We are on Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) here on the west coast south of Seattle in Tacoma, WA. We are talking to people in 7 different time zones from Maine to Hawaii which makes phone contacts interesting so we need to know your state to time our callbacks to you if needed for more information on your project. We don't want to get you out of bed in the morning or wake you up in the late evening! Our normal hours of operation are 8-5 M-F, and 8-1 on Sat. PDT, but are normally here later in the evenings and have the phone forwarded on weekends if not in the office catching up on things.
We are happy to discuss your project, but almost always like to have a drawing and or digital photos of what you are considering.
Makes it a lot easier if you want to discuss more than generalities. Map
location is on link to the right. Map of 2511 Holgate St Tacoma, WA 98402-1202, US
Architects: Auto Cad drawings are OK, but don't ZIP them in one large file. PDF files are great!
E-mail , is another way to contact us along with drawings and attached photos.
Please use terms such as "Cable Railing" in the "Subject" line of your e-mail to us
and not use as a subject "Help" , "We need help", "Please call for ......or
worse ....... . We get at least 150 spam mails a day
making things difficult on this end.
Unwanted e-mail (Spam) has gotten out of hand as
of late 2006 and some valid incoming messages could easily be lost, erased by us in error or blocked by our web site hosting service.
We are seeing more messages sent to customers from us not getting through and
learn that more customers are adding "Firewalls" for incoming e-mails and we can't
get through. If you have a firewall and want a response please make sure that
you authorize us to get through. Currently our e-mail address is
paul@cablerailings.com
.
Drawings
should have clear dimensions and the areas where you are planning railings highlighted so we can easily see the scope of the project.
Keep in mind that you are there looking at a project and we have no knowledge of what you are doing until shown or told the details.
Clear data is more important than a fancy drawing. If you letter all starting points, turns and elevation changes then we can quickly
start discussing cable runs from say A to B or M to R, etc. This makes understanding the cable runs MUCH easier for all parties.
Adding some contact information is very helpful such as state, (ME, HI, etc.) and a phone number. A lot of information can be send back
and forth with e-mails, but at some point some personal contact is necessary to keep on the right track and stay focused.
Please use subject line in your e-mail to us and say something like "Railings" or
"Cable Questions". We get a lot of spam and we could erase (delete) your request
for information pretty easily if we don't know what it is.
Faxing is another way, but remember that at least 1/2" around the edge is always blanked out and if information is not drawn
with a dark pen or pencil the information can be very hard to read. A straight edge is a great help too along with some scale such as
1/8" or 1/4" to one foot of deck edge.
Photos are a big help for us to get an idea of what is going on. We get a lot of attached digital photos from customers.
They are especially helpful if stairs are involved which are always an area of additional concern when considering angles, post placement,
etc. Changes in deck level such as one or two steps can cause problems if not done right. Contact us before you set the posts!!
If we can't find or don't receive the information, we can not give an accurate quote. We are happy to work with your general contractor,
sub contractor or family members involved in the work and will contact them as you wish if you include appropriate names and contact data.
We file by NAME such as "Jones Construction" or simply "Smith" during the initial contacting phase. Later we assign a
Work Order Number to help once a sale is made which gives us two entities to use as reference when looking up files and a control
number for order processing.
It is very helpful to us if you suggest what you are looking for such as "Cable with fittings only", "Metal posts and cable" and what kind
of materials such as aluminum, stainless or possible steel posts and how you want them mounted such as top or side of the deck. Give us all
the detail you can think of. Too much is better than too little. Can use all contact data you want to give so we can reduce the telephone
tag and subsequent delays. E-mail is great, but can be easily erased. Being too pointed is fine with us. If we don't respond in a timely
fashion, ring our bell. E-mails get lost, files get mis-filed and even the best systems break down. Also generally faxed photos
usually do not come through clear enough to understand what is going on.
Summary: If we can't read your fax or understand your drawings we may not be able to respond in a timely fashion or possibly not
at all!
If sending more than one sheet by fax write 1 of 4, 2 of 4 etc. and clearly label the drawings such as Upper Deck, Lower Deck, etc.
We get a lot of faxed drawings that are hard to understand and even read. Please state what you are requesting such as a cable package for
your own post system or a metal framing system from us with a cable package. You can reference a photo on the web site which will greatly
help us to understand what you want.
We do a lot of e-mailing also so if you like, include your e-mail address in an easy to read format such as part of your signature so we
can easily swipe and use to send return e-mails without using Reply since there may be photos sent from you and there is no reason
to be sending large files back and forth when not needed.
Please place a clear phone number on your correspondence. Sometimes e-mails do not work and we may never get in touch with you without some other method of contact. A possible list below to use....
Cable package for your post system:
Aluminum posts with cable:
Stainless posts with cable:
revised 01/18/08