Quality Control:
The core of my business is custom copper work, where I personally build these outdoor rain management products to order. I have NO employees to shuffle the work off to. Copper sheet metal is gauged by how much it weighs per square foot. I only work with 20oz solid copper sheet metal or thicker. I don't offer lower rates to work with thinner 12oz or 16oz copper (the type most other shops use to save material cost), since the savings to you would be so marginal; with the cost of labor and shipping being by far the largest cost with any custom work like this. To use a thinner copper would only save you about 5 to 10%. Hardly worth the savings. If these products were to be made with a thinner copper they would become easily dented and even wear holes through the metal just from the abrasion of the rain water over time, so that would make using copper a moot point: if they would wear out so quickly you might was well have them made in painted steel that will rust in about the same amount of time. I firmly believe planned obsolescence should be a crime, since it is intentional fraud. Although it seems to be standard operating procedure in most industry still today. I rail against this and do what I can to set a good example.

Cost:
Price Comparisons:
On this web site you will find the actual cost our clients had paid listed along with shipping costs on each project and dated, since my costs have needed to raise a little due to copper and diesel fuel doubling in cost since early 2006.

I make no secret that my volume wholesale cost for 20oz copper sheet metal is only around $9 per square foot. My prices may be well above that, but from all reports I've gotten from our clients; my quotes have been substantially lower than other similar shops. Plus there is the expense of rivets, special caulk, and the stainless steel fastening hardware I supply with each project. Our over-head is less than most other shops. One reason is the fact that I have no employees. This makes my work a bit slower, but that also makes us well worth the wait.

Cost of Complexity:
The cost is more or less due to the complexity, size of the project, shipping cost, and size of the order.  Most projects run $45 to $55 per square foot w/shipping included determined by the final weight of the project, so you are only paying for what you get at that rate.

We will charge as little as $35 per square foot for small project shipped that are fairly simple, like a basic 8 sided roof cap where the final size will fit in a box that is around 21" cubed.

For a fairly simple fabrication like a roof ridge cap and flashing kits with 20oz copper can be as little as $15 per square foot without shipping charges.

Communication:
Reasonable and honest pricing is not even our best attribute. We have also gotten reports that we are the only company who is willing to take the time to work out the details on small one-time projects under $1,000.  Don't just take our word for it, shop around and try to get plenty of quotes.  We have links to several other on-line shops around the country on our Site Map page that we link to at the bottom of each web page on our web site.

Feel free to send us more links of sheet metal shops you find that we don't already list, and certainly report to us any shops that have very poor business practices, so we can remove their link or list a warning. On those other web site you are not likely to see large clear photos or any price examples of their custom work shown, so it will be really hard to shop around and compare without contacting them and having to suffer through their high pressure sales tactics. You also will not see digital photos of their fabrication and assembly work to be able to see the details of their work like we do. We have over 1,500 photos on our web sites that enlarge to full screen images (depending on your screen resolution). That's communication!