Dean Bavister

Staircase Operations Manager | Design, Manufacture & Installation Specialist | CNC Programming | Project Delivery up to £1M After 11 years of hands-on experience in joinery, I progressed into management to broaden my industry knowledge and develop my career within staircase manufacture and installation. I oversee the complete design, manufacture, and installation process for bespoke staircases. Starting as a Workshop Foreman, supervising joiners and carrying out site surveys, my role has evolved to include client and contractor liaison, staircase design, approval drawings, CNC programming, and project management. I currently manage the day-to-day operation of the Stair Shop, leading a team of five staircase joiners, a CNC programmer, and a CNC operator. I programme the 5-axis stair CNC when required and manage projects from sales handover through to practical completion. Working alongside two other draftsmen, I produce staircase designs and ensure accurate delivery to the workshop floor. A key part of my role is working closely with clients, architects, and contractors to develop designs, manage expectations, programmes, and budgets. I am also responsible for all in-house staircase installations, including contract administration, RAMS, site safety, and plant hire coordination. I regularly deliver complex staircase installations on prestigious projects across Central London, often within live, high-traffic environments that require careful planning and coordination. Working closely with site management teams and contractors, I ensure installations are completed safely, efficiently, and to the highest standards. The staircase packages I manage typically range from £20,000 to £1 million and form part of some of the UK’s most prestigious construction and joinery projects.

Working on my own initially in the manufacture of casement windows, door sets, sash windows, and cabinetry, later moving on to specialist curved work including curved sash windows, bow windows. All work was set out and machined by hand (draftsmen were not employed at SB Joinery until approx. 2012) it was the joiners responsibility to set out the job on rods and form our own cut lists, machining methods, and assembly. I later moved onto staircase manufacture allowing the director of the company to focus on the business, I took over the main role of staircase joiner along with an additional joiner progressing my craft and becoming specialized in staircase design and manufacture, this included fabrication of laminated curved strings, handrail carving by hand and on site installing or assembly of complex feature staircases.

Learning basic Joinery skills, setting out, machining, assembling all aspects of Joinery.