Carlsbad Concrete Group is the North County coast's trusted specialist in poured concrete stairs, specializing in entry steps and landings, hillside garden stairs, and stair rebuilds with handrail footings. We offer exposed aggregate treads and integral color risers.
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Our team provides handrail footings cast in the pour, delivering a steady climb for homes and long-lasting stairs for both residential and commercial projects. With 11 years in business behind us and a 1-year workmanship warranty on each stair, we have poured more than 1,460 projects, from a three-riser porch step to 8 steps with a landing on a steep street.
From equal riser heights to the nosing radius and the broom grip on every tread, our team handles every detail. Serving Carlsbad and neighboring Del Mar, Encinitas, Poway and Rancho Santa Fe, we keep a way into the house open on every day of the rebuild.
Call today for a free estimate, and we will measure every riser on your current stair before we draw the new one.
What you can hold us to
Thomas, Old Del Mar, Del Mar
Uneven original entry steps on a steep street, with risers that varied by more than an inch
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
The old stair Thomas climbed every day in Old Del Mar was a run of uneven original entry steps on a steep street, with risers that varied by more than an inch. We rebuilt the run with equal risers, a wider landing and a new handrail footing, poured in integral sand-colored concrete matched to the Tudor trim of the house. The rebuild was an estimated $3,400 to $4,800 over an estimated 3 to 4 days on site, and the finished stair carries our 1-year workmanship warranty on riser height, landing slope and finish. Thomas now has a safer climb to the front door with every riser the same height, and the landing is wide enough to set down groceries while the door opens.
Uneven risers trip people more than steep ones do, because a foot learns the height of the first step and expects the rest to match. When one riser in a flight is taller or shorter, the toe catches or the heel lands short, which is exactly how an older front stair turns into a hazard.
The California Residential Code sets the numbers we build to: a riser of no more than 7 3/4 in., a tread of at least 10 in., and no riser in a flight more than 3/8 in. taller than the shortest. Old hillside steps in La Costa and Olivenhain often miss all three, and a patch never fixes a rise that is wrong in the base.
A landing belongs at the top and the bottom of every flight, at least as wide as the stair itself, and its surface slopes no steeper than 1 in 48 so it drains without feeling tilted. The top landing outside a front door is where most people stop, turn a key and juggle bags, so we size it for that instead of squeezing the last riser against the threshold.
Treads get a rounded nosing so a heel slides off cleanly, and every tread pitches just enough to shed water. Whether a rebuilt exterior stair needs a building permit depends on the address, and the answer differs between Carlsbad, Harmony Grove and Lake San Marcos, so we confirm it with the agency before the quote and build to the code numbers either way.
A flight with four or more risers gets a handrail on at least one side, mounted 34 to 38 in. above the line of the nosings. We cast the post footing into the pour instead of drilling into finished concrete later, so the rail is solid on day one and the steel never sits in a cracked hole.
A broom finish across each tread holds a shoe when the marine layer leaves the steps damp, and exposed aggregate grips even better on a shaded north-facing stair in Encinitas or Solana Beach.
Most households keep using another door during a stair rebuild, so we plan that second way in before the old steps come out. When the front stair is the only entry, the crew builds a temporary wooden step and rail beside the forms, and the old run comes out in one morning. Foot traffic typically returns after an estimated 24 to 48 hours, once the forms are stripped and the treads have set.
New concrete entry steps with a landing in Carlsbad are estimated at roughly $1,000 to $5,000 per project, and the number of risers, the landing size and the handrail footings move the price most.
5 to 10 poured steps with a landing, formed to code riser heights
Demolition, haul-off, compacted base, rebar and a broom or exposed finish for a 2-car drive
Integral color, a stamp pattern and release, sealed after cure, about 400 sq ft
Tear-out around the coping, new base and steel, a cool broom, salt or exposed finish
A poured cantilevered wall with footing, steel and drainage behind it, about 50 linear ft
Rough-sawn board forms leave the wood grain in the face, about 200 sq ft of wall
Investment and duration figures are estimates. Your written quote sets the final price and schedule.
| Job | Est. investment | Est. days on site |
|---|---|---|
| Entry steps and landing | Est. $1,000 to $5,000 per project | Est. 2 to 4 days |
| Walkway or garden path | Est. $1,400 to $3,400 per project | Est. 1 to 2 days |
| Stamped or colored patio | Est. $3,200 to $7,600 per project | Est. 2 to 4 days |
| Engineered retaining wall | Est. $8,000 to $24,000 per project | Est. 5 to 10 days |
The entry steps and landing line covers 5 to 10 poured steps with a landing, formed to code riser heights. Thomas's 8 steps sat in the upper part of that range at an estimated $3,400 to $4,800 because of the wider landing, the handrail footing and the integral color.
The stair prices on this page are estimates and remain subject to change. Your written quote, drawn after we measure the total rise, sets the final price and the pour schedule, and it depends on the riser count, the landing and the finish.
Broom finish is the grip standard on an outdoor stair, exposed aggregate grips best, and stamped is the most decorative.
| Finish | Est. installed price | Grip on a wet tread | Best stair for it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broom finish | Est. $6 to $13 per sq ft installed | Good | Front entry steps |
| Exposed aggregate | Est. $7 to $18 per sq ft installed | Best | Shaded or hillside garden stairs |
| Stamped | Est. $8 to $19 per sq ft installed | Fair, needs grit in the sealer | Patio steps matched to a stamped patio |
Integral color runs through the whole step, so a chipped nosing never shows gray, which is why the Del Mar stair used integral sand-colored concrete matched to the Tudor trim rather than a surface stain. Steps that lead down to a patio can match its pattern through our stamped and decorative concrete work, and a stair cut into a slope can be flanked by board-formed concrete cheek walls like the 180 sq ft of wall face we cast in the Covenant.
Homeowners choose us for stairs because, across 1,460 projects, we have learned to measure the total rise before anything is quoted and divide it into equal risers on paper first. Our estimator photographs the old run, checks the landing slope and notes every door swing, and our finishing foreman sets the nosings by hand. The 1-year written workmanship warranty from the day the concrete is placed covers the treads, the landing, the nosings and the cast handrail footing against cracking caused by our work.
Our crews rebuild entry stairs across a 35-mile radius, from Old Del Mar hillside streets and Rancho Santa Fe estate entries to Poway homes near Lake Poway. Carlsbad, Encinitas, Elfin Forest and Bonsall are all on the full list of communities we serve.
A new stair usually meets a front walk or garden path at the bottom, a slope that keeps shifting the steps may need an engineered retaining wall like Rachel's 54 linear ft, 5 ft tall wall in Olivenhain, and water running down the treads points to drainage at the base of the stair.
New entry steps with a landing are estimated at roughly $1,000 to $5,000, and your written quote sets the final price after we measure the rise.
Rarely well, because the rise has to divide evenly across the whole flight, so we usually rebuild the run.
Most stair rebuilds take an estimated 2 to 4 days on site, typically 1 to 3 weeks after the quote is signed.
A flight with four or more risers needs a handrail on at least one side, and we cast its footing into the pour.
Usually through another door, and when the front stair is the only way in we build a temporary step beside the forms.
Exposed aggregate grips best and is typically estimated at $7 to $18 per sq ft installed, while a broom finish across each tread is the standard for front entry steps.
Yes, and on estate lots inside the Covenant we match the new steps to the house color and the walk below.
Request a free estimate, and we will measure the rise, mark the landing and send a written quote for a stair with every riser the same.
Start to finish
We measure the area, shoot the grades and check drainage before anything is quoted.
The quote names the tear-out, base, reinforcement, finish and control joint layout.
The subgrade is compacted and the forms and rebar are checked before the truck is booked.
The crew places, finishes and cuts the joints, then walks the cured work with you.
Where we work
Call us or send the form, and we will book a site walk and measure the job.
Calls only, we do not receive text messages.
