I too love the look of plywood but as I see the pic you show IMO in a very short time that edge will be ruined so I have to agree a small strip of silid wood would be a good choice. Or check out baltic birch it has a very clean edge in my experience and might work

Your contractor is wise. I would not be too worried about appearance, safety is a bigger issue.

There's a reason why no one has a picture of exposed plywood stairs that are a few years old. ;-)

You can blend a solid piece of the same hardwood birch or European oak(for example) for the edge as is used for the top ply layer. Match the grain direction. I would not choose maple. Maple ply goes more yellow than solid, ime. Your example picture appears to have a solid edge. Pretty common technique. If you used Baltic birch ply the edge could be rounded with a router and round over bit same as solid.

that birch plywood is a thin veneer of actual birch over a lesser quality layered wood (plywood). What you like is the wood. So get a solid stair tread in whatever wood you like, and use the ply for the risers. The edges are what's going to wear (it chips and splinters very easily, especially if people are dragging their feet across them!) along w/the thin veneer top layer. plywood is not meant for heavy traffic, which is you don't see plywood stair treads!

What we like about the first picture I posted is the clean look of the stairs. Another option is this look

But if we can get the same look of the first photo from original post, by using a solid birch wood tread and a Baltic Birch plywood riser, maybe we should do that. Thank you all for responding!!

You could build solid birch stairs and just tell everyone it is plywood.

“We are okay with wear and tear, but not with stairs getting ruined and needing to replace in few years.”

Then you don’t want plywood. It isnt designed to resist repeated point load compression. Like walking on it.

oh, that's really beautiful! I love plywood when it's designed to display the beautiful layered edge. so if capping or covering up the edges is the solution, you may as well get regular hardwood instead. you can always find some other way to make it modern and unique.

The veneer on cabinet grade plywood is 1/64" thick. You'll wear through that fairly quickly. Stairs have to have nosing by code.

Exception: A nosing is not required where the tread depth is a minimum of 11 inches

codelibrary.amlegal.com › codes › rapidcity15.13.160 IRC Chapter 3, Section R311.7.5 Stair treads and ...

Plywood will not survive being left without the end cap your contractor recommends. Safety first.

All plies of Baltic Birch plywood are birch with the grain direction alternated creating a striped edge appeaance. Plugged knots are visible. Its most common use is for concrete formwork. I've used it for kithen cabinets, furniture and office desks. Permanent stair treads should not be laminated.

Okay, my stairs are not the place for plywood! We will probably just go with the House of Forging modern remodel tread with riser, which is this

Again, thank you all for your input!! After this project is completed (it does end, right?), I will post a picture of the finished stairs.

FYI I used plywood for flooring in a gallery years ago with 4 coats of poly that floor stood up to hundreds of shoes for years all it took was about every 3 yrs we lightlysanded and recoated , I think the stairs to guest area will be fine ans I mentiond baltic birch because it has a very atrractive layering that could be exposed.