A house is made of bricks and beams. A home is made of hopes and dreams.

I have a plan that would allow your customers to choose a staircase design when they purchase one of your homes with no disruption to your build schedule. This would be an upgrade and paid for by the house buyer, either upfront or on the mortgage.

Over the past 25 years I have learned that most house builders only build a certain number of house types which makes this even more simple. Once a house type has been quoted, they will all cost the same.

After the style has been chosen, you would install the softwood staircase as you normally would, without the balustrade, towards the end of the build (before the carpets go down and while the decorator is still there), we would come in and renovate that staircase using solid oak posts, handrails, baserails and toughened glass. The builders could use the softwood staircase throughout the build and there would be no need for your joiners to install the normal, standard softwood spindles or for the decorators to paint them.

For a start, it would make you quite unique amid a plethora of house builders. I visit new builds weekly with the aim to change the staircase which is a shame because the carpet needs to be removed and potential damage to plaster is increased. I have asked countless home owners if they would have preferred to choose the design off plan, and they all agreed. These renovations come with a ten year guarantee that would be included in your house pack.