Hardwood stair retread cost in the GTA, 2026

What a retread actually is

Stripping the carpet off an existing flight and capping the treads and risers with hardwood, rather than rebuilding the stair. It is the most common stair job in the GTA because most builder houses were finished with carpet on the stairs and hardwood everywhere else.

It is also the job most often underquoted, because from the top of the flight it looks like six hours of work.

What moves the number

Step count is the obvious one and the least interesting. The variables that actually move a retread quote are whether the stair is open on one side or both, whether the treads return at the ends, whether the flight is straight or has winders, and what the railing is doing.

An open side means finished, returned tread ends and a guard — a different job from a closed flight boxed between two walls. Winders mean every tread is a different shape and has to be templated. A curved flight is fabrication, not installation.

The railing is often the surprise. A flight that gets new treads frequently needs the existing rail brought up to current requirements at the same time, because once the stair is altered the old grandfather argument gets thin.

The published range, and why yours may sit outside it

The per-step range published on the stairs service page covers a conventional straight flight with a reasonable rail. It does not cover winders, curves, painted-to-wood conversions where the existing stringers turn out to be rough, or flights where the rise and run measure out of tolerance and need new stringers.

Use the estimator on this site for a banded number against your own city, then treat a site measure as the thing that produces a real one. Anyone giving a firm stair price over the phone has not measured the first and last riser, which are the two that decide whether the job is a retread at all.

The trap: cheap caps

Thin retread caps exist and they are cheaper. They also project further than they should to cover the old tread edge, which is the fastest route to a nosing that exceeds the limit, and they can sound hollow underfoot because they bridge rather than bear.

A retread done properly removes the old tread nosing, beds the new tread on a solid surface, and returns the ends. That is the version that reads as millwork and passes.

Sequencing with the floors

If the floors are being done as well, do them together. The stair's first and last risers depend on the finished floor heights at both ends, and the finish matches only if it is applied in one visit. Doing the floor in spring and the stair in autumn guarantees a visible difference.