About San Jose Custom Railing
A Railing Shop Built Around the South Bay
San Jose Custom Railing is a locally owned fabricator that designs, builds and installs railings and gates across San Jose and Santa Clara County. We work in wrought and ornamental iron, 316 stainless cable, tempered and laminated glass, and powder-coated aluminum, for single-family homes, townhomes, apartment buildings and storefronts.
Housing here has a particular shape. About 60 percent of San Jose homes were built before 1980, so a lot of our calls are about ranch-house porches with wobbly iron, two-story foyers with oak handrails and wood spindles, and Eichlers whose owners want a railing that stays low and quiet. We know those houses, and we know what the local building divisions look for when a deck or stair railing comes in for review.
When you call our 408 number, you get someone who can talk metal, code and cost in plain English, and who will tell you honestly when a cheaper option is the better fit.
Licensed & Insured Custom In-Shop Fabrication Free On-Site Estimates Locally Owned & Operated
How a Project Moves Through Our Shop
We do not resell boxed railing kits. Every job is measured on site and built to those measurements, which is what lets a railing fit a stair that turns twice, a balcony that is out of level, or a 1970s deck where the posts have to land around existing framing.
Site Visit
A free on-site measure: lengths, heights above grade, what the posts will anchor into, and a talk about style and budget.
Drawings
CAD shop drawings show post spacing, picket or cable layout and mounting details, and you sign off before any steel is cut.
Code Check
Guard height, the 4-inch sphere rule, handrail height and grip, and anchorage are checked against the California Building Code and Residential Code.
Fabrication and Finish
Cutting, welding and finishing happen in our shop, with oven-cured powder coat over zinc primer or hot-dip galvanizing on steel.
Install and Walk-Through
We anchor everything, clean up the metal dust and old railing, and walk the finished work with you.
When a project needs a permit, we prepare the railing details that plan checkers ask for and help you put the submittal together for your city or the County. When your neighborhood has architectural review, we supply drawings and finish samples for the HOA package.
What We Promise, and What We Won't
We would rather earn your trust with clear commitments than with big claims. Here is what you can hold us to:
- Published price ranges. Our per-foot ranges are on the site and in the railing cost calculator, so you know the ballpark before we visit.
- A written, itemized estimate after the site visit, with no pressure to sign that day.
- Code before fabrication. Every drawing is checked against the 42-inch guard rule and the 4-inch sphere rule before we build.
- Straight answers about which material suits your house, your exposure and your budget, even when the answer is the less expensive one.
- A clean site when we leave, with old railing and scrap hauled away.
And here is what we will not do:
- We will not give you a firm price over the phone for a railing we have not measured.
- We will not promise an install date before permit review or HOA approval is in hand, because those calendars belong to someone else.
- We will not guarantee that an HOA or design review board will approve a design, though we will build the strongest submittal we can.
- We will not tell you an old 36-inch guard is fine to keep when the work you are doing calls for a current-code railing.
- We will not act as your structural engineer or attorney. When a tall deck, a balcony or an SB 721 report needs one, we say so up front.
Railings and Gates We Make
From the front walk to the top-floor balcony, our work covers residential and light commercial railings:
Apartment owners, HOA boards and builders usually need a whole property handled at once. Our railing solutions cover multifamily railing work, HOA and condo railing replacement and services for general contractors. You can also see everything on one page in our full list of railing services.
Our Service Area in Santa Clara County
We take projects in San Jose, Santa Clara, Campbell, Milpitas, Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino and Sunnyvale. Each one has its own permit counter, its own design rules and its own mix of housing, and each city page covers what matters there.
The valley itself shapes what we recommend. July highs run from about 77°F at bayside Moffett Field to about 85°F in Los Gatos, and almost no rain falls from June through September, which is hard on paint and wood. Homes near the baylands get damp marine air. The Hayward and Calaveras faults run along the east side of the valley, one reason we favor welded connections and through-bolted posts. Parts of the foothills are mapped in High or Very High fire hazard zones, where noncombustible metal and glass railings make sense. The service area overview has more on each city.
Ready to talk about your project? Call (408) 409-8723 any day from 7am to 6pm, or request a free on-site estimate online.