by Julia Feb 22nd 2013

We received quite a few proposals on our coffee table request, but Mike with Strong Oaks provided exactly what we asked for and came in under budget! Mike took our inspiration photos and the end result is just perfect. Our new coffee table looks great in our new apartment and we can't wait to use it for years to come. Thanks for everything!

by Ben S. Jan 21st 2013

Working with Mike and his team was one of the best experiences in building out our Shop. Mike makes himself incredibly accessible to talk about your ideas, offers his suggestion and expertise, and is truly a delight to work with. Communicating with him was the easiest, and made it one of the most pleasant experiences. Mike came up with two assistants to install the coffee bar. (We live in NJ) They came in and got it done in one day. There are a few issues with the wood, but nothing incredibly major that wood glue and clamps for 24-hr couldn't fix. We were looking to use reclaimed wood, so working with StrongOaks was perfect. Mike also left us with the story of the two barns that the wood and tin came from, to make the bar.

by heather Oct 24th 2012

Strong Oaks created the perfect piece for us. They by far exceeded our expectations when it came to craftsmanship. We took a gamble by proceeding with them without ever seeing there products in person, but it paid off. All the materials used were all reclaimed from local barns, right down to the hardware which was a welcomed surprise to us. Strong Oaks was able to execute my vision from one photograph, therefore I'd recommend them to anyone! Being local helped too! The only reason i didn't give them all A's was because we had some trouble coordinating the installation time. Otherwise, I was definitely impressed with this company.

by Faith S. Aug 24th 2012

Mike is great to work with. We chose to work with him over 14 other craftsman because of his ability to listen to and understand exactly what we wanted. During ever phase of the building process he kept us up to date with pictures and descriptions, which was important since he is in Virginia and we are in New Jersey. If you choose to work with Mike you will have a pleasant and enjoyable experience. One word of advice, though. Be sure to keep an ongoing discussion of any changes in price, and of the delivery process. We were a bit surprised to learn we'd need a handyman on our end to get our very large (and quite heavy) table from the garage (where the delivery men left it) to our dining room, including removing it from a crate and assembling it. That said, Mike has worked tirelessly to ensure our satisfaction. His professionalism is commendable, and if the need ever arises, we'd love to work with him again.

by Henry H. Aug 13th 2012

This is an unqualified positive review. I am very happy with my table and benches and with Mike at Strong Oaks Woodshop. The product is good and the process (with Strong Oaks) was also good. I will do business with Strong Oaks again. I have recommended them to my friends. I am impressed and happy. That said, in the interest of making this review as useful as possible to the CustomMade community, I want to detail several things. In the process of doing so I will point out many things that could not have been better and just a few small things that could have. (This is a positive review!) Also, before I get into it, I should point out that I have several projects in the works right now with various artisans through CustomMade and I am coming to be increasingly dissatisfied with the CustomMade interface in several ways (it drives me crazy). This has nothing to do with Strong Oaks. And I should note that of the four projects I have going right now, all were started at ... Read More

This is an unqualified positive review. I am very happy with my table and benches and with Mike at Strong Oaks Woodshop. The product is good and the process (with Strong Oaks) was also good. I will do business with Strong Oaks again. I have recommended them to my friends. I am impressed and happy. That said, in the interest of making this review as useful as possible to the CustomMade community, I want to detail several things. In the process of doing so I will point out many things that could not have been better and just a few small things that could have. (This is a positive review!) Also, before I get into it, I should point out that I have several projects in the works right now with various artisans through CustomMade and I am coming to be increasingly dissatisfied with the CustomMade interface in several ways (it drives me crazy). This has nothing to do with Strong Oaks. And I should note that of the four projects I have going right now, all were started at the same time with the same “3 Month” timeframe and Strong Oaks finished first. About 2 months. 9 weeks maybe. The Strong Oaks table was the largest project in terms of build complexity and size. (I have no idea when the other stuff will be ready. Maybe soon?) So… maybe the best way to do this is to approach the following categories: 1. Project Description/Initial Desires (So you can see what I wanted and what I got) 2. Pre-proposal & Proposal 3. The Build/ Communication/Interaction 4. Price 5. Shipping 6. Quality & Beauty ---- 1. Project Description/Initial Desires I wanted a simple large wooden table that could be rolled around. I wanted some kind of nice wheels and/or castors. I did not know what kind of wood or what kind of chairs or even style. I like Walnut but wasn’t married to the idea of having walnut. I wanted simple. I wanted it to be beautiful in some way. I wanted it 9’ or 10’ long and relatively narrow for that length. 2. Pre-proposal & Proposal The pre-proposal process was the best part of Custom Made. I think I had 7 or 9 builders interested. There were some amazing ideas and suggestions. Some very grand and some very simple. There were a few builders who just sort of barely submitted. It seems to me that there must be a good number of buyers who use CustomMade to get very specific things built… that is to say they know exactly – precisely what they want and are looking to find someone to build it exactly – precisely that way. (Based on the few “nasty-grams” (even a very unpleasant phone call) I received from other builders after I’d made my decision to use Strong Oaks, there must be a great many people out there “looking to get a Pottery Barn table just cheaper.”) I am not that kind of buyer. I wanted to get something that fit my requirements but I wanted to learn what the artisans who work with wood all day long recommended. I want to know about tables from people who BUILD TABLES. (Also, if you start a project, you must be courteous to the bidders and respond to them, even if you don’t want to use them. Apparently many people don’t. The better we treat these people, the better people will available to us.) Anyway, I was looking at my all options (different style and wood recommendations) and all were more or less the same price (except for one that was 3 times more). I sent out a last email to everyone asking if there was anything anyone wanted to add because I was going to make a decision in the next 24 hours. I got the following message from Mike at Strong Oaks: “To be honest, I'm not much of a fighter and I know for a fact I'm not the best craftsman out there, but I dearly love the old wood, so I will just state my case and leave it at that.” That cinched it. He recommended some very old reclaimed heart pine he had. And benches. And some kind of penetrating oil finish “like they used 80 to 100 years ago.” And specific wheels (locking etc). I requested and accepted his proposal and let everyone else know that what I’d decided. There were some great proposals that I turned down. (I need to make more money so I can give all the great artisans here a chance.) I never thought in a million years I’d buy a pine table. Walnut? Chestnut? Probably. But Pine? No way. But I did order one. And I felt good about it. And then I waited. 3. The Build / Communication I’d hoped to see some kind of creation story. Because I’d left so many decisions to the artisan, I was anxious to see what he’d decide at each point. How thick was the apron going look? What was the surface of the table going to look like (straight paralleled boards lengthwise or crosswise or both)? How strong was this thing going to be really??? (It’s very long… should I have asked for six legs? How is he going to build this?) There never was a creation story. And I was a little disappointed for time. But I trusted him and decided to wait. That said, Mike did email me three photos once, when the table was together (it is a big table and hard to photograph). Earlier he’d sent me a link to his facebook page to see a photo of the top being glued-up. All that that was good. I liked getting those. So… I did have an idea of what was being made… but I really didn’t know much more. It was fine. I should also note that I don’t facebook… so I had to signup to look… and I didn’t like that. But I completely understand why he would use facebook and not a CustomMade “creation story.” If the interface is as cumbersome for builders and it is us, I don’t blame him a bit. And the CustomMade emails are almost impossible to manage. The subject lines are all templated and the first few sentences are standard boilerplate. Even today I can’t easily put my mouse on a specific email... and I can’t do it at all on my smartphone because I can’t preview the CONTENT of a message (it all that CustomMade boilerplate).. Seven to nine bidders on this project; four simultaneous projects; plus all the standard automated emails that CustomMade sends… my mailbox is destroyed. I hope I haven’t missed anything… but I may have. This isn’t Mike’s fault. Mike and I just call each other now. It is easier… but I can’t do it late at night when I am traveling and dealing with such things in a hotel room. Bottom line: Mike is easy to communicate with and he tries to keep the information coming. I am very satisfied. One more note: I had the “clever” idea of asking for the benches to have casters on only one end so that I would be able to pick up the other end and roll ‘em. This means the legs on one end are longer (no wheels). I insisted on this and Mike built ‘em this way at my request. This was a mistake. I should have had wheels on all four legs or none. (These benches are LONG. If you pick up one end, the rolling end takes off… (good wheels),,, side to side wherever.) This is not Mike’s fault. It is mine… and it is a small thing. Another thing I’d like to have seen would be some kind of simple (photocopied would be fine) instructions for the care of this finish. (No doubt he’ll send me an email when he reads this.) Also, I’m a marketing/agency guy… if I could build and sell tables this beautiful from a reclaimed barn, I’d try to include a photo of the old barn from which it came (or… um… an old barn like it from the same part of the world and time frame). I’m getting lots of questions from my friends about this beautiful wooden table and I’d love to have conversational spice to add. But that’s no big deal. Mike’s shop is not a marketing business with all of his customer experience touchpoints perfectly conceived and executed, but that’s not why I hired him. He’s a builder of furniture and a worker of wood. Perfect! 4. Price The price seemed a little (or a lot) low to me… and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop… but it didn’t. I like that this was so affordable for me… and so do others because Mike is busy. And so if that means that Mike can’t hire someone to do creation stories all day long, fine. He always calls me back quickly. Mike doesn’t screw around with dollar negotiations. At least he didn’t with me. The prices were fair (or really I think unfair to him and favorable to me) and things cost what they cost. Am I going to send him more money? No. But I am going to send him more work and be open to whatever pricing he needs. 5. Shipping This thing came in a LARGE CRATE which was bulletproof. I took it apart and saved the stuff (I’m remodeling). Taking crate apart took several hours. A magor deal. It looks like a whole large box of screws and many sheets of ply plus several 2X4’s. This must have cost someone a couple to a few hundred dollars in materials right there. The table top, legs and benches came out without a hitch. Beautiful. (I’d thought that maybe I was shorted one nut in the hardware bag and called Mike to get the size so I could get one at Home Depot ($0.50). He apologized offering to send me one. Not a problem though. Fifty cents. Also, when I returned home and got the thing together and the area cleaned up, I found the nut. Mike had counted correctly, it was MY MISTAKE. Not a big deal. Shipping went without a hiccup. Perfect. 6. Quality & Beauty I am not sure how to judge the quality here. The table is heavy and solid. The wood is unbelievable… antique heart pine… fiery and warm... it glows. The wheels/casters are great… solid and smooth and nice. (The table wheels look like rollerblade wheels.) This is reclaimed barn wood. THERE ARE STILL NAIL HOLES IN SOME BOARDS! (How cool is that!) The wood is NOT pristine. But the wood is smooth and gorgeous if not precisely flat on top... some of the boards bow ever so slightly (which is actually lovely). I can see the saw marks. The joints are tight. The legs are solid. The boards have been selected with an artists’ eye… color contrasts and complements. The top appears to be buscuited and glued AND screwed together (underneath). (It is big 9’ X 38”.) The screws surprised me but you can’t see them… and I’m actually glad to have them there now that I think of it. (At first I was of another opinion but that changed after touching this table for 5 minutes.) This table is a thing of beauty. Mike made the apron relatively thin… and from boards where I can see the “tide” of circular blade marks (ever so slightly)… this may be on the original wood. The apron is my favorite part. I’ve stood on it. I’ve eaten from it. I’ve rolled it around. And I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time staring at from various points of view. Pine. Who would have thought it? I own and have owned finer furniture, but none more beautiful. This thing is delicious. Five stars. I am very happy. [Please forgive the photos, this table will look better when I get my concrete floor polished and re-stained.] I am happy to offer a more detailed positive reference for Strong Oaks any time. They know my email. Hank