A lot depends on the design of the stair and how it relates to the surrounding spaces.

Drywall is never used for risers because of the wear they need to take.

White oak? Better double your guess. At least.

Good point @Mark Bischak, Architect! Oh yes let me correct that, I think painted risers must just mean painted lower cost wood... like plywood or pine or something? As opposed to doing a nice white oak to match the treads.

So that's 2 flights of stairs or 3 flights of stairs?

Anything other than a straight run adds to the cost.

What handrails & balusters are you planning for? Those details are $$$

Are you really doing an open riser? So your home is going to be contemporary?

Is it possible you meant Open Stringer as opposed to Closed Stringer?

OH my goodness @DeWayne!!! I seriously don't understand the estimation process. They seem pretty accurate for the actual construction stuff, but then for all interiors and selections they were just like.. whatever, will figure it out later. So having to find out every single thing is more expensive at the last minute is treacherous. And the builder will want our decisions quickly, yet we are still waiting on a single quote here for stairs! The least they could do is estimate it more accurately based on what we actually want from the beginning.

OH and no I don't think we will do open riser because of the cost. The home is quite 'modern farmhouse' but I'd say more on the modern side. I could post the drawing here. As for stringers, I like open as well but it seems like an easy way to save money and I'm not sure it makes a huge difference, closed stringer can look clean and modern too.

Can't help with the cost since I don't remember how much we paid for stairs but I'm attaching pictures from my built. We did white oak run between first and second floor but to save money we did painted risers in the basment.

If we walk away with change from a C$60K bill, we'd be thriled!

Our inspiration: Virgil Abloh, M.S., Arch., designed staircase. (But in a more subdued colour.)

I just got the bill on mine last night. $16K. Not a great picture, but they are cherry steps with painted risers. Our handrail is wood with black metal ballusters.

Wrapped views · More Info

I can tell ya these were a bloody fortune......straight up to a bridge, and no landing

Not sure how much this one cost, probably not even a line item in the total cost of a small addition.

@Jan Moyer - that view!😱 Also I love your stairs, they were worth the fortune you paid! I originally wanted chunky floating treads like that but considering how over-budget everything is, I didn’t even bother. Ours are a bit tucked away anyway so it doesn’t make a huge difference.
@J Sk - that looks great. Kind of what I am thinking the painted risers look nice with the chunkier tread.
@worthy - wow, your project is unbelievable - Nice inspo, we originally had a different stair design/floor plan and I really wanted to do metal mesh railings (I love it in a honeycomb pattern) but like everything else… out of budget! I’m so curious about your material palette, what colour are you thinking for the stairs?!
@Mark Bischak - is that maple? I think it looks nice with the darker/warmer floor and using maple would definitely save us $. I was thinking to use the same wood for the stairs, the slatted wood accent, and maybe the window sills.

Sorry ts is not going to get answers to help. We do ot know where you are or hosetly what exactly you want From your drawing it looks like a ton of stairs and IMO 20K will be a bargain.Building new house is always full of surprises everytime you change something $$$$$ get added all the choices in the builders design office are upgrades almost every time. Some things need to be upgraded now others can be done after possession The one I always tell my clients to take the cheap builders choice is lighting This can changed one room at a time . Same for landscaping do what is a must to close then work on this a bit at a time . Paint all the hoouse one color done. Just a ew places to save money but the staircase is not one where I skrimp and plan to change later better done now.

Even without providing more details on the project, I can already tell $20k is still optimistic... Not sure if our GC thought we were finishing the stairs with pine or something?! I will just hope they can get us some quotes finally, ASAP, so we can decide other stuff afterward that is super flexible like cabinetry and tiles etc.

So far I am thinking we definitely need to do closed stringer and closed riser. I will wait and see if we can do white oak or if something like maple or beech would be more realistic and still look good with the floor.

First thing I'd ask is what is your flooring? It's sand on site? Engineered? What? Light, medium, etc?

I really like treads with a nice crisp squared off edge in a farmhouse feel. I also like them to match the floor. Oak gives you that possibility no matter the floor you are using, and maple? No.......it won't: ) It's a hard as rock wood, difficult to stain well. Best left natural.

We're not seeing the whole floor plan, the elevations or anything beyond a stair isolation.

The other thing you want to consider? Uncovered stairs have safety issues; kids, dogs, older folks with tri and bi focals. Slippery in socks! Maybe you want a runner! So ask yourself if you are doing unnecessary agony when all you really want is a super great looking stair that suits the build and is to code. There are a million ways to get that. Show the whole living floor - the one with all the detail dimensions of everything

Jan Moyer - I posted 3 pics before, can you see the flooring sample? It is an engineered white oak, medium wheat tone. I agree oak stairs would be best and most flexible. Good to know about maple - maybe I will see some natural maple in person beside our flooring sample. I also wonder about something like beech? Here is another pic, terrible indoor lighting but it shows the flooring (left) beside a piece of raw white oak (unprocessed lumber). I posted a clean shot of the living area floor plan, not sure if you can see it, the full view is covered in markups as a bunch of details like cabinetry will be different than what was drawn. You raise a good point about runners! Kind of traditional but they do serve a purpose, especially if we have kids in the near future!

Maple.

I'd tell the stair guys your budget and see how much they can do with it.

I’m so curious about your material palette, what colour are you thinking for the stairs?!

Since the theme is industrial light, I'm inclined to greys and browns, reserving touches of colour for the kitchen cabinetry and recycled glass counters. I should probably hire a colour consultant, even if our adult daughter, who once aspired to be an architect, is miffed.

I think we will be able to work out the details. Who knows, but I guess I will find out soon. Thanks everyone.

@worthy I saw an exterior rendering somewhere in the past in a thread - love it! I have no idea what the floor plan is like or much else about your design… I think of myself as an amateur colour expert as a designer (digital, not interior!) and if you are planning to sell the house here is my 2 cents: earth tones! Greys, browns, hints of greens. Could do tasteful touch of yellow, blue, etc. It looks like you will want it to be really clean and obviously modern… I would keep it mostly neutral and you can do far more with textures than colours to add richness and depth. I suppose not all buyers with high budgets have great taste, but colour psychology is real and it’s all about the feelings you want to evoke in prospective buyers.

I think it is a great idea to create a profile and explore the type of person who might buy the home - who are they, what do they care about and how do they want to feel in their home. I saw lovely mature trees so I assume there are some big windows facing the back yard (I only saw the front), mix that into your industrial palette and call it a day!

Ok, way more than 2 cents and not at all related to my stair inquiry - I digress! Glass countertops… interesting. Personally, if I was buying a home as expensive as your project seems - I would not want glass, mainly because it is not durable and not as eco-friendly as it sounds. That being said, in your demographic… do people even use their kitchens? Mixed green tones in white or black would look so cool with glass, like terrazzo! If it is mostly a show kitchen, this could be an incredible avant-garde feature!

" I should probably hire a colour consultant, even if our adult daughter, who once aspired to be an architect, is miffed."

You should. One of my favorite local Italian restaurants has excellent food, but the owner foolishly let his wife decorate. Tacky beyone belief. Otherworldly tacky. Glittery spangly stuff that looks great on a dress, but not so much on a sconce or chandelier. Incredibly difficult to clean and it shows.

We are owner builders. Our white oak stairs (22 steps, 42" wide), with framing, balusters, newel post, hand rail, paint, stain, and all, not counting labor, were under $4000. Just the raw steps themselves were $1100. If each set of your stairs is 16K that seems ridiculous. If ALL your staircases are around 16K combined, awesome.

,

Well we got the first quote! Exactly on budget at $16k CAD… I don’t know if it is fixed or time and materials so we shall see.

"Our white oak stairs (22 steps, 42" wide), with framing, balusters, newel post, hand rail, paint, stain, and all, not counting labor, were under $4000."

Okay, let's hear the labor number please.

"22 steps"

There should be a rest area between exits.

I''ll pray there's a turn and landing in that 22?

Not possible for under 4K if you needed 26 ft white oak for the stringers as those pieces alone would 75% of that.

@Joseph Corlett, LLC We were the labor-I'm just listing the costs of our supplies. You can better suggest what labor might charge around the country for @Iza. My DH is in commercial construction and I'd say, he never builds/subs these sorts of stairs, but installs whatever metal thingies commercial buildings use.

@millworkman Not to pique your general feistiness, but I'm right about our treads. However, I will grant that the balusters and the newel post were reclaimed antiques, deals I found, stripped and painted, so they do not equal what new ones would cost. The lathe work alone on the posts would quadruple our costs.

We did not use all 22 precut treads and risers, but 19 stairs are, yes, steep. Kind of y'all to worry about our guests who will have to lug up their own luggage. I have a water fountain, a tank of oxygen and a few inhalers waiting when they reach the top. Or maybe just a vat of cocktails.

Keen B:

While you can't list a labor charge from a contractor, you could certainly say how long the project took and we could assign a value to your time.

Keen B - at least you will stay in good shape with all those steps! That is what I tell myself since we have 3 levels in our design. I am just debating whether a nice handwoven runner would be appropriate to make all my running up and down a bit safer.

@Joseph Corlett, LLC That's true, though again as a pro, you probably know how much time staircases typically take on average. I'm not a pro carpenter, and I have an 8 level fusion so I work slowly, but steadily; thus, my time card won't equal yours, nor would my "pay grade." My Dh and our professional helper, however, are pretty speedy. I could break down each step (pun enjoyed) for future readers, but that's pretty boring. I'd say, the whole thing took less than a work week.

But I will say, For non-pros, construction time is dictated by staircase design, open ended or closed steps, landings, baluster design, etc..

Here are a few variables that affected the amount of time this project took (besides my turtle speed.)

The treads/risers came precut, well-sanded, but unfinished. Obviously raw lumber will take longer. It's frustrating to know I paid less for each step, already formed and ready-to-set than someone else is quoting here for just the raw lumber.

New balusters will come ready to paint or stain. As I said, mine were reclaimed, and it took me a few days to remove old paint and handsand them. Old balusters saved us money in one way, wasted it in the time-is-money game. (I still think I came out ahead financially, that and they look unique and beautiful.)

Balusters can range from dollars to hundreds of dollars per piece, depending on design. And how they are set (flat on step or on an incline) changes work clock.

It took me a full morning of study/AKA waffling just to decide how we wanted to use these shorter-than-usual, antique balusters in order to meet code--jig together extra wood, do two layer framing, raise wall? Ultimately, we raised the wall and chose not to have open ends. Again, I guess design will dictate how long the baluster portion of a staircase takes.

Which comes to a few good questions that I do not know the answer to, Joseph:

Since we ended up having close-ended design, does the wall go into the staircase bid or into the framing/drywall bid? Does the trim work up the stairwell go into the staircase bid or the whole house bid?

Thank you, @Iza. Luckily, I will only have to go up there to clean now and then. But truly, the only time I hate stairs is when the car is full of groceries...

" The treads/risers came precut, well-sanded, but unfinished. "

Then you did not use white oak for the stringers. Never saw precut 23T stringers either.

I am not nearly educated enough to be commenting on this haha but stringers are the side part, right? It looks like Keen B has closed stringers which are painted so I assume she did not paint white oak... probably a cheaper wood!

I wanted open stringers (if I am even thinking of the right word) where the steps just meet drywall, but I am not sure how much additional complexity/time this adds for install. I like the clean modern look but if it costs a bunch extra I think we will do closed stringers and also a cheaper wood, painted to match other interior trim.

"Since we ended up having close-ended design, does the wall go into the staircase bid or into the framing/drywall bid? Does the trim work up the stairwell go into the staircase bid or the whole house bid?"

Framing/drywall bid. Staircase bid.