ᐅ Additional Costs for Oak Stair Treads Instead of Beech – Excessive Overcharge?
Created on: 23 Jan 2021 13:33
S
Silvia79
Hello everyone,
We have a concrete platform staircase in our house that is contractually supposed to be covered with beech wood treads. The standard railing is planned with a wooden handrail and stainless steel round balusters.
The staircase has 6 straight steps, followed by a rectangular landing of about 3 square meters (32 square feet), and then another 8 steps. The stairs run parallel with about 20 cm (8 inches) of space between them, so no guardrail is needed at the landing; the 20 cm (8 inches) gap can be bridged with a post instead.
This concerns one floor because the basement stairs will be tiled.
We now want to change the material from beech to oak because we have many oak elements in the house and beech just doesn’t match. For the railing, instead of stainless steel rods, we chose white lacquered square wooden balusters and also want a rounded handrail.
The stair builder also offered to match the wood color to the wood-look tiles, which are quite close to the original oak tone—so nothing unusual.
We initially budgeted about 4,000 euros more. Based on my own research online, I found material cost increases for oak to be around 50–100 euros per step. Plus the higher cost for oak parquet instead of beech parquet on the landing, and the changes for the railing.
The quote, however, completely shocked us: nearly 9,000 euros in additional material costs for one floor. They calculated 280 euros more per step in material costs. For the risers, which are now white lacquered multiplex panels instead of beech, the extra cost is about 80 euros per riser.
At first, we seriously thought they had offered us the stair covering for two floors, with only one floor requiring a railing and without extra costs, but for a complete staircase. That would have been realistic or even quite reasonable. But this is not the case.
Six years ago, we paid 11,000 euros for a three-floor staircase made of beech wood with a railing, including two 2-meter (6.5-foot) long glazed guardrails on the ground floor and first floor, fully installed.
So, I really feel that the price increase quoted here is almost excessive. I just fear it will be difficult to find another stair builder.
Do you have any ideas?
Best regards
We have a concrete platform staircase in our house that is contractually supposed to be covered with beech wood treads. The standard railing is planned with a wooden handrail and stainless steel round balusters.
The staircase has 6 straight steps, followed by a rectangular landing of about 3 square meters (32 square feet), and then another 8 steps. The stairs run parallel with about 20 cm (8 inches) of space between them, so no guardrail is needed at the landing; the 20 cm (8 inches) gap can be bridged with a post instead.
This concerns one floor because the basement stairs will be tiled.
We now want to change the material from beech to oak because we have many oak elements in the house and beech just doesn’t match. For the railing, instead of stainless steel rods, we chose white lacquered square wooden balusters and also want a rounded handrail.
The stair builder also offered to match the wood color to the wood-look tiles, which are quite close to the original oak tone—so nothing unusual.
We initially budgeted about 4,000 euros more. Based on my own research online, I found material cost increases for oak to be around 50–100 euros per step. Plus the higher cost for oak parquet instead of beech parquet on the landing, and the changes for the railing.
The quote, however, completely shocked us: nearly 9,000 euros in additional material costs for one floor. They calculated 280 euros more per step in material costs. For the risers, which are now white lacquered multiplex panels instead of beech, the extra cost is about 80 euros per riser.
At first, we seriously thought they had offered us the stair covering for two floors, with only one floor requiring a railing and without extra costs, but for a complete staircase. That would have been realistic or even quite reasonable. But this is not the case.
Six years ago, we paid 11,000 euros for a three-floor staircase made of beech wood with a railing, including two 2-meter (6.5-foot) long glazed guardrails on the ground floor and first floor, fully installed.
So, I really feel that the price increase quoted here is almost excessive. I just fear it will be difficult to find another stair builder.
Do you have any ideas?
Best regards
Standard beech step covering with multicoating is currently available for around 50 euros, so my calculation is correct if I estimate 50-100 euros additional cost per step, assuming a price increase of 2.5 to 3 times.
In this case, it is also finger-jointed oak wood, not solid wood; the color adjustment is done through surface treatment. If he had charged 150 euros more per step—that is, three times the material cost—plus 50 euros for the surface treatment, I could have accepted that. But 290 euros more???
We are talking about the staircase covering for the first floor of a standard concrete staircase with only straight steps, which would cost around 13,000 euros if you include the cost for the standard stair construction.
In this case, it is also finger-jointed oak wood, not solid wood; the color adjustment is done through surface treatment. If he had charged 150 euros more per step—that is, three times the material cost—plus 50 euros for the surface treatment, I could have accepted that. But 290 euros more???
We are talking about the staircase covering for the first floor of a standard concrete staircase with only straight steps, which would cost around 13,000 euros if you include the cost for the standard stair construction.
hausnrplus25 schrieb:
For us, there would be an additional cost of 3,000 from beech to oak with the general contractor.
However, we are now contracting the staircase locally ourselves and are getting an even better overall price. We didn't even request beech there. Our general contractor only works with local companies. The staircase manufacturer has been in my original hometown for as long as I can remember. I'm sure I went to school with him, and as a child, I often played with his wife. So I even know them personally.
OWLer schrieb:
We had a budget of 4500€ for stair treads for a steel staircase per floor, including the landing.
With that, we went to the staircase manufacturer and ended up with oiled oak, with no additional costs. So, only the treads including installation? Or the entire staircase? Or additional costs on top of the original covering?
Silvia79 schrieb:
Almost extortionate. Of course, this is not extortion (criminal code).
Silvia79 schrieb:
In this case, it is laminated oak strips, so not solid wood. That would have been my assumption, that solid wood was chosen in addition to oak.
I wonder if it is even possible to tell whether it is beech or oak when they offer a color guarantee.
Does everything really have to look exactly the same?
We upgraded from laminated wood to solid wood but kept beech, which was stained in a nougat color. This matches well with our kitchen countertop, which is quite close to the staircase.
Silvia79 schrieb:
I just fear it will be difficult to find another staircase builder. Cladding and coverings on concrete stairs can usually be done later quite easily, right? Have them credit that item, and have it done later without a general contractor.
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