Project guide
Rebuilding precast steps
This is the job with the highest injury and breakage risk on the whole list, and it is short. A precast step is five or six hundred pounds of concrete that has to land within a quarter inch of where you want it, once.
TYPICAL 40 SQ FT · 2 DAYS · ~600 LB A STEP — LIFTER, NOT ARMS
The sequence
How the job actually runs
In order, with the tool each stage needs. Skip a stage and it comes back as the stage after it.
- 01
Locates, and look up
Locates for the dig, and check the overhead wires on the approach — the float and the machine both need headroom at the door.
- 02
Take the old unit out
Old steps come out heavier than they went in. Strap it, lift it with the machine, and put it where the bin will be.
- 03
Dig and base the landing
Compacted clear stone, not sand, and deep enough that frost does not lift the landing away from the door.
- 04
Set the step
Lift it, land it, check it, and only then let go. A vacuum head and a machine do this in one attempt; two people do it in three, and one of those is a wrist.
- 05
Backfill and finish
Compact around the landing, grade so water runs away from the sill, and check the riser heights are even before you call it done.
How big, how long
The three sizes people ask for.
Day counts are for one or two people working at a homeowner’s pace, not a crew’s. Book the longer number.
Typical jobs
| Single unit swap | 20 sq ft | 2 days |
|---|---|---|
| Landing and two steps | 40 sq ft | 2 days |
| Full entrance rebuild | 80 sq ft | 2 days |
Tools this job uses
- Toolcat
- Plate compactor — ask us
- Cut-off saw — ask us
- Vacuum lifter — ask us
Anything marked “ask us” is a machine in the yard that is not on the rate card yet. Send the request with your dates and we will tell you what it costs before you commit to anything.
The planner
Your numbers, not an average
Tell it the size and it works out the material, the days and which machines you actually need — including the ones you do not.
Tell it about the job
Square feet. Length times width, near enough.
This is what decides the lifter, and usually it decides against it.
What that takes
40 sq ft step rebuild · 6 in base · two of you
- SURFACE
- 40 sq ft
- BASE
- 1 t
- SPOIL
- 2 yd³
- BEDDING
- 0 t
- SURFACE ORDER
- 40 sq ft + 10%
- COMPACTOR
- 1 day
- SAW
- 0.25 day · 1 blade
- LIFTER
- required
- BOOK
- 2 days
6 in of base. Walkways and patios. Four inches is the common minimum; six is the honest Simcoe number, because of freeze-thaw.
0.7 yd³ in the ground. Order the top of that range — what you order over what the hole measures — compaction, spillage and over-dig.
13 in of dig. Soil bulks when it is dug. The pile is always bigger than the hole. You will want a bin.
1 in screeded concrete sand. Screeded bedding sand. Thicker sand does not fix a low base — it becomes the low spot.
Extra pavers for cuts and breakage. Five per cent on a plain rectangle, ten with curves.
2 lifts of 4 in. Maximum depth of one compaction lift. An eight-inch base is two lifts, not one pass.
About 15 lineal ft of cuts. Per 14-inch general-purpose segmented blade, cutting concrete pavers. Clay brick, granite and rebar cut this down hard.
About 601 lb a piece. Two people is not the answer at that weight.
Dig 1 · base 1 · lay 1 · cuts 0.25, less the overlap between them. Laying at 140 sq ft a day, two of you.
Estimates from average jobs — ground, grade and weather vary. When in doubt, book the extra day: it is cheaper than a second delivery. And order your stone before you book the machines.
The tools, and the ones you can skip
| Tool | Verdict | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Toolcat1 tonnes in and 2 yards out. That is the whole reason to have one on site. | Worth it | 2 |
| Plate compactor2 lifts, four passes each. Compaction is never the bottleneck — spreading is.Not on the rate card yet — ask us and we will tell you what it costs and whether it is free. | Needed | 1 |
| Cut-off sawAbout 15 lineal ft of cuts, 1 blade. Cut wet.Not on the rate card yet — ask us and we will tell you what it costs and whether it is free. | Needed | 0.25 |
| Vacuum lifterAbout 601 lb a piece. Two people is not the answer at that weight.Not on the rate card yet — ask us and we will tell you what it costs and whether it is free. | Needed | 1 |
From experience
What people get wrong
Setting a step on sand.
Compacted clear stone. Sand under a step is a step that tips.
No frost consideration at the base.
Base deep enough, drained, so the step and the door move together — or better, neither moves.
Two people walking a step into place.
Six hundred pounds does not walk. It gets lifted, once, by a machine.
Uneven risers because the landing was not level.
Level the landing before the first unit lands. Every riser after it inherits the error.
Assuming the old step weighs what the new one does.
Old solid units are heavier and have no lifting points. Strap it properly.
Before you dig
The parts that are not optional
One sentence and one link each. We rent machines — we do not read by-laws for you, and none of this is legal or engineering advice.
Book your locates first. Free, and it is the law.
Ontario One Call is free, and a locate is legally required before you dig. Submit the request at least five business days before you plan to start — infrastructure owners have five business days for a single address, and there is no guarantee they use fewer. Book it the day you decide to do the job, not the day the machine lands.
Ontario One Call — locate requests for homeownersThis is the job where the lifter is the difference between a Saturday and an ambulance.
A solid 6 × 24 × 48 precast step computes to about six hundred pounds. Many are hollow-backed and lighter — ask the supplier for the real weight before you plan the lift. Whichever it is, plan it with a machine.
Ask your supplier what the pallet weighs.
Bobcat publishes a loader rated operating capacity of 1,500 lb for the 5600. A full pallet of pavers commonly runs 1,200 to 2,000 lb and sometimes more, so the honest sentence is that the machine moves most pavement pallets and not that it moves any of them. Get the number from the yard that sells you the stone.
Bobcat — Toolcat 5600 published specifications
Be clear about this
What we do not supply
The machines move material around your site. They do not haul it to the curb and they do not bring it in. Sort this out before you book anything.
- The steps themselvesFrom a precast supplier, delivered. Ask them for the unit weight when you order.
- Clear stoneBase under the landing. Compacted, not sand.
- A binOld steps are heavy and awkward and nobody wants them in the back of a pickup.
- RiggingStraps and slings rated for the load. We will talk you through the lift; we do not supply the rigging.
- RailingsA code question at the doorway, and a different trade.
Questions
The ones we get asked
How much does a precast concrete step weigh?
A solid 6 × 24 × 48 unit works out to roughly six hundred pounds using the standard concrete density. Many precast steps are hollow-backed and lighter than that, so get the actual figure from the supplier — but plan the lift around a machine either way.
Can two people move a precast step?
Past about a hundred pounds a piece, two people stops being the answer. A step is five or six times that. This is exactly what the vacuum lifter is for, and it is the one job we will tell you not to do by hand.
What goes under the step?
Compacted clear stone, deep enough to stay put through frost, with the grade running away from the door. Sand is the common mistake and the common failure.
Do you rent the vacuum lifter?
Ask us. It is in the yard and it is not on the rate card yet — we will tell you straight away whether it is available for your dates and what it costs, rather than publishing a number we might not honour.
Showing our work
Where these numbers come from.
Anything marked [VERIFY] is trade convention we have not yet put in front of a supplier. It is good enough to plan against and we would rather say so than dress it up.
- [VERIFY] Trade convention — not yet confirmed against a supplier or a published standard
- Normal-weight concrete, about 2,400 kg per cubic metre — the standard value
- Ontario One Call — locate requests for homeowners
- Bobcat — Toolcat 5600 published specifications
Next
Related guides, and where we work
Building a patio, including large-format slabs
A patio is the job where the format decides everything. Small pavers are a laying job; twenty-four inch slabs are a lifting job, and the two are planned differently from the first load of stone. Read the guide
Building a small retaining wall
A retaining wall is a drainage project wearing a masonry costume. What holds it up is the base, the buried course and the clear stone behind it — the block is just the face you can see failing. Read the guide
Renting in Barrie
Inside the flat-rate delivery core — one trip covers drop-off and pickup. Equipment in Barrie
Renting in Innisfil
Inside the flat-rate delivery core — one trip covers drop-off and pickup. Equipment in Innisfil
Tell us the dates. We will confirm by text.
Pick the machines, send the request, and we will handle the hauling.
kempenfeltrental@gmail.com · 7am–7pm, 7 days