The studio
Built like the name says.
Steel is the work ethic. House is the foundation. Steel House was founded in 2013 by brothers Tom and Brian Nagel and named for their steelworker father. The name sets the standard for how we work: build it right, build it to last.
Not a stock photo. This is what "we get in the water" means.
The story
Production came first.
Steel House started in Los Angeles in 2013, and the first decade was cameras: commercial production for Amazon, Jeep, Hyundai, Nestlé, and Oracle, feature films, and sets across the country: including a production partnership now in its second decade behind national campaigns. That work taught us the thing most agencies never learn: how to plan a shoot so every frame has a job.
The headquarters came home to Cleveland, Ohio, and the work followed a different question, the one our hospitality clients kept asking: who’s going to run all this content once you deliver it? So we became that partner. Today Steel House is a creative studio built around ongoing partnerships, content systems, photography, film, websites, and marketing for hotels, resorts, and premium brands. Based in Cleveland. On location everywhere.
Headquarters
Cleveland, Ohio
Founded
Los Angeles, 2013
Clients
Worldwide
Contractors
Nationwide
As far as
Komodo, Indonesia
Founder-led
Tom Nagel
Founder & Creative Director. Navy veteran. Tom leads every engagement personally: strategy calls, shoot days, final cut. No agency bloat, no layers between the client and the person making the work.
Behind him: a hand-picked bench of senior specialists, photographers, cinematographers, and post talent, assembled per project, so you pay for craft, not overhead.
The bench
The people behind the work.
Founder-led, backed by senior specialists nationwide: assembled per project.
Tom Nagel
Founder & Creative Director
Brian Nagel
Co-founder
Meredith Edwards
Communications & Accounts
Ashley Eberbach
Director & Editor
Jessica Halas
Photographer & Videographer
Will Walton
Cinematographer
How we work
A small studio with a big engine.
Steel House runs lean on purpose: founder-led creative, senior specialists per project, and an AI-powered production engine underneath, handling planning, systems, and turnaround so a small team moves like a big one.
The proof is on this site: client websites designed and built in-house, monthly content systems that never miss, and reporting that shows its work, all run by a team you can count on one hand.
The creative is human.
The speed is the engine.
What we believe
The best creative work comes from actually knowing your client.
Consistency builds trust. Trust builds brands.
If the work doesn’t move people, it doesn’t matter how good it looks.
When in doubt, do less. Authority comes from restraint.
On the record
featured in
The next partnership
We work hard. We care about the outcome. We get in the water.
That's the whole pitch. The rest is proof.