I am calling this "Part I", because it feels like it's going to end up being a long saga. This is the general idea of what we want our stairs to look like:
But, those are going to be significantly more expensive than something like this:
So, the plan is to do the cool metal stairs between the main floor and the second floor, and do something similar with wood stringers for the 2nd floor to the 3rd floor and down to the basement. I submitted for quotes to 3 different metal fabricators for the metal section and planned to submit to a stair company for the wood sections. I got 1 quote back. $33k for 3 half runs, and 2 landings. So then we'd have to get someone else to build another 3 runs in wood. But then MrDinks found Artistic Stairs, who apparently built the stairs to the deck on our current house, and who does both wood and metal stairs. So we can get them to do all 3 sections of stairs.
I visited Artistic Stairs' showroom on May 1. I met the sales guy, and explained what we were looking for. I have been thinking about walnut floors, so then we'd want walnut on the stairs. So I asked him to quote walnut. I also indicated that we wanted horizontal aircraft cables for the railings. I came home and emailed him the drawings and our inspiration photos. After 4 weeks of emailing him reminders, I finally got a quote back. $30k, but since he didn't remember what kind of railings I wanted, he didn't quote on them at all. He also quoted maple treads. And he quoted on doing all 3 sections in metal. Well, all 3 sections in metal for $30k isn't too bad. So I asked him to add in the railings, and use walnut treads.
Next quote came in at $115k. Yeah, I dropped my phone when I read that price. An increase of $85k? This has gone from a reasonable price, to "we don't want this job" pricing. I called the salesman, and he explained that not only was walnut REALLY expensive, but he had forgotten to quote on the landings for our stairs. And for some reason, aircraft wire is really expensive. Weird. But I had him go back to maple, and put in horizontal steel spindles. Another week goes by, and the quote is now down to $85k. Of that, $49k is the stairs and landings. And we're still talking about metal right from the basement to the 3rd floor. So that's still in line with the quote from the metal fabricator. But the railings alone are another $36k. Thirty-six thousand dollars. For pretty basic railings. I think this is still "we don't want this job" pricing. To put it in perspective, that's more than the entire kitchen, including cabinets, counters, floors and possibly even appliances. It's more than we are spending on triple glazed euro style windows with custom colour trim. And that's for RAILINGS.
So, MrDinks talked to our GC, his brother. They spent the weekend joking about taking unpaid leaves to build our stairs themselves. Or hiring families from South America, flying them up here and putting them up for months at a time. Apparently, the stairs in the second photo above would cost about $3k, and the railings another $2k, for a 3 story house. But then we'd have to put carpet on top of that.
So, now I call more companies for quoted on wood sections, and railings.
And maybe some elevator companies.
But, those are going to be significantly more expensive than something like this:
So, the plan is to do the cool metal stairs between the main floor and the second floor, and do something similar with wood stringers for the 2nd floor to the 3rd floor and down to the basement. I submitted for quotes to 3 different metal fabricators for the metal section and planned to submit to a stair company for the wood sections. I got 1 quote back. $33k for 3 half runs, and 2 landings. So then we'd have to get someone else to build another 3 runs in wood. But then MrDinks found Artistic Stairs, who apparently built the stairs to the deck on our current house, and who does both wood and metal stairs. So we can get them to do all 3 sections of stairs.
I visited Artistic Stairs' showroom on May 1. I met the sales guy, and explained what we were looking for. I have been thinking about walnut floors, so then we'd want walnut on the stairs. So I asked him to quote walnut. I also indicated that we wanted horizontal aircraft cables for the railings. I came home and emailed him the drawings and our inspiration photos. After 4 weeks of emailing him reminders, I finally got a quote back. $30k, but since he didn't remember what kind of railings I wanted, he didn't quote on them at all. He also quoted maple treads. And he quoted on doing all 3 sections in metal. Well, all 3 sections in metal for $30k isn't too bad. So I asked him to add in the railings, and use walnut treads.
Next quote came in at $115k. Yeah, I dropped my phone when I read that price. An increase of $85k? This has gone from a reasonable price, to "we don't want this job" pricing. I called the salesman, and he explained that not only was walnut REALLY expensive, but he had forgotten to quote on the landings for our stairs. And for some reason, aircraft wire is really expensive. Weird. But I had him go back to maple, and put in horizontal steel spindles. Another week goes by, and the quote is now down to $85k. Of that, $49k is the stairs and landings. And we're still talking about metal right from the basement to the 3rd floor. So that's still in line with the quote from the metal fabricator. But the railings alone are another $36k. Thirty-six thousand dollars. For pretty basic railings. I think this is still "we don't want this job" pricing. To put it in perspective, that's more than the entire kitchen, including cabinets, counters, floors and possibly even appliances. It's more than we are spending on triple glazed euro style windows with custom colour trim. And that's for RAILINGS.
So, MrDinks talked to our GC, his brother. They spent the weekend joking about taking unpaid leaves to build our stairs themselves. Or hiring families from South America, flying them up here and putting them up for months at a time. Apparently, the stairs in the second photo above would cost about $3k, and the railings another $2k, for a 3 story house. But then we'd have to put carpet on top of that.
So, now I call more companies for quoted on wood sections, and railings.
And maybe some elevator companies.
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