A staircase is the only architectural element you touch, walk on, and look at every single day. It connects the floors of your home, sure. But it also sets the tone for the entire space — the moment someone steps through your front door, the stair is usually the first thing they see.
We build custom metal staircases across Vancouver, Burnaby, North Vancouver, and the rest of the Lower Mainland. And after fabricating hundreds of them in our shop — from tight spiral stairs in Gastown lofts to 16-foot mono stringers in West Vancouver waterfront homes — we have strong opinions about what works, what doesn’t, and why custom metal beats prefab every time.
Why metal over wood or prefab
Wood staircases creak. They shrink and swell with humidity changes. In Vancouver’s climate — where you get 160+ days of rain per year and indoor humidity swings between 40% and 70% — wood stairs develop gaps, squeaks, and finish failures within a few years. Hardwood treads cup. Newel posts loosen. Painted risers chip.
Metal doesn’t do any of that.
A properly fabricated steel staircase stays dimensionally stable. Period. It won’t warp in a heated home during January, and it won’t swell when you leave windows open in August. The structure is welded, ground smooth, and finished in controlled shop conditions before it ever reaches your site. That means tighter tolerances, cleaner joints, and a stair that still feels solid in 30 years.
And prefab? Those flat-pack metal stair kits you find online are built to a price point, not a standard. They use thin-wall tubing, generic dimensions, and fastener-based connections that rattle over time. A custom staircase is engineered to your exact floor-to-floor height, opening width, and headroom constraints — then welded as a single structural unit. The difference in rigidity alone is worth the investment.
Types of custom metal staircases
Not every staircase needs the same structure. The right type depends on your floor plan, ceiling height, design goals, and budget. Here’s how the main options break down.
Mono stringer stairs
A mono stringer uses a single steel beam — typically a 10” to 14” deep channel or HSS section — running down the centre of the stair. Treads cantilever off both sides. The result is a staircase that looks like it’s floating, with visible air beneath each step.
This is probably the most requested staircase type we build. It works well in open-concept homes where you want maximum light penetration and a strong architectural statement. The mono stringer itself becomes a design element — a bold spine that anchors the room.
Cost range for a mono stringer in the Lower Mainland runs $15,000 to $40,000+ depending on the number of treads, the finish, and whether you’re adding glass or cable guardrails. A straight 13-tread run with powder-coated steel and white oak treads typically lands around $22,000 to $28,000 installed. Add a 90-degree turn with a landing platform and you’re pushing closer to $35,000.
Double stringer stairs
Two parallel stringers — one on each side — with treads welded or bolted between them. This is the workhorse of custom metal staircases. It’s structurally efficient, cost-effective, and extremely versatile in terms of finish options.
Double stringer stairs work well for both interior and exterior applications. We’ve installed them on everything from three-storey townhouse interiors in Coquitlam to covered exterior entries in New Westminster. The dual-stringer design handles heavy loads with less material depth than a mono stringer, which matters when headroom is tight.
Budget $12,000 to $30,000 for a typical residential double stringer with guardrails.
Floating staircases
A true floating staircase has no visible stringers at all. Each tread is individually anchored to a structural wall — usually through a concealed steel carriage or cantilevered bracket system embedded in the wall framing during rough-in.
These are stunning. And they’re the most engineering-intensive staircase we build.
The wall has to be structural — a standard 2x6 partition wall won’t cut it. You need either a concrete or masonry wall, a steel-reinforced stud wall with blocking at every tread location, or a dedicated steel frame hidden inside the wall cavity. We work with your structural engineer to specify the connection details, and we provide shop drawings that show exactly where blocking and embed plates need to go before drywall.
Floating stairs start around $25,000 and can exceed $50,000 for longer runs with glass balustrades.
Spiral staircases
Spiral stairs wrap around a central column — typically a 4” to 6” diameter steel pipe — with pie-shaped treads radiating outward. They fit in tight footprints, usually 5 to 6 feet in diameter, which makes them popular for loft access, rooftop decks, and secondary circulation in compact homes.
But here’s the thing most people don’t realize about spirals: BC Building Code has specific requirements for them. Each tread has to provide at least 6-3/4” of clear width at the walk line (measured 12 inches from the narrow end). The rise can’t exceed 9-1/2” per step. And if the spiral is the primary means of egress, it has to meet the same headroom and width requirements as a conventional staircase. That rules out the tiny 4-foot-diameter spirals you see in European design magazines.
We build spirals in the $10,000 to $25,000 range depending on diameter, height, and finish.
BC Building Code requirements you need to know
Every staircase in British Columbia has to meet the requirements of the BC Building Code (which adopts and amends the National Building Code of Canada). Here are the numbers that matter most for residential projects:
Rise and run. Maximum riser height is 200 mm (about 7-7/8”). Minimum tread depth is 210 mm (about 8-1/4”) for a closed-riser stair, or 235 mm (9-1/4”) if the treads are open. These dimensions aren’t suggestions — they’re code minimums and maximums that your building inspector will measure.
Headroom. Minimum 1,950 mm (6’-5”) of clear headroom measured vertically from the nosing line. In practice, we aim for 2,050 mm or more because 6’-5” feels tight for anyone over 5’-10”.
Guardrails. Required on any open side of a stair where the drop exceeds 600 mm (about 2 feet). Minimum height is 900 mm (35-1/2”) measured vertically from the nosing. For guards at landings and balconies adjacent to stairs, the minimum goes up to 1,070 mm (42”).
Baluster spacing. No openings that allow passage of a 100 mm (4”) sphere. This is the critical dimension for any guardrail design — whether you’re using vertical steel pickets, horizontal cables, or glass panels. It’s a child-safety requirement and inspectors check it carefully.
Handrails. Required on at least one side of any stairway. The graspable portion has to be between 30 mm and 43 mm in diameter (or equivalent cross-section). The handrail has to be continuous for the full length of the stair flight and extend horizontally at least 300 mm beyond the top and bottom risers.
We handle all of this during the design phase. Every staircase we build ships with a drawing package that shows code compliance — riser heights, tread depths, guardrail dimensions, and handrail profiles. That package goes to your building department as part of the permit application.
Material options and finishes
Steel is the backbone of every staircase we fabricate. But the specific grade, section, and finish vary by project.
Mild steel (CSA G40.21 Grade 44W / 300W). This is the standard structural steel for most residential staircase work. It’s strong, weldable, and cost-effective. It accepts paint, powder coating, and patina finishes well. The vast majority of our stairs — probably 80% — use 300W steel for stringers and structural components.
Stainless steel (304 or 316). We use 304 stainless for interior guardrail posts, handrails, and cable fittings where the client wants a bright, maintenance-free finish. For exterior applications or anything near salt water — a rooftop stair in West Vancouver overlooking the ocean, for instance — we specify 316 stainless, which has better corrosion resistance due to its molybdenum content.
Powder coating is our default finish for mild steel stairs. It’s applied electrostatically in a controlled booth and cured in an oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The result is a finish that’s harder, more uniform, and more durable than brush-applied paint. We offer the full RAL colour range — matte black (RAL 9005) is the most popular by a wide margin, but we do plenty of custom colours for architects who want something specific.
Glass panels for guardrails use 10 mm or 12 mm tempered glass, depending on the span and whether the glass is top-mounted or side-mounted. Tempered glass is about four times stronger than regular glass and breaks into small, relatively harmless pieces if it ever fails. We can do clear, low-iron (for a less green edge), or frosted.
Wood treads — white oak, walnut, and maple are the most common species we pair with steel frames. The treads are precision-cut and pre-drilled in our shop to match the stringer, then installed with concealed fasteners. We don’t supply the wood ourselves; we work with your millwork supplier or can recommend local shops in Burnaby and Vancouver that do excellent hardwood work.
The timeline from first call to finished stair
People underestimate how long a custom staircase takes. Here’s a realistic timeline for a typical residential project:
Week 1-2: Site measure and design consultation. We visit the site, take precise measurements of the stair opening, floor-to-floor height, and surrounding structure. We discuss design intent, material preferences, and budget. If the project is new construction, we work from the architectural drawings instead.
Week 3-5: Shop drawings and engineering. We produce detailed shop drawings — typically in AutoCAD — showing every dimension, weld detail, connection point, and finish callout. These go to you (and your architect or contractor) for approval, and to the building department if required. For complex stairs, we may involve a structural engineer to stamp the design.
Week 6-10: Fabrication. This is where the staircase comes to life. Stringers are cut, fit, and welded. Treads are fabricated. Guardrail posts are machined and drilled. Everything is test-assembled in the shop to verify fit before finishing. Then the components go to powder coating or get their final surface treatment.
Week 11-12: Delivery and installation. We deliver in sections sized to fit through doorways and up elevators. On site, the stair is bolted or welded into position, levelled, and secured to the structure. Guardrails, handrails, glass panels, and treads are installed last. A typical residential stair takes 1 to 3 days to install depending on complexity.
Total: 10 to 12 weeks from first meeting to finished stair. That timeline can compress to 8 weeks for simpler projects or extend to 16+ weeks for large, complex installations with glass and custom metalwork.
Plan ahead. If your staircase needs to be installed before drywall — which is common for floating stairs and wall-mounted designs — we need to be involved early in the construction schedule, ideally at the framing stage.
Why custom beats prefab — the real reasons
A prefab staircase is designed to fit a generic opening. A custom staircase is designed to fit your opening — your exact floor-to-floor height, your exact opening dimensions, your exact design intent.
That matters more than people think. A 1/4” variance in floor-to-floor height means every single riser is off by a fraction. Over 13 or 14 risers, those fractions compound. The stair feels uneven underfoot. The landing doesn’t sit flush. The guardrail heights are wrong relative to the nosing line. It’s the kind of problem that’s invisible in a catalogue photo and impossible to ignore when you’re walking up and down it twice a day.
Custom fabrication also means C.W.B.-certified welding — the Canadian Welding Bureau standard that ensures every structural weld is performed by a certified welder under a quality program. Our shop holds Division 2 C.W.B. certification. That means our welding procedures, our welders’ qualifications, and our quality control processes are independently audited. When you hire us, you’re getting welds that meet the structural requirements of the BC Building Code — not just welds that look clean on the surface.
And then there’s design. A prefab stair gives you three or four configurations. A custom stair gives you anything you can draw. Curved stringers. Cantilevered landings. Mixed materials — steel and glass and wood and cable in whatever combination serves the architecture. We’ve built staircases with integrated LED lighting in the stringers, perforated steel risers that cast shadow patterns, and handrails that transition from round to flat as they wrap around a landing. None of that exists in a catalogue.
Vancouver-specific considerations
Building in the Lower Mainland means dealing with moisture, seismic loads, and permit timelines that are different from anywhere else in Canada.
Moisture. Exterior metal stairs need proper corrosion protection. Powder coating is the minimum — we recommend a zinc-rich primer under the powder coat for any exterior application, and hot-dip galvanizing for stairs exposed to direct weather. Port Moody, North Vancouver, and Squamish projects are particularly exposed to rain-driven moisture, and we spec accordingly.
Seismic. BC is seismic zone 4. Staircases are classified as non-structural components in most residential buildings, but their connections to the structure need to accommodate seismic drift — the relative movement between floors during an earthquake. We design our stair connections with slotted holes or flexible brackets at the upper landing to allow for this movement without damaging the stair or the structure.
Permit timelines. The City of Vancouver building permit process currently runs 8 to 12 weeks for residential alterations. Burnaby and New Westminster are faster — typically 4 to 6 weeks. If your staircase requires a building permit (and most do, if they’re structural), factor that time into your project schedule. We can submit shop drawings as part of the permit package to help move things along.
The right partner for your project
We’re a residential metalwork shop first. Staircases, railings, gates, and architectural steel — that’s what we do, and we’ve been doing it in the Lower Mainland for years. Every project gets the same process: site measure, shop drawings, C.W.B.-certified fabrication, and professional installation.
If you’re planning a custom metal staircase — or even just weighing the idea — we’re happy to talk through the options. Tell us about your project through our quote request form or get in touch directly. We’ll give you straight answers on cost, timeline, and what’s realistic for your space.
There’s a reason so many architects and contractors in Vancouver keep coming back to us. The work speaks for itself. And a staircase that’s built with real craft — one that fits your home exactly, performs for decades, and makes you stop and look every time you walk past it — that’s worth getting right.
