we have all heard the expression, " i know a guy who knows the guy who does that stuff" and i am looking for that guy now.   lol  i just got a quote locally to make and install the wrought iron railing and posts i want to put on the new veranda across the front of the house and couldn't believe the amount, wowser. it was about 3 times more than i figured/guessed even with i install so now i am shopping it around for a quote. it was definitely not an elaborate design by any means, quite the opposite in fact, as fancy wouldn't go with an old stone house out in the boonies. this is the request for quote i will be sending out to various companies around the toronto area and if any of you guy's know the guy who knows the guy let me know. i would rather spend the money with a guy someone knows rather than someone in toronto i probably will have a hard time talking to and understanding.

 "i am inquiring as to whether your company will manufacture and assemble approx 60ft of wrought iron railing to be in 10 sections averaging 5 to 6ft. i will do the install here at my house north of belleville and the price will be f.o.b. your plant. please let me know is this is possible and we can go from there. thanks in advance, rick s.

 while i am on the veranda topic, i couldn't believe the horse-sh!t i had to go through to get a building permit to use wrought iron posts without an engineer's certificate for load bearing. she was actually trying to help out by my 2nd visit but without the signature it was apparent it wasn't going to happen and i had already started on the construction. on my 3rd visit with a whole bunch more numbers i had got off the web stating weights for 1"-3/4" and 1/2" it was still no. i stepped back and thought about it and said, bring the drawings out that i submitted please, now tell me what size wooden posts you want instead of iron and make the changes, i am not leaving here without a g-d permit. that surprised her a bit but we were good by the time i left with a permit. being me i couldn't let it drop so i kept snooping into using steel and i found some really old pic's of the house with the original veranda on it with steel posts so i went and got 3 pc's of solid iron, 1"-3/4"-1/2" about a foot long and went back again. i put the iron down with the pic's and said i am putting this back on, what size steel do you want me to use and there won't be no 5-6-700.00$ signature. get this one, "oh, you are replacing not adding new, that's a different situation"  i told her that they will be used on the new addition portion of the house also and she agreed. her only request is/was whoever does the welding making them she wants a copy of their welding certificate.  i put the wooden one's in to keep going forward at the time and i think i just sold them to someone when i replace them. all this signature crap is starting to get stupid in my feeble mind. i just had an inspection before i put a ceiling to it and all was good. now i start shopping for the iron.

 don't give up guys as there is always more than one way to skin the cat, lol. here is what i put on.