After a day of walking through and being shown the facilities I must say Simpson Strong Ties testing, R&D and customer service in the USA is second to none. I personally recommend a tour of the facilities to everyone in design and construction.

In general, Simpson Strong Tie is fairly decent, in that they have done engineering for the contractor or homeowner that needs to get something done. Beyond that, everything is VERY expensive, which wouldnt be a problem, but there are so many missing details that need to be known about the products, and it is beyond me, considering how many engineers must be on staff, how they dont exist.For instance, I am building a deck stairway using the LSCZ stringer connector that is zmax rated. Simple enough, right? Bunch of holes, fill them up with the recommended fasteners (dont do that by the way, because its obvious that isnt supposed to be done), so, go look for a tech spec document that shows the intended installation which will fit the engineering spec...well, it doesnt exist!There is a load table that shows the different fasteners and what is presumably the hole fill spec, but there is no way to know for sure. I have had this issue with numerous strong tie products, which I have paid quite a bit of money for.Its just, lame! Give the actual spec people. Its simple enough to create a pdf doc that shows specifics, and you should know that. On top of that, the LSCZ stringer hanger. is a pain in the ass to use! Especially when you are dealing with a composite deck surface which requires a 9 OC stringer spacing for the stringers. If you are using a palm nailer, ok, its probably a bit easier because it will fit a little more easliy, but using the SD (expensive) screws, good freakin luck! Get out your socket set an prepare to drive the screws by hand.Cmon guys! Live up to your cost!I have to take back some of what I just said in fairness to Simpson. The information I was in need of WAS on the spec sheet so my guess is that it has been on each spec sheet for each product Ive worked with. Sorry Simpson.I left the original review for clarity.

Awesome