Vancouver Stairs vs Metal & Wood Products.
One of Metro Vancouver's oldest metal fabricators (founded 1958) versus a stair-led institutional shop. Waterjet cutting, CNC milling, six stringer types, builder client history. Researched May 2026.
Side-by-side summary.
Both are Burnaby-area fabricators with full custom metal scope. Metal & Wood Products brings 67 years, in-house waterjet and CNC milling, and deep contractor relationships. Vancouver Stairs brings a published institutional portfolio and a stair-first service model.
| Factor | Vancouver Stairs | Metal & Wood Products |
|---|---|---|
| CWB-certified welding | ✓ Displayed on site | Not publicly listed |
| Founded | Established Metro Van fabricator | 1958 (67+ years) |
| Shop location | Burnaby | 2751 Production Way, Burnaby |
| In-house cutting / machining | Standard fabrication tools | Omax waterjet cutting + CNC bridge milling |
| Stringer configurations (published) | Mono-stringer, double-stringer, cantilevered, curved, helical, winder | Cantilevered, side, single undermount, double undermount, plate guard-rail, tube |
| Institutional portfolio | Surrey Memorial, BCIT, Collingwood, Queen Mary, Guildford Town Centre | Builder/contractor client roster (Sheppard Construction, Bradner Homes, Cavendish Contracting); range Deep Cove to Whistler |
| Beyond stairs | Strata railings, canopies, structural steel, custom fab, driveway gates | Custom gates, handrails, glass railings, ornamental metalwork, waterjet panels, surface finishing, engineering consultation |
| Dedicated strata service | Yes — dedicated strata-railings practice | Railings within general custom fab scope |
| Pricing transparency | Quote-based | Quote-based |
Where Metal & Wood Products is the right pick.
- Your general contractor has an existing relationship with them. 67 years in one location means many of the established lower-mainland builders have worked with Metal & Wood Products repeatedly. If your GC already has them in their Rolodex and you want minimal contractor friction, that existing relationship has real value.
- Your project requires complex geometry cuts that need waterjet or CNC. In-house Omax waterjet cutting enables intricate freeform shapes, perforated panels, and precisely radiused stringer profiles that are difficult to achieve by hand or plasma only.
- You want a fabricator with a publicly verifiable 67-year track record. Metal longevity signals financial stability and technical consistency that younger shops can't provide by definition.
- Your project runs Deep Cove to Whistler. Metal & Wood Products explicitly cites that service corridor and the builder relationships across it.
Where Vancouver Stairs is the right pick.
- Your project is institutional, healthcare, government, or large commercial with a prequal step. Our published project list (Surrey Memorial Hospital, BCIT, Collingwood School, Queen Mary School, Guildford Town Centre) and on-site CWB certification are directly relevant to GC prequal packages that ask for named comparable projects and certification evidence.
- The custom stair is the main scope. Vancouver Stairs is stair-led with dedicated gallery pages, style-specific landing pages, and a shop drawing process tuned to mono-stringer, floating, helical, and curved stair complexity.
- Mid- or high-rise strata railing replacement. Our dedicated strata practice handles the documentation, permitting, and resident-coordination workflow that those projects require — a scope Metal & Wood Products covers but doesn't specialise in.
- You need canopy, structural steel, or bundled architectural metal alongside the stair. All in-house, under one set of CWB-certified welds.
A short way to decide.
GC already has a relationship with Metal & Wood Products? That friction reduction is worth something — start there.
Project requires complex geometry, waterjet-cut panels, or CNC-milled parts? Metal & Wood Products has the in-house capability.
Institutional or strata-led bid requiring CWB certification and named project references? Vancouver Stairs publishes both.
Stair is the architectural centrepiece with a contemporary finish (mono-stringer, floating, helical)? Vancouver Stairs's portfolio and shop drawing process are built around that.
Common questions about choosing between us and Metal & Wood Products.
Metal & Wood Products has been in business since 1958. How does that compare to Vancouver Stairs?
Metal & Wood Products (2751 Production Way, Burnaby) was founded in 1958 — making it one of the oldest metal fabrication shops continuously operating in Metro Vancouver, at 67+ years. That depth of relationship with builders, contractors, and architectural firms (Sheppard Construction, Bradner Homes, and Cavendish Contracting are cited as clients) is a genuine differentiator for contractors who want long-established trade partners. Vancouver Stairs has an institutional track record (Surrey Memorial Hospital, BCIT, Collingwood, Queen Mary, Guildford Town Centre) but does not publicly state a founding year.
What is Metal & Wood Products known for beyond stairs?
Metal & Wood Products emphasises in-house waterjet cutting (Omax equipment), CNC bridge milling, and on-site fabrication capability — which enables complex geometry cuts and precise architectural metalwork that standard bend-and-weld shops can't match. Their scope includes custom gates, handrails, glass railings, ornamental work, waterjet-cut panels, and surface finishing. Vancouver Stairs covers a similar breadth (strata railings, canopies, structural steel, custom fab) but does not publish waterjet or CNC milling capabilities.
Both shops are in Burnaby — who is closer to what?
Metal & Wood Products is at 2751 Production Way, Burnaby — close to the Lougheed/Production Way corridor. Vancouver Stairs is also Burnaby-based. For most Metro Vancouver projects, both shops are within a comparable 20–30 minute radius of central Vancouver sites. The proximity advantage between the two is minimal for the same metro area; site-visit scheduling and shop load will matter more than postal geography for most projects.
Does Metal & Wood Products do stair shop drawings and engineer coordination?
Metal & Wood Products lists 'engineering consultation' as a service and their principals' builder/contractor client roster implies a shop-drawing process. Vancouver Stairs explicitly handles shop drawings, PE coordination, and BC Building Code guard and handrail compliance as standard parts of the stair package. Ask both shops for a sample set of shop drawings on a project comparable to yours to compare the level of structural and code detail.
Which is better for a strata railing replacement project?
Vancouver Stairs has a dedicated strata-railings service line with city-specific pages built around the documentation, permitting, and resident-coordination work that mid- and high-rise strata replacement demands. Metal & Wood Products covers railings within its general custom fabrication scope but does not publish a dedicated strata service line. For an RFP-led strata project with formal documentation requirements, Vancouver Stairs's specialised practice is the closer fit.
What stringer configurations does Metal & Wood Products offer?
Metal & Wood Products lists six stringer configurations on their site: cantilevered stringer, side stringer, single undermount stringer, double undermount stringer, plate guard-rail style, and tube style. That explicit menu covers the main modern steel stair formats. Vancouver Stairs fabricates all of those plus helical, curved, and winder configurations. For a project requiring an unusual geometry, confirm configuration support with whichever shop you quote.
Sources & methodology. Metal & Wood Products facts referenced from metalandwoodproducts.com as published May 2026. Vancouver Stairs facts are first-party. CWB certification is administered by the Canadian Welding Bureau against the CSA W47.1 standard. We update this page when either company materially changes its public positioning. If anything is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
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