One entrance, not three pieces
Most front entrances are three things that should behave as one: the steps, the landing or porch, and the joint at the house. When they’re built at different times by different people, it shows — a top riser that’s taller than the rest, a landing that tips toward the door, a gap at the foundation that fills with ice.
We design the porch and steps together so the whole entrance:
- lands exactly at the door sill, with every riser within the building code’s 5 mm tolerance;
- slopes gently away from the house (landings may slope no more than 1 in 50) so meltwater runs off instead of freezing against the door;
- gives the door room to swing — the code requires the full door swing over the landing where a door swings toward a stair;
- carries a guard and handrail that meet the code from the first day.
Porch options
Poured concrete porch and steps. The most common rebuild: excavate, base, forms, reinforcement, then porch and steps poured in the CSA C-2 exterior mix (32 MPa, 5–8 % air). Finish it with a broom texture, exposed aggregate or a quartz system.
Precast steps with a poured landing. A practical hybrid when a standard precast set suits the rise but you want a bigger landing than precast offers.
Porch over a cold room. Some Ottawa homes have a cold storage room under the front porch. That slab is structural — CSA classes it C-1 (35 MPa, 0.40) — and it typically needs an engineered design and a permit. Waterproofing below matters as much as the concrete above.
Resurface instead. If the porch slab is sound and stable, a resurfacing or quartz system gives it a new surface without demolition.
Guards, handrails and landings — the code in brief
| Rule | Requirement (house) |
|---|---|
| Guard required | Walking surface more than 600 mm above the ground |
| Guard height | 900 mm if the porch is ≤ 1,800 mm above grade; 1,070 mm above that |
| Guard openings | Must stop a 100 mm sphere; no climbable rails between 140 and 900 mm |
| Handrail | Required on steps with more than 3 risers; 865–1,070 mm high |
| Landing size | At least the stair width; a straight landing needn’t exceed the lesser of the stair width or 1,100 mm |
Source: 2024 Ontario Building Code, Section 9.8. A raised porch that provides access to the house can also need a building permit in Ottawa — we check every one.
What porch work costs
A full concrete porch and steps rebuild typically runs $6,000–$15,000 in our market. Resurfacing a sound porch runs about $2,500–$4,500. Railings are extra — aluminum on stairs runs about $90–$180 per linear foot. Size, height, a cold room below, access and finish all move the number. Your written quote follows a free site visit.