Hello Stairs, Goodbye rickety stepladder!

Last Friday we had our stairs installed by Phil ‘the stair guy’. I love it when people call me and introduce themselves by what their role is in the building of our house. I know it’s kind of self centered to enjoy that so much, but I don’t know how many times I’ve been called and the person says “Hi this is Doug/Bob/Bill/Wayne/John/Jason/Fred”. And I’m supposed to remember who Doug/Bob/Bill/Wayne/John/Jason/Fred is, AND remember why they’re calling me. Trust me; it’s a lot to remember. It’s fine if it’s a person who you talk to all the time, but if you’ve only just started working with them, and you haven’t really met them yet, it sure makes it easier if they say “Hi, this is the stair guy”.
So suffice it to say that I liked Phil the stair guy right off the bat. JMy liking for Phil the stair guy increased when he told us he doesn’t do railings or anything else, he just does stairs. That means he does a lot of stairs, and he’s not going to screw them up. I then wanted to hug him when he told us he could build our stairs for $400, and install them for another $150. They’re construction grade (which means we don’t have to worry about wearing our shoes on them or dropping things on them) and are hardwood ready (which means when it comes time to finish them, we can put on the hardwood ourselves and the whole stair project will come in at $1200, tops). Phil required a couple days’ notice, so Wednesday we called, and on Friday when we came home from work we were just in time to assist Phil in fastening the stairs to the second floor. And when I say “we”, I mean Erick. I assisted mainly by watching, eating pizza, and offering pizza to anyone who didn’t look busy.