Ok, that makes sense. Are there any other options though? I really don't want carpet, but $3780 sounds like a lot for wood on the stairs. Would it come out cheaper to have the stairs built with a better wood to begin with so that we could then stain them?

You can probably find this... and not have to carpet (ick) or just deal with composite "wood". You will have to do some Internet surfing. I personally wouldn't want either alternative that Mrspete suggested in this case.

Making the entire stair of stainable wood, would be more money. Really your quote doesn't sound bad to me. Carpet is a safer stair choice. You could also do carpet as a runner with wood on the sides.

artemis - what is wrong with the second option the OP said they wanted?

Artemis, are you saying you wouldn't want stained wood which I think was Mrs. Pete's second option mentioned? Also, what are you saying I can probably find? I just appreciate the advice and want to make sure I'm understanding.

I think his quote is to put engineered wood flooring on the stairs - the same that is going on the floor. The pictures below are what I had in mind as an alternative to that. Do you think this would cost more?

Rincon Classic · More Info

Reclaimed Oak Wide Plank & Chevron Pattern · More Info

How about something like this where you have wood treads and painted risers.

Wendell Arts & Crafts · More Info

Greenwich Waterfront Shingle · More Info

Your price sounds reasonable to me. You will not get a nice look, even a rustic one, finishing build grade wood for the stairs. You can use your wood flooring, or in our case we had poplar stained to match the floor bc the floor was a hand scraped engineered which would have looked terrible on the stairs in my opinion. Here is what they had to do to build my stairs:. Build construction stairs in framing, build real stairs in trim - stained poplar treads and primed composite risers. Those all had to be dry fit, cut, sanded etc.. Then removed for painting and staining, replaced with the temp stairs again, then finally trim guy comes back to build finished staircase. So having a wooden stair means my stairs were essentially built three times. It took my trim guy over a week and we don't have a fancy staircase. I have a huge amount of respect for the work that went into building the wooden staircase, I had no idea before. I'm guessing you are going to pay an upcharge no matter what the wood finish as the cost isn't just the wood but the labor. Good luck with your project, it's a big process but worth it!

You need to better describe the stair that is included in the contract price. Is it a rough plywood stair that will be covered with carpet? Will the ends of the treads be exposed? Is there an open guard railing with balustrades resting on the treads? Has any part of the stair already been built?

The price seems OK if it is for adding painted risers and stained hardwood treads to a stair you already own and the carpet was not in the contractor's base price. But I wouldn't pay that much for engineered wood that might look second rate.

I just had a 13 step set of stairs custom made, by a very reputable manufacturer, for my home in NJ with oak treads and pine risers for $1,100. Granted it was closed both sides but regardless, it seems to me the only difference Junejewel is asking for is the material on the treads and risers. There's no way it should cost almost $4,000 for that minor upgrade. There should be a credit for the material NOT being installed(carpet probably) and an add for the material to be used plus finishing. The labor to install is the the same. Each unfinished oak tread is no more than $25 and each riser is no more than $15. If he refinished trades and risers were installed it MIGHT be an extra $2,000 in materials but then there's no refinishing cost.

Keep in mind many builders like to build what they build, how they build it, and they will charge astronomical prices for changes that impact their normal routine. I'd find the nearest lumber yard that manufacturers stairs and get a quote from them. I'd also get a price for the credit from the builder. You can use the new pricing to judge the validity of the credit.

I can see how a stair without exposed tread ends, no balusters and only 13 risers might cost less than half as much as the OP's stair. The two stairs would have very little in common.

I built our staircase. The framers built the rough stairs, my trim went over the top. We have engineered hardwood on the floors, but the planks are wide (7"), so I didn't really like the way each tread would be a wide plank and a very small section. So I did engineered wood on the landings using the company's special stair nosing trim and solid oak treads stained to match. I ordered 48"x11" deep solid oak risers from Home Depot (they were 12 of them, about $40 each with a bullnose and mitered return since one side of our stairs were open). I bought oak risers, about $15 each and painted them white. A big part of the expense was in the railing. It required 4 newel posts, around 50 balusters, plus the top rail. It took me about 2 weeks to finish it and was VERY work intensive. Of course, a professional could have done it much faster, but you will be paying quite a bit for labor.

Wouldn't the builder owe the railing anyway? If I read the original post(s) correctly, the poster wants solid wood steps in lieu of the composite material offered. Again, the only difference is in the treads and risers. Unless we're talking about a really amazing set of stairs I just don't see $4,000.

cpartist, I like those and I would be fine with that. I'm wondering why that wasn't given to me as an option. This is SO confusing. Is the part that is painted just the regular plywood that they are built with?

chellefnp, Beautiful job on those stairs! I would love something like that and that's a far cry from $4000. Again, this is so confusing.

rjs5134, You are correct. That $4000 is only the additional cost to have wood on the stairs.

Is this a custom build or a tract builder with their own house plans?

custom

Short stair building primer.

Many stairs in new houses are built using construction lumber(they are called construction stairs) and used while building the house. Most of those stairs are then covered with carpeting or other materials.

The difference in what covering can be used is built into the original construction stairs in the riser height(particularly the bottom and top riser height.

Riser height and tread width are mandated by building codes. Generally the riser height is between 6&1/2" to a maximum of 7&1/2"(with some variation). That means finished stairs have to have the same riser height for every step. That eliminates stumbling on the stairs.

So, construction stairs made for eventual carpeting will have all the risers set at basically the same height. However, construction stairs intended to have wood treads will have bottom/top riser height of 1&1/8" shorter than the rest, so the addition of the treads will even out the riser heights of all the steps.

That means if a construction stairway was built for carpet, and changed to wood treads, the stair structure would have to be rebuilt to start.

Now, you could stain/finish the rough wood on the construction stairs. But, that wood is much softer than the normal hardwoods used for stair treads and the wood will wear and splinter. So, that would be really rustic, as well as a hazard.

Handyman, thank you and I think I understand what you are saying. We haven't even broken ground yet, so how they are constructed is a blank slate at this point. Are you saying that still justifies the cost?

As a custom build it should be an option. Um when you start to build, you'd better get every single thing spelled out as to how you want it.

Let your architect make sure it's all described in detail as to what you want.