Founded in 1985 in Opa-locka, Florida, General Stair Corporation (GSC) is the first Stair and Rail company in the USA to achieve ISO 9001:2008 certification. GSC has distinguished itself in the Florida homebuilding industry with a commitment to Quality Products on Time and on Budget. Known as the industry leader and product innovator, GSC was the first in Florida to:

• Offer homebuilders a guarantee on timely installation
• Offer high quality production prefabricated stairs and metal fabricated products
• Offer a new line of modern railing systems with chrome and stainless
• steel (Contempo), cable (Marina) and Glass Panels
• Offer a curved stair for production projects

Allow homebuilders to offer upgrades on prefabricated stairs and railings, such as top-mounted railings with an extensive variety of wood and iron pickets.

OUR HISTORY

What does it take for a company to evolve from ambitious but modest beginnings, and become the premiere residential and commercial stair builder in Florida – a state with one of the fastest-growing populations in the United States?

It takes a commitment to innovation, an innate ability to understand our customer’s needs, and a fierce determination to adapt to the ever-changing world of Florida real estate.

It all started more than 30 years ago with a bold idea – that we could build stairs ourselves instead of depending on others. Before GSC was incorporated in 1986, we started in structural concrete forming under the name General Forming Corporation. Then in 1985, we got a contract to complete the structure of a large townhouse project that required wood stairs. We knew that the bids for the stair work were too high. We also knew that we could do the job more efficiently ourselves. That is just what we did. We rented a 450-sq-ft. mini warehouse, made the stairs, loaded them on a pick-up truck, took them to the job, and installed them the next day.

The building industry quickly realized how this made things much more efficient in the field. Since we knew people in the industry, and the margins were (so) attractive, we started offering stairs regularly. The first year, we sold $65,000 – and that was just the beginning.

GSC became the first stair and rail company in the USA to achieve ISO 9001:2000 certification. In the Florida building industry, we have distinguished ourselves with a commitment to quality products, on time and on budget.

In fact, we became the first stair and rail company in Florida to offer homebuilders a money-back guarantee on timely installation. We did this because we knew how important timeliness was to merchant builders, who work on many houses simultaneously. They needed the stairs to undergo framing inspections, and to get items and plumbing fixtures between floors. This made us even more popular with builders, who knew they could count on us to deliver products exactly when we said we were going to deliver them.

As for the products themselves, we have been at the vanguard of innovation there, as well. We have consistently out-paced our competition by being the first to offer high quality production prefabricated stairs, and new lines of modern railing systems using chrome, stainless steel, cable and glass panels, as well as curved stairs for production projects.

In 1995, GSC installed the first top mounted wood rail in the homebuilder market. Then we took our commitment to innovation further by installing the first wood and iron rail in the homebuilder market. We developed the engineering necessary for approval of these popular products. Not only did this make our clients happy; it also gave us the ability to out-pace our competitors and handle the load of orders that came for them.

As our reputation grew, so did the recognition we have received. We are proud to have been honored with awards and certifications from organizations such as the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the Latin Builder Association, and the Hispanic Business 500, which includes the largest Hispanic-owned companies in the United States.

Today, our commitment to the highest quality service is as strong as ever. Together with our talented and dedicated leadership, employees and community partners, we proudly continue meeting and exceeding the needs and expectations of our customers.

That means anticipating product demand, and planning for it effectively. We started a Metal Products Division in 2010, as metal staircases were becoming popular. As demand grew, so did the Metal Products Division. We foresee that it will grow even faster and larger in the near future.

We have often said that the stairs we build provide “the vertical transportation of people.” From floor to floor or office to office, hundreds of thousands of Floridians use our stairs to get where they’re going. It wasn’t easy to become the premiere stair builder in Florida, but we are proud of our achievements – and we plan to stay on the “top floor” of our industry for many years to come.

AWARDS & CERTIFICATIONS