Service area — Vancouver, BC
Vancouver is where a large share of our project work ends up — from heritage restorations downtown to custom staircases in East Van character homes. Our Burnaby shop on Douglas Road is a 15–25 minute drive from most Vancouver neighbourhoods.
Across the city
From Gastown heritage to Coal Harbour glass towers, the range of metalwork we fabricate for Vancouver covers nearly every building type.
Vancouver has one of the most diverse building stocks in the Lower Mainland. A single week in the shop might have us fabricating a cable railing package for a Kitsilano heritage renovation, cutting structural steel for a laneway house in Grandview-Woodland, and coordinating glass railing submittals for a new tower in the Cambie corridor. The variety is part of why Vancouver projects make up such a consistent share of our work.
The downtown core alone spans several different metalwork markets. Yaletown loft conversions need industrial-style railings and mezzanine stairs. Gastown character buildings require ironwork that respects the original construction while meeting current BC Building Code guard heights (1,070 mm minimum). And the Coal Harbour towers — many now 15–20 years old — are starting to cycle through balcony guardrail replacements and lobby railing upgrades.
Our work on the Rosewood Hotel Georgia is a good example of what Vancouver heritage projects demand. The fabrication needed to be precise, the coordination with other trades had to be tight, and the finished metalwork had to match the standard of a landmark building. That project is still one of the best references we have for architectural metalwork in Vancouver.
Local context
Residential metalwork
Vancouver's residential metalwork ranges from full staircase packages on new builds to targeted railing upgrades on homes that are 60–80 years old.
Staircases
Open-concept layouts are standard in Vancouver's new custom homes and major renovations. Mono stringer and floating staircase systems — fabricated from structural steel with concealed mounting — run $18,000–$35,000 depending on span, finish, and tread material. In East Van and Strathcona, where lot widths often sit around 33 feet, staircase geometry gets tight. We detail around those constraints in the shop drawing phase so the install goes smoothly.
Railings
Railing work in Vancouver splits between two markets. Older homes on the west side — Kitsilano, Point Grey, Dunbar, Kerrisdale — often need full railing replacements where the original wood or iron no longer meets code. And newer builds and renovations across the city spec cable or glass-and-steel systems from the start. Cable railings installed run $150–$275 per linear foot. Glass-and-steel hybrids push into the $300–$500 range.
Gates and canopies
Driveway and pedestrian gates are a frequent request on west side homes with the lot size to support them. Custom steel canopies — over entries, carports, and outdoor living areas — are increasingly common in Vancouver, driven partly by the city's covered-outdoor-space trend and partly by homeowners who want weather protection without a full addition. Vancouver's rain exposure makes hot-dip galvanizing or marine-grade powder coating worth the extra cost on exterior steel.
Commercial and institutional
Vancouver's construction pipeline — from the Broadway Plan to ongoing tower development downtown — generates a consistent flow of commercial metalwork scopes.
Commercial metalwork in Vancouver typically means railing packages for new multi-family and mixed-use buildings, structural steel for mid-rise construction, and miscellaneous metals — handrails, bollards, spandrel frames, custom brackets — that fill out a building's metal scope. The Broadway Plan area alone, stretching from Main Street to Vine, is projected to add thousands of new residential units over the next decade. Each of those buildings needs metal.
We've supplied metalwork for projects across Metro Vancouver's commercial and institutional sectors, and the Vancouver work follows the same coordination model: shop drawings through architect and engineer review, material submittals, and installation scheduling that fits the GC's build sequence. On commercial towers, glass and stainless steel railings are the standard spec — frameless or semi-frameless glass with stainless standoff hardware. These systems have tighter tolerances than residential work and the glass panels require precise templating.
Restaurant and retail fit-outs are a separate category. Mount Pleasant and the Main Street corridor have a steady stream of new openings and renovations where custom steel features — bar rails, mezzanine structures, storefront canopies, decorative metalwork — are part of the build. These are smaller scopes but they require the same fabrication quality and often tighter timelines because the tenant is paying rent from day one.
Structural steel
Structural steel work in Vancouver comes with two factors that don't apply everywhere: seismic loading requirements and, in certain neighbourhoods, heritage building constraints. BC's seismic zone means all structural connections need to account for earthquake forces — bolt specs, weld details, and member sizing are all affected. Our C.W.B. certification to CSA W47.1 covers the weld qualifications that structural engineers specify on these drawings.
On the residential side, structural steel packages for Vancouver homes typically support additions, garage-to-suite conversions, and laneway house construction. A residential structural scope might run $8,000–$20,000 depending on member sizes and connection complexity. Laneway houses — which Vancouver has more of than any other city in the region — often need compact structural steel frames because the building footprint is constrained by zoning setbacks.
Heritage buildings add another layer. Structural interventions in a heritage-designated building may require concealed connections, matching of existing steel profiles, or coordination with heritage consultants. We have done this work downtown and it requires a different approach than new construction — more site measurement, more custom detailing, and closer coordination with the design team.
Why our shop
Our Douglas Road shop is a short drive from Vancouver — close enough for practical site visits and efficient material delivery.
The 15–25 minute drive from our Burnaby shop to most Vancouver job sites means we can do a morning site check and be back fabricating by lunch. That proximity matters when a contractor needs field measurements confirmed, when a heritage consultant wants to review a mock-up in person, or when installation day needs a quick material run from the shop.
Our C.W.B. certification to CSA W47.1 covers both structural and non-structural welding — so the same quality control applies whether we're fabricating a decorative gate for a Kitsilano home or a structural steel package for a commercial build in the Cambie corridor.
And we have project history in Vancouver. The Rosewood Hotel Georgia, residential metalwork across the west side and East Van, commercial railing packages for new developments — the references are there and the work is visible. We understand the City of Vancouver's permit process, the coordination demands of working in dense urban sites, and the access logistics that come with tight Vancouver lots and downtown job sites where staging space is measured in feet, not acres.
FAQs
Answers to what Vancouver homeowners, contractors, and architects ask us most often.
Our shop is at 2544 Douglas Rd #106, Burnaby — roughly 15–25 minutes from most Vancouver neighbourhoods depending on traffic and time of day. Downtown and the West End are about 20 minutes via the Trans-Canada or Hastings Street. East Van sites are often closer to 15 minutes. We do site visits regularly in Vancouver and the drive time has never been a barrier to project scheduling or coordination.
We prepare the shop drawings, structural engineer coordination letters, and fabrication documentation that the City of Vancouver building department requires for permit applications. Vancouver’s permit process can be slower than surrounding municipalities — residential building permits currently average 8–14 weeks for review — so we recommend starting the drawing package early. We have worked through the Vancouver permit process on residential renovations, heritage building projects, and commercial builds.
A mono stringer staircase in a Vancouver home typically runs $18,000–$35,000 depending on the span, number of treads, finish, and tread material (steel, wood, or glass). Floating staircase systems with concealed structural support tend to land at the higher end of that range. Tight site access — which is common in East Van character homes and narrow-lot new builds — can add to installation costs because of the crew time and equipment needed to get material in through constrained entries.
Yes. We have fabricated custom metalwork for heritage-designated buildings in Vancouver, including the Rosewood Hotel Georgia downtown. Heritage work often requires matching existing profiles, finishes, and connection details to satisfy both the building owner and the heritage review process. We can work from original drawings when they exist, or template and replicate from the existing ironwork on site.
Cable railing systems and glass-and-steel hybrids are the two most common requests we get from Vancouver homeowners and architects. Cable railings run $150–$275 per linear foot installed, depending on post material (steel vs. stainless) and cable spacing. Glass railings with steel or stainless posts are more expensive — typically $300–$500 per linear foot — but they are what most architects spec on higher-end Vancouver renovations and new builds, particularly in Kitsilano, Point Grey, and the downtown condo market.
Get in touch
Send the project details — drawings, dimensions, photos, or a rough scope description. We will review what you have and follow up with a quote or a conversation about next steps.
