How much is the average cost of stairs?

If I average the cost of the complete jobs we do, it comes to around $195.00 per foot of railing. This includes the staining. Your stair will be unique but it wont be $50.00 or $500.00 per foot

Wood Flooring on the steps or real stair tread?

For several hundred years stairs have had 1″ thick wood treads on each step.  Recently some  floor contractors have been installing plank flooring on steps. For steps that are open on the sides this almost never looks good. One reason is that the trim needed is not available in the color of the flooring. Floor guys usually don’t do skirting on the walls or other things necessary for a quality stair job. We regularly come across very poor work by Flooring installers on stairs

What are the Wood Choices?

Almost all stairs are made of Maple, Oak or Poplar. Poplar is soft and is usually painted or stained dark to save money.
Maple is used most and is harder than Oak, It is smooth and can be stained almost any color.
Oak has a lot of grain that will always show and is a little cheaper than Oak