Cladding concrete stairs with tiles, vinyl, or parquet?

Have you already had that done? Does it look like that? Our BU didn’t even offer to cover the stairs with parquet. I can’t really imagine it either, the covering is quite thin after all? Would you then basically lay it without overhangs, therefore at a miter? I think I have a different look in mind, I’m curious if it will work for us. We will probably lean towards a different wood color for the stair steps so that it doesn’t clash with the parquet.

The general contractor asks us to choose which stair covering (thickness) we would use,

You are not doing yourself any favors with your snippet questioning. There are people here whose experiences could warn you in time against a brilliantly design-servant-planned McMansion hell.

Have you had this done yet? Does it look like that?

No, it hasn't been implemented yet, unfortunately we are not that far along. But apparently that's not uncommon, as the specialist store told us. I wanted it without overhangs, regardless of whether with or without parquet. It will look like in the picture.

We ordered extra parquet to have it installed also on the stairs so that the look is consistent. We also got advice from a specialist retailer.

Was it just normal parquet or do you also need a carrier material? The advisor at the specialist store told us that you need some kind of carrier material to increase the thickness. I didn’t really understand why you need this carrier material. I think if the concrete steps are done properly, they won’t be needed.

He also said that they offer ready-made steps (as can be seen in this photo) and the price for the 3 variants is always the same. They also looked thick, so I thought it was the same as solid wood block steps.

The carpenter therefore wants to cut mitre joints because he also thinks the edges are expensive.

The first one in the photo looks like it was cut mitre, right? I’m not sure if it’s really different from the other variants with protruding stair edge (in terms of price).

I have now looked a bit and I see some aluminum profiles used for the stair edges. But I’m not sure if that would be a good solution (optically and functionally), but I think it would be cheaper.

You’re not doing yourself any favors with your snippet questioning. There are people here whose experience could warn you in time about a brilliantly Zeichnenknecht-planned McMansion Hell.

I’m not sure if I understood you correctly, but I haven’t gotten many details from the general contractor yet. It was mainly about the height of the concrete stair steps. Why do you suspect a McMansion Hell here?

Was it just regular parquet

With us it has not yet been implemented, we have only purchased the parquet so far. There was no mention of special carrier material. It is also glued normally on the step, so that afterwards you only have the thickness of the parquet as the build-up height on the step.

I didn't really understand why this carrier material is needed. I think if the concrete steps are done properly, they are not necessary.

Where are you in your construction? Is the concrete staircase already there? Or are you still in the planning phase and can still adjust everything?