The short answer
Choose precast if your entrance is a standard size, a boom truck can reach it, and you want the job done fast at the lowest concrete price.
Choose poured if you want to change the size or shape, need more risers or a deeper landing than a mould allows, want steps and porch as one, or the site can’t take a boom truck.
The comparison table below goes factor by factor. Use the estimator above to price both options for your exact entrance.
What actually decides how long concrete steps last
Homeowners often ask which method “lasts longer.” We couldn’t find any Ottawa data that settles it, and we won’t invent a number. What we do know is what kills concrete steps here:
- A weak or soft base. Steps on topsoil, soft fill or a thin, poorly compacted layer settle and tilt. Water gets underneath, freezes, and moves them more each winter.
- Missing support. The Ontario Building Code requires exterior concrete stairs with more than two risers to be supported on walls or piers, or cantilevered from the foundation wall with proper anchorage (OBC 9.8.9.2 and 9.8.10). Precast and poured both need this.
- The wrong concrete. Exterior steps need air-entrained concrete with a low water-cement ratio — CSA class C-2, 32 MPa. Without entrained air, freeze-thaw scaling starts early.
- Surface abuse. Calcium and magnesium chloride de-icers, ice chippers, and salty snow piled on the steps all speed up scaling.
- Water. Downspouts aimed at the steps and landings that slope toward the door keep the concrete saturated.
Get those right and either method gives you a long-lived entrance.
Precast, in practice
Precast units are cast and cured at a plant. Ottawa makers use air-entrained, reinforced concrete. Common widths are 4, 5 and 6 ft, and local moulds go up to eight risers. Because curing happened at the plant, the set is usable the same day it’s placed. Central Precast says its steps can be installed year-round. In practice, frozen ground makes winter base work harder, so most replacements happen spring to late fall.
One underrated advantage: if a precast set settles years later, it can often be lifted, re-based and reset rather than replaced.
Poured, in practice
Poured steps are formed and poured on site in the C-2 mix. They take more days — removal, base, forming, pour, finishing — and then need curing before railings go on. In exchange, they fit anything: wide, tall, curved, wrapped around a corner, or poured together with a porch.
Weather matters more for poured work. Below 5 °C the building code requires the concrete to be kept warm during placement and for 72 hours after, and new concrete needs time to air-dry before its first salt season.
Cost, side by side
| Precast | Poured | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical Ottawa entrance | $1,800–$4,500 (incl. removal) | $2,500–$6,000 |
| What pushes it up | Wider units, landings, tough access | Height, width, landing size, shape |
| Railings | Added after setting | Added after curing |
Both ranges are ballparks before HST. Your written quote follows a free site visit.
Still undecided?
The material matchmaker below lets you weigh speed, budget, looks and custom shape and see how precast and poured rank against wood, composite and interlock. Or book a site visit — we’ll tell you which one your entrance suits, and why.