What "custom" means in our shop
Off-the-shelf staircases are dimensioned for an idealized opening. Real Niagara homes — century homes in old St. Catharines, post-war bungalows in Welland, new builds in Niagara-on-the-Lake — almost never match the catalogue. Every staircase we deliver is modelled parametrically: each tread, riser, stringer and newel is computed from the actual rough-opening dimensions we measure on site, then cut on our CNC router with sub-millimetre repeatability.
That precision lets us specify joinery that lasts: housed stringers with wedged treads, mortise-and-tenon newels, and dovetailed risers that won’t squeak through the first ten Ontario winters. Glue-ups happen in our climate-controlled shop on Lakeshore Road, not in your living room.
Materials we work in
Red oak remains the most-specified species for Niagara homes — stable, hard (Janka 1290), and forgiving of humidity swings between summer (70%+ RH near the lake) and a 20% RH January. White oak reads more contemporary and resists tannin pull-out under modern matte finishes. Hard maple takes a glass-smooth finish for lighter palettes; black walnut and hickory dominate feature stairs where a single open run sets the tone of the room. We also build mixed-material stairs with steel stringers, glass guards, and engineered structural treads for cantilevered and floating designs.
Ontario Building Code compliance — without compromise
Every set of drawings we produce honours OBC O. Reg. 332/12 Section 9.8: maximum rise 200 mm, minimum run 235 mm, minimum tread depth 254 mm with a maximum 25 mm nosing, headroom no less than 1950 mm, and a uniform variation tolerance of 5 mm across all risers. Handrails sit between 865 and 965 mm above the nosing line, and guards meet the 100 mm sphere rule for any opening below the rail. When a municipal inspector in St. Catharines or Niagara Falls asks for stamped drawings, we can produce them through our partner engineer.
Recent regional projects
A floating white-oak stair with a 12 mm tempered-glass guard in a Ridley Heights new-build (St. Catharines, 2025); a curved walnut feature stair in a Niagara-on-the-Lake heritage renovation (2024); a steel-and-oak split landing in a Welland multi-generational home (2024); and a dozen straight oak runs across Thorold, Fonthill and Grimsby for clients who needed their core staircase replaced without rebuilding the surrounding millwork.
Process and warranty
Every project follows the same five steps: free in-home consultation, parametric CAD design, CNC fabrication, hand-finishing, and installation by our own crew — no subcontracted installers. Workmanship is guaranteed for ten years against squeaks, separation, and finish failure under normal residential use. See more finished staircases in our gallery, or jump to typical pricing on our pricing page.