Actually there is only one custom steel bike builder unless you have one living within a mile of your home (surprisingly, many people do):

The is Waterford Precision. These are the people that built the Waterford Schwinn Paramount that was used by the old Schwinn factory racing team. After Schwinn dropped out, the team decided to make their own name bikes.

https://waterfordbikes.com These bikes are custom fitted and custom made for any and every demand from arabesque lugged touring models to spectacularly light TIG welded custom tubing road racing bikes that are at the UCI minimum weight with a set of DuraAce Di2 mounted and a good set of wheels.

I have seen many of these and am bowled over with their sheer quality and detail.

I looked at the Waterford site and quite frankly, I was not impressed at all. They are priced rather high and have a baffling and very expensive list of options. Many of their frames look clunky. The frame price does not include a fork which is not cheap, and from what I can tell, they don't even offer a stainless steel fork, only stainless crowns and dropouts. I would take my Cicli Barco TIG Columbus XCr frame any day at a price that is probably half of a Waterford with twice the craftmanship and artistic flair. Just my opinion. I studied custom frame makers for years before I chose Barco. I looked at Waterford before as well and thought they are living on the old Paramount reputation.

There are quite a few really excellent framebuilders in the US. Some of the best are very expensive, over $6,000 for a classic lugged road frame, plus they have waiting lists that can be years. Barco told me it would take 14 weeks, but it actually took about 5 months, but in their defense, Christmas holidays and the Corona Virus caused some delays. They are very communicative and responsive, I have about 100 emails with them from planning to finish work and delivery. It is a family business that has been building steel frames since 1947. If you check their Facebook and Instagram pages you will see how serious they are.

Here is a Barco Viva fork with carbon fiber steering shaft available in brushed or polished stainless steel at the same price; it is made like a piece of jewelry.
http://www.ciclibarco.it/wp-content/uploads/23.jpg

I don't follow. Why, in your view, is Waterford the only possible option for custom that isn't local?