if the newell post is repainted white, instead of stained, i think you can get away with leaving the treads. i've seen some stair treads black with stained hardwood floors and it works. another option would be to stain the flooring in a mid-range tone...something slightly darker than the natural wood but nothing dark....like a pecan or walnut...neither is terribly a dark tone, but the contrast between the two elements would be less. i definitely think i'd look into making this work, before making a drastic change, like ripping out the stairs....then you can use the 2000$ refund to get something that you wouldn't have splurged on ;)

I actually like the contrast..is there a place in the foyer to put an accent piece of furniture with a similar wood color to the stairs and railing to tie it together? what is across from the staircase in the hall?

I think it is done frequently. I would much prefer the darker stairs and the contrast. The foyer in this example may not be as light as natural (not sure) but the contrast looks nice.

I personally like the contrasting colours. I would do what was suggested in a previous comment. Add a furniture piece in the front entry that is the same colour. It will tie everything in. Such as a small chair or console table. Plus an extra $2000 in your pocket is always a bonus too :)

Good luck

I like it as it is. take the money:)

I agree with painting the newel post white. I like the contrast of the darker stair treads;)

I would gladly take the 2000 credit. The stairs will look good once everything is done

stairs look great! take that money tho...:)

Thanks for all the helpful feedback. Very good points. There's a wall on the opposite side of the staircase where we can hang some pictures/photos with dark frames, and we can also put a plant with a dark brown pot in the foyer. So I think it would go nicely. We are also thinking about putting carpet runners on the staircase for the dog. Not a bad way to spend the credit.

It's great that your builder has shown such high level of integrity with the options they've offered to you. I agree with the others that the stairs look nice as it is. If you both feel like you're not settling too much with the way it looks now, then yes....take the $2k credit and move on.

Yeah, they've been really great to work with. Besides the integrity that they've shown handling this unfortunate error, they've also been very accommodating with our requests. If anyone is looking to build a house around NH, check out LaMontagne Builders.

This is a very interesting situation.

Deborah Butler posted a great picture which beautifully blended the dark, the light, and the white. With this in mind, I would paint the wall across from, and to the left of, the staircase a deep brown which extends the color of your treads. Then I would do a carpet runner up the stairs which matches, or blends with, the color of the natural wood floor. A simple, level-loop geometric carpet in camel color (or whatever blends with your light floor) with a brown dot or line, would be great!

Great idea on the pictures/photos with dark frames! But I'd put them on the stair wall to carry out the opposing-wall-brown theme.

You would have a dramatic entry ...... always good first impression!.......that won't fight with colors in adjacent rooms.

Just reread your initial comments and I really think you're on the right track. A future sale would mean you need to appeal to "most of the people, most of the time." Having those natural floors, plus having touches of darker stained wood (especially if this extends to furniture) will appeal to a larger spectrum of buyers.

Much luck! Your contractor sounds awesome!

The Darker looks fine, in fact i'd call it a happy accident, once furniture is in it will look like a contrast rather than being too matchy matchy.

Find out what the cost of fixing the stairs would normally be (perhaps a quote from a different builder). The builder is probably offering you $2000 because it is cheaper than what it costs for him to fix it, but high enough to be an option. I would keep the darker stairs, but get more than $2000 off the builder. At a guess, pulling up the stairs, resourcing materials, fixing any damage caused from dismantling as well as labor costs, I would guess $4-5k

What I don't understand is why doesn't the builder just have the floor crew re sand the steps ? I assume you didn't want the railings and posts stained too.
But this is less than a $1000 to redo.
It's great he offered you so much money but makes no logical sense in the construction world.
They can be sanded so they could be natural in 1 day

@Goodhouse-Ah, you beat me to it! There is no reason to deconstruct the stairs, with the exception of removing the railing so the treads can be sanded down. I am in the process of redoing a double entry stair and an attic stair that did not meet the customers expectations, only on this stair, the railings had to be replaced.

As I was reading comments sanding popped right into my head also, wonder why builder didn't provide that option??

most difficult company to deal with. We have lived in their development in a brand new house for a year, finding issue after issues, including getting 2 inches of water in the basement within 6 months of living there. They won't fix anything they don't care what you do. They will never respond to you. They do the minimum amount of work required and do it hastily and shoddy. Here's some issues we've had:

- Planted tree in transport bags, trees died won't replace

- outlets in odd spots

floor scratches EASILY and had drum marks and gouges in pieces. They even used pieces with worm holes in them that they could have cast aside.

-Radon pipes do not mitigate the radon and serve no purpose

-our yard doesn't drain and actually is sand which washes away when it rains exposing pipes

Take the $2,000 and then fix the issue yourself as it's an easy job for any pro stair person to address.

I would simply have the treads sanded by a pro of your choice to the natural state and put a few coats of poly. Stairs take a beating so don't leave them raw and then paint the post white. You could also have the post sanded. Really, the fix should cost no more then 500-1000.. So you would come out ahead. Or you could have it done yourself as a diy. Get a random orbit sander from local big box lumber yard with Velcro sanding disks and an afternoon and you'd be back to hardwood. Dremel makes an ok one, just make sure it has a triangular head to get into the corners. Plus a sanding block for hand sanding corners and radius sections. If you worried about dust, just get one with a dust port on it and hook it up to a shopvac. Perhaps call a pro to put on the finish coat of your worried about bubbles etc.

I don't get why the builder would offer such a level of compensation for such a straight forward trade job that's simple. Consider yourself very fortunate if he comes through with the cash, I personally would not have him fix it, he'll probably not put the level of effort a trade you bring in would as he will try and cheap out and minimally pay them.

Kewills318,

Most builders take pride in their work.. A lot of the issues you state could easily be addressed in small claims court if the builder is truly at fault. Most offer a warranty in writing for at least 1yr and major structure for like 5-10years..

The water in the basement really depends on it's root cause and if it's the builders fault or outside of their build issue ie sump backup, sewer backup, windows ingress..

As for the tree, again typically comes with a warranty but even then.. Planting them with the shipping sack isn't atypical depending on what the sack is made of. Again, he may not be at fault there.

As for radon pipe, did you not approve the build specification, is it code, is there any harm in having it? Builders add a lot of things to a build for extra profit. Nothing wrong with that..as long as you agreed to it.. Even if your regret it later or learn later it's snake oil.

As for sand, is that typical for your area.. How was it suppose to be handled as for grading and water control..what was specified in the build specification and local building codes. Did he do anything against code..

Most builder will fix issues promptly within the contract period..you have to be patient and respect that it's a process and things take time and sometimes longer then you wish. If you approach them roaring mad, you lose a lot of their good will..

Now that we have moved into the house, I feel obliged to take back what I said about LaMontagne. It's unfortunate, but we're running into many of the problems Janke1 mentioned, and more. The builder became much more difficult to work with after closing. Their first reaction is to either deny or delay.

Leaky basement. Check.

Hardwood floor with drum marks and worm holes. Check.

Yard drainage issue. Check.

And more ...

Unfortunately, that isn't uncommon in today's world. My last builder spec home 15years I had a 2pg PDI ie pre delivery inspection checklist. Took 2 months to get through it all. Even then I gave up on small items as there repairs were hack jobs that I could have done better. At the end of the day, just stay on big issues and don't bother with empty threats of court action and just do it as they already budgeted x dollars for it.

Structure, water issues I'd forced their hand, cosmetic issues just hire out a new person to fix it to your liking if you can not do yourself or if not worth your time to. Too often, people get to emotionally attached n angry about builder follow through. You just invested 100's of thousands, look at the big picture.. paying a few more hundred or a thousand in the grand scheme of things is nothing. Your home will increase many times more in 1 year then what you'll pay out of pocket to fix it. So you"ll be ahead n not spending months fustrated simply because of principle and the fact they should have done it on their dime.