Concrete Stairs Finshing Need a Quote

Skillie

In these recessionary times it seems its still not easy to get work done and a resonable price.

I had a concrete stairs put in my new build home a few months back and wanted to get it finished with a mix of cream painted pine and walnut (or oak stained walnut colour) wood.

Contacted a company i spotted on Dragons Den who seemed to be exactly what i needed, they specialised in stair cladding. Anyway after chasing a quote for 4 and a half weeks (thought people would be chomping at the bit for work in these lean times) i got the quote today. appalling in layout and content and the price was almost as much as i'd been quoted pre-recession to build an entire stairs of wood from scratch let alone just dressing a concrete one.

Anyone know anyone in Cork who could do this and be willing to take it on for a realistic price.

heres the shape of the stairs

galwayrush

Expect to pay in excess of 7.5K , There's a lot of labour involved in it.

Skillie

to build it from scratch there is a lot of labour in it. to put some threads and a handrail with spindles is not that labour intensive. i'd rather look at a mass concrete stairs than pay that kind of money, not a hope

galwayrush

Skillie wrote: »

to build it from scratch there is a lot of labour in it. to put some threads and a handrail with spindles is not that labour intensive. i'd rather look at a mass concrete stairs than pay that kind of money, not a hope

The Curve adds a lot of labour to the job.

cork1

Skillie wrote: »

to build it from scratch there is a lot of labour in it. to put some threads and a handrail with spindles is not that labour intensive. i'd rather look at a mass concrete stairs than pay that kind of money, not a hope

just out of curiosity skillie how many times have you yourself done this kind of work? because you seem to make it sound simple. the only simple thing is the fact that you pay for what you get. i agree with galwayrush on this. anyone can throw down a bit of timber and land in a few spindles. do it right if your gonna do it. otherwise as you said just leave it as mass concrete. dont waste timber unless it gonna be done right.and make sure you veiw people work before you let them do something like this.

Carlow52

10k about, I would say, and that is without seeing what the top looks like: the 3 pics are pretty useless..

Making a 100% wooden stairs in a factory is a different ball game from working on site where each piece has to be custom fitted

wardwil

Have you considered a marble finish with castiron and maybe a wooden handrail.. this is what we are planning with our new curved, concrete stairs. It is not working out anything near 10K!

Think thats an awful lot of money for covering stairs.

Will

Skillie

Marble and iron is not a look we were going for we have a very specific idea for the stairs so we'll just stick with it and find someone who has a sense of reality. materials and a fair days pay is not an unrealistic target for any customer. people who deem their services worth at least a grand a day because of "custom fitting" on site are living in the past. Skirting boards require custom fitting on site too

galwayrush

Here's a mahogony with painted poplar mix i did some time back.
It included supply and fitting of top straight flight and covering the curved concrete stairs.

aerosol

Top work Galwayrush:)
The colours contrast very well together

Fingalian

Super work,love the contrast between the light and dark. how did you curve the top rail on the middle landing? ( if you don't mind me asking). Did you build a form/jig and laminate it up. If it's a trade secret ....fair enough;)
By the way if you are ever up Cavan way and have an hour to kill, pop in to the SAS Radisson Farnham Hotel. Opposite the reception desk in the new part there is a door into a round room which is part of the old Georgian building , there is a big old 6 panel mahogany door that was made concave to fit the curve of the wall, rails ,stiles and panels. Deadly work, you'd like it.

galwayrush

Fingalian wrote: »

Super work,love the contrast between the light and dark. how did you curve the top rail on the middle landing? ( if you don't mind me asking). Did you build a form/jig and laminate it up. If it's a trade secret ....fair enough;)
By the way if you are ever up Cavan way and have an hour to kill, pop in to the SAS Radisson Farnham Hotel. Opposite the reception desk in the new part there is a door into a round room which is part of the old Georgian building , there is a big old 6 panel mahogany door that was made concave to fit the curve of the wall, rails ,stiles and panels. Deadly work, you'd like it.

All laminated, so no end grain showing and it's stronger.
I got some steel jigs made up that i screw to the floor following the curve of the landing and cramp the laminates to it.

cork1

Skillie wrote: »

we'll just stick with it and find someone who has a sense of reality. materials and a fair days pay is not an unrealistic target for any customer. people who deem their services worth at least a grand a day because of "custom fitting" on site are living in the past. Skirting boards require custom fitting on site too

you obviously have no idea what your talking about. for starters skirting is carpentry and your job is joinery. BIG DIFFERENCE!!! this is a very slow process and needs to be done slowly and take lots of care to get it right. i reckon the outcome of this will be that you will find someone who will do it at a great price and it will be installed in half the time and the odds are you will love the way its done but to someone in the trade they will know straight away why you got such a price.you get what you pay for. this pisses me off so much! if you want a feature in your house its gonna cost thats common sense but if you wont pay to do it properly dont do it at all!

cork1

galwayrush wrote: »

Here's a mahogony with painted poplar mix i did some time back.
It included supply and fitting of top straight flight and covering the curved concrete stairs.

now THAT is a professional job! great work looks very classy.

Skillie

I have no problem paying for something if i think its justified i am not a tight arse i just don't like being taken for a ride.

Galwayrush that looks a top job if you'd be interested in quoting me please give me a PM

cork1

im not try to call you a tight arse all im saying this kind of feature is very very expensive. most people like yourself would be shocked at these prices but to someone who does the work and knows the man hours it will take these prices are very fair. or at least they are in my opinion.

galwayrush

Skillie wrote: »

I have no problem paying for something if i think its justified i am not a tight arse i just don't like being taken for a ride.

Galwayrush that looks a top job if you'd be interested in quoting me please give me a PM

Happy to give you a quote.:cool:

Your pics look quite similar to the one above.

the crank

you might want to try and change the profile of the hand rail to a fully round profile instead of the trad style easier to make so should help the price.

Skillie

thanks guys, PM sent

galwayrush

the crank wrote: »

you might want to try and change the profile of the hand rail to a fully round profile instead of the trad style easier to make so should help the price.

A fully profiled handrail is just as easy to make the way we do it.;)

the crank

fair enough. just not a huge fan of the glue lines, but a curved profile hand rail is a very sweet thing indeed.:rolleyes:
by any chance do you know anything about green oak frames, they use them alot on grand designs the tv show, id love to do a course on it, id go to england no prob.

Benny122

What price are these

slpower01

galwayrush wrote: »

Here's a mahogony with painted poplar mix i did some time back.
It included supply and fitting of top straight flight and covering the curved concrete stairs.

Some lovely carpentry work there I must say!

slpower01

And as for the original poster.... I am pretty sure if you shop around you may be able to find someone who will work for €50-€100 a day but don't expect them to show up with decent and accurate tools or have a whole load of experience.

You comparing fitting a piece of skirting to cladding a stairs is like saying someone who can change a car tyre can rebuild an engine (its all mechanical work isn't it?).

For this type of job it would have been much easier to build a full stairs in a proper kitted out joinery shop then it is to do this on site. To build it from scratch you only need a few measurements, typically your height, run and width.... doing it on site EVERYTHING is going to need to be measured independently so it is 100% custom. By knocking down the concrete stairs and getting a fully timber one made you could prob save yourself a bit of money.

Calibos

I doubt the OP is still walking up an unclad concrete stairs 5 years later....

slpower01

Calibos wrote: »

I doubt the OP is still walking up an unclad concrete stairs 5 years later....

Haha my mistake... didn't check the date... just seen a new post so I commented :-O