26 Fabricator � March/April 2009

Thisbusinessruns inthe blood

� A NOMMA member’slove for his multi-generational familycompany results in Top Jobbronze.

Job Profile

For your information

ProjectInterior railing that resembles “man-groves.”

FabricatorAccent Ornamental Iron Co.

Biggest challengeKeeping the railing’s unique twig patternintact, while adhering to the building code.

Approximate labor time560 hours

Mike StylskiAccent Ornamental Iron & PowderCoating Co.354 S. Adams St., Suite 1Cambridge, MN 55008Ph: (866) 840-4766Web: www.accentornamentaliron.com

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CONTACT

By Lisa Bakewell

Metal fabrication is in MichaelStylski’s blood. It always hasbeen. Since the age of seven,

when he went to work for his father,Stanley Stylski (except for the five yearshe left the industry to “pursue othercareer paths”), Michael has always beenin the ornamental iron business. Andhe loves it.

“I had an old guy tell me when I wasin my late teens,” says Stylski, “‘If youhave a passion for what you’re doing—really, really enjoy what you’re doing—then you never have to work a day inyour life.’ And that’s basically it in anutshell. I love what I do, and it nevergets old.”

And you can believe Stylski when hetells you that his love for the businessnever gets old. His passion for metalfabrication and his business just keepgrowing—and his enthusiasm is conta-gious.

You can’t help but be excited forhim.

So, what’s Michael Stylski, Sr., presi-dent and CEO of the AccentOrnamental Iron & Powder CoatingCompany of Cambridge, MN, excitedabout these days? He’s particularlyexcited about winning a bronze awardin NOMMA’s 2008 Top Job contest(Interior Railings-Ferrous category).

“It was our first entry ever,” he sayswith a grin, “and our first NOMMAaward. Plus, it was a challenging job—unlike any that we’ve ever done before.”

28 Fabricator � March/April 2009

A “fitting” challengeAs Stylski tells it, he received a call

from Mihm Custom Homes, withwhom he’s worked on and off formore than 12 years.

“I got a call to go out to the job siteto meet with the builder, home owner,interior designer and architect,” hesaid. “I did, and they presented mewith a picture of a railing that resem-bled mangroves.” [Editor’s Note:Mangroves are types of tropical ever-green trees or shrubs having stilt-likeroots and stems, forming dense thick-ets.]

“The picture had no top rail on it,so it wouldn’t conform to the buildingcode. It didn’t have an inch-and-a-halfgrippable surface for a top rail and ithad a wooden newel post, which wewere unable to reproduce exactly,”explained Stylski. “So what I did wasthis: I made a sample piece of railingthat was very similar to what they had.They liked what we did, and we got

the contract for the job directly fromthe homeowner. From there, every-thing was good to go.”

The homeowners, the Shafers ofMendota Heights, MN, also commis-sioned Accent Ornamental Iron tocomplete two exterior decks.

“Those were fairly simple,” saidStylski. “They were straight pieces ofrailing that fit between stone pillars ormonuments.”

It was the award-winning interiorstairway that posed a little more of achallenge, according to Stylski. “Theinterior [job] was a stairway with a lit-tle more than 180-degree turn to it,”he said, “with railings on both sides —the easy side and the tight side (thecurve). We created these railings using1-1/4” round hammered bar top rail,1” hammered bar support posts, andvarying sizes from 1/8” to 3/4”embossed bars for the twig pattern.The newel posts were fabricated fromseveral embossed bars and custom,

plasma-cut random mounting plates.”To begin the fabrication process,

Stylski and his crew measured theradius of the proposed stairway (24” &72” radius) and took the measure-ments to the shop. There, they createdtemplates of the stairway and rolledthe top and bottom rails. The piecewas then taken back to the job site tosee how the rails fit the curve.

“We brought it out there and thecurves were just right,” Stylski said.

Next, Stylski and his crew markedout the riser lines onto the top rail.

“We marked the leading edge of theriser and the tread,” he said. “Wetransferred that onto the top rail, andwe brought that back to the shop.Next, we produced the skeleton frame— which means that you have a toprail, the vertical posts (that actuallyfasten down to the step) and then thebottom rail.”

The piece was then brought back tothe job site for another field fit. Thistime it was a little skewed and neededto go back to the shop for adjust-ments.

“One of the posts was off for onereason or another,” Stylski said. “Oneof the curves might have moved in theshop or in transportation between thejob site and our shop. We tweaked itagain and brought it back a thirdtime.”

This time, the fit was right.

The home’s twoexterior decksreflect a “twig”design, similar tothat of the strikinginterior staircase.

Accent Ornamental Iron & PowderCoating Co. is a proud member ofNOMMA according to Stylski. “Thebenefits far outweigh the cost,” hesays.

His favorite benefit? “It’s theListServ on email, where you canask a question and you can draw onthe knowledge of the rest of thepeople in the industry all over thecountry,” he notes. “Back when Iwas learning the trade from mydad, it seemed that none of the fab-ricators talked — everyone wasguarding their secrets. Now, if youask another fabricator a questionwith regard to a supplier or a how-to question, you’re nine chances outof ten going to get an answer fromthem.”

30 Fabricator � March/April 2009

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Now, it was time for the piece to goback to the shop for finishing, whereStylski and his crew started with theartwork — the mangrove-patternedpanels. These panels, created by weld-ing the largest twig-type materials firstand gradually working down to thesmallest twigs, are what give the pieceits unique flavor.

“Once the artwork was done,”Stylski said, “we did a field fit again —a fourth field fit — and everything fitperfectly, so we brought it back to theshop and did a white blast. We sand-blasted off the metal, removing all ofthe mill scale and debris from welding;and the grind marks were smoothedout and transitioned so that theylooked the same color.”

Finally, the piece went to the pow-der coating department where an acid

etch was used to etch the material andget it to rust. When the etchingprocess was complete, the piece wasrinsed off, phosphatized, and clearpowder coated. The piece was thenreturned to the job site and installed.

“Everything went well; 560 hourswent into that job—including fabrica-tion and installation,” said Stylski. “Ihad three fabricators in the shop whobasically built that railing, but it tooksix of us to carry it into the house. Ithad to have weighed at least 400pounds!”

When asked what the biggest chal-lenge of the piece was, Stylski says thatis was keeping the flow and the twigpattern in tact — keeping it tree-like— while conforming to the buildingcode.

His favorite part? “The custom

nature of the job,” he said, “and havingnever produced anything like thisbefore. The guys at the shop really liketo get into these one-of-a-kind customjobs!”

A real family affairAfter working full time for his

father in the family business (AlliedIron Works) from age 16 to 25, Stylskileft the industry for five years to pur-sue other career paths. In 1988,though, he returned to the ornamentaliron business and started his owncompany, Accent Ornamental Iron.

“I thought I’d try it on my own,” heexplains.

As the sole employee, Stylski oper-ated his business from a two-cargarage in Anoka, MN until 1991, whenhe moved his family and his businessto Cambridge, MN. There, he workedfrom two large pole buildings locatedon the family’s 40-acre farm.

In 1997, Stylski’s father passedaway, so he combined the customers

“...it took six of us to carry it into the house. It had to haveweighed at least 400 pounds!”

and assets from his father’s businesswith his own. With this change,Accent Ornamental Iron was able tocontinue serving many third genera-tion customers originating fromModern Iron Works, the companythat Stanley Stylski originally ownedbefore heading to the Korean Warwith the US Army.

At this time, Michael Stylski’s son(Michael, Jr.) also began to take amore active, full-time role in the com-pany. “He’s 29 now, and he’s beenworking with me since he was a kid,”says Stylski.

Stylski’s 24-year-old daughter,Jessica, also worked for her dad as aninstaller for two summers while goingto college. His younger daughter,Laura (age 21) is completing her lastyear of college, but works in the officeduring breaks and summer vacation.

One of the company’s greatestassets, though, according to Stylski, isKelly Olene-Stylski, vice president andbusiness manager of AccentOrnamental Iron — and his wife.

“She’s been a godsend,” he says.Kelly, who came on board in 2004,

32 Fabricator � March/April 2009

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“Once you get [thecustomer] into theshowroom, andthey can touch it,feel it, and seesamples of whatthey’re doing, nineout of ten times,they buy” saysMike Stylski.

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is responsible for all the day-to-daybusiness operations including billing,collections, and scheduling for Stylski,among other duties. She also mans theshowroom, which is a key element toAccent Ornamental Iron’s success,according to Stylski.

Expansion and diversification“One of our biggest assets here,

besides Kelly, is our 1,800 square footshowroom,” says Stylski. “It’s been ourexperience that you can go out on ajob site and meet with the designers,the architects and the homeowners —you can show them pictures till you’reblue in the face — but once you getthem into the showroom, and theycan touch it, feel it, and see samples ofwhat they’re doing, nine out of tentimes, they buy.

“It’s just a matter of getting theminto the showroom,” he continues.“And, of course, our showroom isn’tvery centrally located. Being inCambridge, we’re 45 miles north of

the Minneapolis St. Paul area, so ittakes some effort for them to get here.But once they do, and they can seewhat they’re buying, we usually havethe deal.”

In 2004, Accent Ornamental Ironmade a final move to its current loca-tion, a 10,000 square-foot commercialbuilding in the heart of downtownCambridge, MN. Besides working ontheir own ornamental ironwork con-tracts, they currently provide powdercoating services for several other orna-mental iron fabricators in and aroundthe Twin Cities metro area.

“I powder coat for about 10 or 12of my direct competition,” notesStylski.

Last year, Stylski purchased OlinWrought Iron, a manufacturer ofAmerican-made balusters and newelsets, which are manufactured by merg-ing ancient blacksmithing techniqueswith state-of-the-art computer, con-trolled technologies.

“We thought long and hard about

the Olin acquisition,” recalls Stylski.“But with the amount of business wedid with him in a year, we thought itmade sense to make that purchase.And it’s been a good purchase. I sell tomany of the fabricators in the TwinCities area here as well as nationwide.Also, we do a tremendous amount ofbusiness with Texas Metal Industries(TMI). They handle our products intheir catalog.”

Today, Accent Ornamental Iron &Powder Coating Company has ninekey employees including Stylski, hiswife, and his son. That number canincrease to as many as 13 during thepeak season.

Hard work = steady growthAccent Ornamental Iron has

enjoyed continued success throughoutits history, according to Stylski.

“We’ve had steady growth everysingle year since I’ve opened the door.“We’ve never had a year that was lessthan the previous, even in this econo-

March/April 2009 � Fabricator 35

my,” he says. “From Christmas to April15 — because of the weather — wenormally gross in the first quarterequal to one good month any othertime of the year. But, for the last threeyears we have not experienced that.We have stayed busy all year long.Fortunately, we are sitting right nowwith a three-week backlog of work,and I have not had to lay off any ofour key people.”

Accent Ornamental Iron’s successdoesn’t come easily, though. There’s alot of hard work involved, and theStylskis have very stiff competition —both are daunting in the world ofmetalworking. Yet, Michael Stylski, Jr.marks the third generation of Stylskisto work in the metal fabrication busi-ness.

Stylski says, “In this area I can thinkof four other businesses that are sec-ond, third, or even fourth generationcompanies. We have good competitionand a lot of other talented fabricatorsin this area, but we do hold our own,and we’re respected in the industry.”

To keep that respect and to keepthe company profitable, Stylski runs a

very tight ship. “I base myproduction on the dollaramount of the job,” hestates.. “I require my guys todo X number of dollarsevery day.”

“I have three fabricatorswho work in the shop,”Stylski continues. “Thoseguys are given a job, andonce it’s fabricated, it’scleaned up and it goes to ourpowder coating department.There, we have one guy thatoversees powder coating,though he has a helper whenneeded. Then, my twoinstallers take out anywherefrom one to seven jobs perday — generally there’s mul-tiple stops every day of theweek because 50 percent ofour work takes less than a day to fabri-cate and install.”

During the peak months (April toNovember), Accent Ornamental Iron’sjobs are planned and executed six toeight weeks out, with 40-50 orderspending at a time — requiring Stylski

to put in 12-hour days.Does he get tired? “Yes,” he says,

“but I love what I do. It’s my passion,and it never gets old.”

Metal fabrication is in MichaelStylski’s blood. It always has been —and it seems that it always will.