are no limits to the size of a project we take on or the amount of involvement we have in putting a staircase together. If a customer comes across a specific challenge over the course of constructing their flight, we are more than happy to consult on it and use our state-of-the-art tools to help make their project come together.
There are some real benefits to choosing a shop built stair. Quality and efficiency are much easier to control in the shop environment. Imagine a special machine, tool or fixture designed for every aspect of stair building all in one location, our Exeter Rhode Island facility. Stairs built on site are subject to the limitations of work space, potentially damaging humidity levels and basic portable tools. While many skilled stair builders perform masterfully on site, they are forced to “make do” with limited resources.
The other benefit to shop built stairs is schedule. We can begin the process of fabrication in the early stages of rough framing or as soon as the project is ready for site measuring, often prior to a roof being complete. A site stair builder must wait until the building shell is weather tight and secure.
Our stairs are delivered to the site fully plastic wrapped and with tread covers that prevent damage. Site built stairs are exposed to worksite grime and grit as they are being constructed and often require repair due to damage prior to completion.
Consider a shop-built staircase as you would similarly constructed cabinetry or furniture. Because we build our staircases in our workshop, we can conceal the fasteners on our flights and make sure every surface is smooth and every joint secure. Site built stairs are nailed over green lumber that eventually shrinks and causes separation and squeaking. Our process eliminates the need for rough carriages and eliminates potential squeaks.
The turnover time from empty well opening to having a usable stair is very short, often just a few hours, because the installation is just a matter of setting the fully assembled staircase in place and fastening it to the floor system and to the walls. The other tradesman and customers only lose access to the stair during this initial phase of installation. A site built stair must be closed off until the carpenter completes his work, often a matter of days or even weeks in the case of circular stairs.
At Hardwood Design Inc, we have decades of experience building and installing shop built staircases. We guarantee that the final product will have a level of quality and excellence that exceeds our competitors’ because we have the best tools at our disposal and will invest unparalleled time and care into your design.
At Hardwood Design Inc., we appreciate that there are many talented craftspeople that are more than capable of assembling and installing stairs and railings on their own. Some of our best customers are other stair shops, millwork shops and specialty lumberyards.
Combining CNC machining and experienced craftspeople has allowed us to become a regional leader in producing stair parts that are beautiful, functional and add value to your project. We have long been recognized as a fabricator and supplier of complete parts packages for jobs of all sizes throughout New England.
By nature stairs are custom. There is no standard rise or run. We understand this and take great pride in making or providing parts that work specifically for your project.
We specialize in one job quantity orders of unique components in any wood including domestic and imported hardwoods as well as reclaimed antique lumber. We have over 200 handrail profiles. Our ornamental box newels are the best in the industry. Reproduction of historical stair parts is a regular part of our business.
Our packages include everything required to complete the job including special tools, hardware and fasteners.
Building materials are expensive, and stair parts are no exception. Protect your investment by hiring a team of tradespeople who understand what is at stake and what needs to be done in order to keep a project on budget.
Careful and thorough installation is as important as the quality of the material. For almost 30 years, we have brought complicated staircases onto some of New England’s most challenging work sites, while many of our competitors offer little or no installation service.
Our installers are extremely well equipped with the latest and greatest hand tools, power tools and accessories including a lap top with WiFi access to the job and design files at the shop. This allows the shop and installer to communicate clearly and efficiently exchanging photos, material lists and as built drawings on a daily basis.
Stair building and handrail work is very specialized and demanding. While your team may have many skills and be able to hang doors, install cabinets and cut in a complex roof frame, our installers only install stairs and railings. We have learned and developed techniques, tools and tricks of the trade for almost 30 years, and have found that we can complete a project two- to three- times faster than the most talented general carpenter.
We cooperate with your team so that your work meets our work with the most efficient effort and the least conflict. There are no trade secrets, and if you or one of your team members wants to learn about stair and installation, we are happy to pass on this skill by having you assist in the process. Some of our customers have made the switch from full Hardwood Design installation to tailgate delivery because of the training we have provided.
Some customers require complete installation while others prefer to use their own qualified labor with “as needed” assistance from one of our expert installers. We are able to help with any and all your installation needs.
