Wooden staircase
prices.

We went back over every line in our 2024-2026 quotations that mentions a staircase: 129 lines on 32 projects, a good share of which are not about the staircase itself (stairwell window, painting, wall light). Eight quotations price the supply and installation of a new wooden staircase. That is few, and we say so frankly: each staircase there is priced as a lump sum, with no breakdown per step, per species or for the balustrade. The amounts below are therefore observed benchmarks, not a price list.

The simple model covers two cases that come up often on our sites: the staircase chosen once the opening has been created and its dimensions taken, and the straight staircase that goes up to a converted loft (€2,800 excl. VAT on the quotation concerned). Complete replacement is an average budget entered on two quotations, each for two staircases to be removed and replaced with a standard-quality wooden model. In a new home or a part made new in the tax sense, VAT goes to 20%: the simple model then comes to €3,000 to €4,320 incl. VAT.

The FCBA staircase data sheet, the technological institute of the timber industry, lists more than a dozen shapes: straight, low, high or intermediate quarter-turn, double quarter-turn with or without a well, spiral, miller's ladder. The choice is made first on the space available: a straight staircase needs a long opening and a clear flight at the bottom, a quarter-turn folds the climb into a corner, a double quarter-turn fits in an almost square opening.

The price follows this complexity. In a quarter-turn staircase, the winders in the bend do not all have the same shape and the stringer has to follow the curve. In our quotes, the range runs from €2,800 excl. VAT for a straight staircase to the loft to €7,000 excl. VAT for a low quarter-turn staircase with a steel central stringer, balustrade and handrail included, and €10,000 excl. VAT for a half-turn staircase (two quarter-turns) with a metal structure and ash treads, 17 steps for a height of 2.80 m.

The miller's ladder, which is steeper, takes up the least space; it is reserved for occasional access. For a floor used every day, we recommend a comfortable slope, even if that means revisiting the position of the stairwell opening from the design stage, as our guide to convertible lofts shows.

Replacing one staircase with another of the same footprint does not touch the floor. As soon as you create an access, change the shape or move the staircase, you have to cut a stairwell opening, and often fill in the old one. On one of our quotes, the new opening and the filling-in of the old one came to €6,000 excl. VAT, alongside a staircase priced at €10,000 excl. VAT.

In a timber floor, joists are cut and their loads are transferred to a trimmer beam: hence the on-site survey before pricing. In a concrete slab, the cut affects the structure of the building, which means checking how the loads are taken up, as for an opening in a load-bearing wall. When adding a storey, the stairwell opening is planned together with the new floor, since it takes up space on the level below.

A timber staircase with a sound structure can be renovated for a fraction of the price of a new one. Our quotes give five examples, all priced as a fixed sum:

Renovation treads cover the existing steps: they change the appearance without touching the stringers or the stairwell opening, but they add a thickness to each step: the height of the first and last step needs to be checked. Sanding sometimes reveals steps that are too worn or split; replacement then becomes the reasonable option. Beyond appearance, a staircase that is too steep or poorly placed cannot be fixed by renovation.

Our quotes also include staircases that are not made of timber, which are useful for placing the prices. Two straight industrial steel staircases, with grating treads and a powder-coated finish, were priced for outdoor use at about €2,450 excl. VAT for a height of 2 m (11 steps) and €3,750 excl. VAT for 2.50 m (13 steps). A cast-in-place reinforced concrete staircase was priced at €4,000 excl. VAT, and a 2.80 m metal spiral staircase, between a balcony and a terrace, at €10,000 excl. VAT.

Timber remains the most common material indoors: it can be repaired, sanded and adapted to an existing stairwell opening. Metal is more suited to outdoors or to a slim structure with a central stringer, often combined with timber treads. Concrete is poured with the structural work, in new construction or during a major restructuring.

The FCBA staircase data sheet (January 2015) is based on standard XP P 21-211, whose requirements are taken up in NF DTU 36.3, the timber staircase standard published in September 2014. It sets out:

• The Blondel formula: the tread depth plus twice the riser height must stay between 58 and 64 cm.
• A riser height of 21 cm at most, constant over the whole flight, starting step excepted.
• A headroom of at least 1.90 m, measured on the walking line: this is the clear height above the steps, often the constraint that sets the length of the stairwell opening.
• A stair width of at least 70 cm and no more than 20 steps without a landing.
• Limited balustrade gaps: 11 cm at most between vertical elements, 18 cm between elements parallel to the slope, 5 cm between the first rail and the nosing.

Take the 17-step staircase for 2.80 m from our quotes: each step rises by about 16.5 cm, and the tread depth must then measure between 25 and 31 cm to respect the formula. The same calculation shows why a staircase with higher risers takes up less space but is more tiring. The data sheet also classes a staircase as comfortable when the riser height stays below 0.78 times the tread depth.

The guard rail around the stairwell opening and the balustrade are sized according to standard NF P 01-012. Our guide to the price of a guard rail gives our prices per metre.

In a home completed more than two years ago, the supply and fitting of a staircase fall under the 10% rate, as long as the works do not make the building new for tax purposes; our guide to VAT on renovation work details these conditions. In new construction, it is 20%.

Replacing a staircase indoors changes neither the external appearance nor the floor area of the home. However, if the staircase is used to make a loft habitable, it is the floor area created that counts, and it may require a prior declaration (déclaration préalable) or a building permit.

The staircase is part of our interior joinery: our guide to replacing windows and joinery presents the whole family, from windows to doors.