Stairwell renovation Vienna the first impression of the entire building.

What belongs to the stairwell – and why that matters

Before anyone talks about colours, it has to be clear which building components are actually part of the works. That determines who decides on them, who pays for them and which regulations apply.

Why it differs from a flat renovation, step by step

Three differences determine the entire process – and therefore the price as well.

This has a direct impact on the calculation: an area that would be finished in one day in an empty flat takes two in a stairwell – because everything is covered, kept clear, cordoned off and reopened. When comparing offers, you should therefore check whether protective measures and section-by-section working are included or whether they will turn up later as a variation.

Stairwell renovation in Vienna: costs 2026

Guide values net, as of 2026, for a tenement building with four to five storeys and one staircase. Binding after a site visit.

Unit prices

Fire protection in the stairwell: what is required and why

In the event of fire, the stairwell is the only escape route and at the same time the route by which the fire brigade enters the building. That is why requirements apply there that do not apply in flats. They all serve the same purpose: the way out must remain smoke-free and passable until everyone is outside.

Which of these points are actually required depends on the building – year of construction, number of storeys, use and whether official proceedings are under way. We clarify this with the specialist firms before the works begin, rather than opening things up again afterwards. Because this is precisely the point at which an otherwise successful renovation becomes expensive: if the fire doors are replaced after the painting, every reveal turns into a construction site again.

The surfaces: why stairwells are painted differently

Wall paint in a stairwell has to do three things at once: withstand wear and tear, let the substrate breathe and be easy to clean. These three requirements partly contradict one another, and that is where the usual two-part division comes from.

The most common mistake concerns the ground-floor area: in a Gründerzeit building there is almost always moisture at the base of the wall there, because there is no horizontal damp-proof course. If it is painted over with emulsion paint, salts bloom through the plaster again within one heating season. The right approach is to establish the cause first and build up the dado with renovation plaster – see wall damp-proofing.

Steps: repair, re-cover or replace

Viennese staircases are usually made of artificial stone, less often of natural stone or wood. Worn step edges are not just unsightly, they are a fall hazard – and therefore a liability issue for the owners' association.

Why are steps usually repaired rather than replaced? Because in old buildings the steps are load-bearing components that are built into the stringer wall or rest on supports. Replacing them means intervening in the structure, temporary safeguarding and usually a structural assessment as well. Repairing the surface achieves the same level of safety at a fraction of the cost – as long as the step itself is intact.

Resolution, reserve fund and billing

In a condominium, the renovation of a common part is paid from the reserve fund, and the owners pass a resolution on it. For the property management, it is therefore not only the price that matters but also the form of the offer.

What saves the most time in practice: when the offer is already structured so that it can be taken over into the draft resolution without reworking. That is exactly how we deliver it – not as a marketing brochure, but as a verifiable schedule of works.

The process in an occupied building

The basic rule is: the way to each flat's front door must be passable at all times, for every resident, at any time of day. Everything else is subordinate to that.

Two points are regularly underestimated in offers. First, the time lost by keeping areas clear: a surface is done in two passes instead of one. Second, drying times: a dado coating over which prams are pushed the same evening will not last. That is why we plan sections so that drying and use do not get in each other's way.

What should be clarified before the renovation

Historic fabric: what should be preserved

In Gründerzeit buildings, the stairwell often contains more historic fabric than is visible at first glance – under layers of paint, behind cladding or beneath PVC flooring.

In old buildings, a simple test is worthwhile before the first coat: the layers are exposed at an inconspicuous spot. If a historic colour scheme appears underneath, you can decide whether to take it up again. This costs little and is the only opportunity – once everything has been painted over, the information is lost.

Accessibility and lifts

Many tenement buildings have no lift, and the stairwell is the place where that could change. Two approaches are common: installation in the stairwell void, or in the courtyard with connections to the landings. Both change the stairwell considerably and affect the structure, escape routes and fire protection.

Anyone planning a lift should combine the stairwell renovation with it, or at least schedule the renovation afterwards. Otherwise a freshly renovated stairwell will be opened up again for the installation – the same logic as with the service lines.

The most common mistakes

When you do not need us

If the only work is repainting and neither steps nor doors, service lines nor fire protection are affected, a painting firm is enough, and that is then cheaper. A coordinating construction company pays off as soon as plaster, steps, electrics and fire protection come together – or when the property management needs a verifiable breakdown for the resolution and the reserve fund.

How costs differ by type of building

Two stairwells with the same number of storeys can differ in price by a factor of two. The reasons almost never lie in the floor area alone, but in height, fittings and accessibility.

The single biggest factor in a Gründerzeit building is the ceiling height. With a clear height of four metres, every wall surface becomes scaffold work, and the same square metre costs many times what it costs in a post-war building with 2.50 metres. This also explains why flat-rate prices per storey without a site visit say little – the height is not stated in any property listing.

Safety: the four points that count

A stairwell is not living space but a circulation route. Safety defects here are not a matter of taste, but questions of liability for owners and the property management.

• Step edges. Worn, chipped or unevenly high steps are the most common cause of falls. Rebuilding and grinding costs less than a single liability case.
• Handrail. It must be continuously graspable and firmly anchored. Interruptions at landings and loose fixings are typical defects in old buildings.
• Lighting. Light has to be where people walk, and it has to come on immediately when they enter. Motion sensors on each level solve this more reliably than a timer switch that goes off halfway up.
• Slip resistance. Freshly ground terrazzo and varnished wooden steps can be slippery. A suitable after-treatment or an anti-slip nosing at the edge prevents this.

These points belong in every offer, even if they make no visual impression. They are the part of the renovation that counts in an emergency – and the part that is most expensive to retrofit afterwards.

After the renovation: how the result lasts

After five years, a freshly renovated stairwell looks very different depending on what happens afterwards. Three things decide this.

Experience shows that properly executed painting in a stairwell lasts eight to fifteen years, the dado area five to ten, and repaired steps ten to twenty-five. Anyone who increases rather than reduces cleaning after the renovation extends these periods noticeably – and that is exactly where the cheapest lever in the entire life cycle lies.

How to recognise a reliable offer

Offers for stairwells vary widely, because the scope of ancillary work is rarely put out to tender. These points make a comparison possible:

• Wall areas with quantities rather than “stairwell, lump sum”. Only the figure in square metres makes two offers comparable.
• Protective measures as a separate item. Anyone who does not list them will charge for them later or not carry them out at all.
• Scaffolding or mobile tower named. In tall Gründerzeit stairwells this is a significant amount that is often missing.
• Dado area priced separately. A different paint, a different price – if it is not included, the same paint goes on at the top and the bottom.
• Steps at a unit price. This lets you decide how many are repaired without changing the entire offer.
• Section-by-section working guaranteed. Otherwise, if in doubt, half a staircase is closed off for days.
• Separation of maintenance and improvement. For the property management, the most important line in the whole document.

An offer that includes all of this looks more extensive and, at first glance, more expensive. In the final account it is almost always the cheaper one, because the items it lists turn up as variations with the other contractor.

What you get at the end

• Acceptance report under ÖNORM B 2110 with snagging list and deadlines.
• Photo documentation before and after the works, storey by storey.
• Breakdown separated into maintenance and improvement, usable directly for billing.
• Certificates from the specialist firms for electrical and fire protection work.
• Materials list with colour shades and products – important for later touch-ups, so that nothing has to be re-mixed.

The last point sounds trivial and in practice saves the most: if the colour shade has been documented, a damaged spot can be touched up three years later without repainting the whole wall.

From the first conversation to the handover

For common parts, the path from the idea to the start of works usually takes longer than the construction period itself. This is not down to the tradespeople, but to resolutions, reserve funds and coordination. Anyone who knows the process can plan realistically.

In practice, this means that anyone who wants the renovation done in autumn should start the survey in spring. And anyone who obtains comparative offers on the basis of a common bill of quantities shortens the entire process considerably – because the offers are then genuinely comparable and the discussion at the owners' meeting is shorter.

Special case: renovation after damage

Not every stairwell renovation is planned. After water damage from a burst riser, after a fire or after damage from a break-in, other questions arise: drying, insurance cover and speed.

In all four cases, the same principle applies as for a planned renovation, only under time pressure: first the cause, then drying, then the surface. Anyone who cuts this process short will have the damage back within a few months – and then usually without insurance cover, because the work was not carried out properly. For water damage, we provide the documentation in the form insurers usually require: photos, drying measurement reports and an itemised breakdown.

What a renovated stairwell brings economically

The stairwell generates no rent, and yet it has an economic effect on three levels. This is the argument that is usually missing at owners' meetings.

This overview leads to a simple recommendation: the renovation should not wait until the condition bothers someone, but should be planned into the maintenance cycle. Anyone who renews the paintwork every ten to twelve years and keeps the steps in repair on an ongoing basis pays less overall than someone who waits thirty years and then has to renovate plaster, steps and railings all at once.

Communication with residents

The most common cause of conflict on this kind of site is not noise but a lack of information. What has proven effective:

• A notice two weeks in advance with the period, sections, contact person and the site management's telephone number.
• A weekly plan on the ground floor showing which storey is being worked on when – so everyone knows when it affects them.
• Wet paint signs directly on site, not just in the notice.
• Fixed times for noisy work, outside the quiet hours and, where possible, in the morning.
• One contact person instead of changing crews – this significantly reduces the number of queries to the property management.

These measures cost almost nothing and prevent the majority of complaints that would otherwise end up with the property management. For us they are standard, not an extra.

What is usually done around the stairwell at the same time

A stairwell does not end at the last step. If work is being done anyway, adjacent areas can be included with little extra effort – above all those that would otherwise require their own protection, scaffolding and travel.

The fourth point in particular is underestimated: anyone who creates a proper storage area for prams and bicycles permanently solves the problem of blocked escape routes. That is cheaper than any discussion about the house rules and lasts longer than a notice.

When a phased solution pays off

If the reserve fund is limited, there is no need to wait for the full package of works. Sensibly divided phases take effect sooner and do not get in each other's way – provided the sequence is right.

What does not work: painting the ground floor before the damp at the base of the wall has been dealt with, or bringing the painting forward even though the riser replacement is due in two years. Both scenarios are common, and both mean paying for the phase a second time.

Building entrance, front door and intercom: the first few metres

Anyone renovating a stairwell thinks of walls and steps first. But the impression a building makes is formed before that – at the front door, in the vestibule and at the doorbell panel. In many Gründerzeit buildings the door is made of wood, heavy, often with a fanlight and original fittings. Preserving it is usually worthwhile: stripping, replacing damaged parts, renewing the lock and door closer, repainting. Replacing it with an industrial door almost always looks out of place in a historic carriage entrance and is a delicate matter in a protected zone anyway.

Technically, the entrance often brings the greatest improvement per euro. A working door closer prevents the door from standing open and letting cold, dirt and strangers into the building. A new intercom, with video if desired, is best coordinated with the painting, because cables have to be run in the wall for it. Anyone who leaves this work until the end opens up freshly painted surfaces a second time. The electrical work for it is carried out by licensed partners; coordination lies with us – more on this under electrical work.

Season and drying in a cold stairwell

A stairwell is usually unheated. In winter, the temperature at external walls and on the ground floor is often only a few degrees above the outside air. That is a problem for painting and filling work: according to the manufacturers, most paints and fillers need at least around +5 °C in the air and on the substrate, otherwise they do not cure properly and remain vulnerable. On top of that comes moisture from shoes and umbrellas, which dries only slowly in the cold air.

That is why the period from spring to autumn is ideal for the large surfaces. In winter, work that is less sensitive to temperature can be done: electrical installations, fire doors, refurbishing railings in the workshop, repairing steps. If painting has to be done in the colder half of the year, site heaters help, along with a plan that deals with the upper, warmer storeys first. For property management companies, this results in a simple rhythm: resolution and tender in winter, works from spring onwards.

Surfaces for heavily used buildings

In buildings with many flats, prams and bicycles, an ordinary coat of paint in the lower wall area does not last long. A two-part solution has proven itself: at the bottom a hard-wearing, washable dado up to about chest height, at the top a breathable paint. Where scribbling or graffiti become an issue, a protective coating in the entrance area can make sense, from which paint can be removed more easily. Which paint systems suit which purpose is explained on the page about painting work.

Frequently asked questions about stairwell renovation in Vienna

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