Stairway to Mezzanine (or...Heaven)

Two questions for the B-stoner community regarding constructing a new internal staircase in a small new construction apartment.  Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, so thanks in advance! First, the context:  We love our small but nice two bedroom apartment, but with baby on the way, need to move my home office from our second bedroom up to our our mezzanine-level bonus room (which is currently accessible by a wall-mounted ladder).  We’d like to replace the wall-mounted ladder with a nice modern looking staircase, preferably one sometimes referred to as “floating” (i.e., stairs mounted into the adjoining wall for support leaving space/room beneith the stairs).  Probably a metal structure with wood steps, and either a metal or glass handrail.  It would need to go in our small living room space, so we need a modern, minimalist look to keep our living room as open as possible.  All of that said, we live in a small apartment for a reason – we’re relatively young and don’t have a limitless budget, and aren’t willing to break the bank for this project. Now, the two questions: (1) Can anyone recommend a reliable contractor in the area that can help with design, construction and installation and willing to provide price quotes?  (2) I was expecting this to cost somewhere between $10-15K, since it’s a small space rising apx. 7 3/4 feet over a length of 11 feet (with one 90 degree turn), but was just told by an architect that $50K is a more realistic price estimate. Does that sound right?  If so, any sense whether such a staircase – expensive, but nice style and improved functionality – would be likely to be a good mid-term economic investment? Thanks again in advance!

marriedwithfrenchie

in Planning-Feasibility, Land Use, Zoning 13 years and 4 months ago

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assiati | 13 years and 4 months ago

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Call Carlos Monar – His work is amazing. He is realiable and very honest. You can reach him at 347-885-5965\. He has done a lot in my house at reasonable price.

pigthree | 13 years and 4 months ago

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condo or coop? If its something you could just do without filing or getting coop board approval, you could get it done for around 5k-7k.  if you hire an architect, file with the dob – 15k-20k.

marriedwithfrenchie | 13 years and 4 months ago

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Thanks for the helpful info, Deboerarchitects, and for the gut-check, Putnamdenizen!

Putnamdenizen | 13 years and 4 months ago

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50,000 for a stairway?  That is crazy.  crazy.

jockdeboeraia | 13 years and 4 months ago

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The problem is that you will find the bonus room is not considered habitable by DOB.  Your building may require you to get a permit for adding a stair.  Adding a stair makes that area count towards the FAR assuming you have a habitable height.  A floating stair would need to be engineered so that the wall can support it.  50k sounds a bit high, but you would need to design the stair first.  We are doing this in Manhattan and I think the stair was around $20k with glass guardrail.