Built by people who cut runner for a living

Stair Runner Calculator exists for one reason: ordering runner should not be a guess. Every calculation here mirrors the way a fitter actually measures a staircase — tread by tread, riser by riser, with nosings, landings, winders and pattern repeats treated as their own line items rather than lumped into a vague allowance.

The calculator is free and always will be. Interior designers and runner sellers get extra tools on top, because quoting a client deserves more than a screenshot of a number.

Our story

The first version of this tool was a spreadsheet passed between fitters. It existed because the usual advice — “add ten percent” — falls apart the moment a staircase has winders, a half landing, a deep bullnose or a patterned runner with a 68 cm repeat. Those jobs are where money is lost: a runner ordered short is scrap, and a runner ordered long is a cost nobody wanted to explain to a client.

We rebuilt that spreadsheet as a public calculator so homeowners could get the same answer a fitter would give them, and then added a free professional layer — projects, client records, branded quotes and cut lists — for the designers and runner sellers who were already using it every day.

Who reviews this content

Guides on this site are not written by generalist content writers. They are written and reviewed by people who measure and fit stair runners, and every reviewer has a named profile so you can see exactly whose judgement you are reading.

See all reviewers

Editorial standards

• Experience first. Every measuring and installation instruction comes from work done on real staircases, in both imperial and metric conventions.
• Checked against the maths. Figures quoted in guides are run through the same calculation engine that powers the calculators, so the copy and the tool can never disagree.
• Named review. A named expert signs off each guide, and their profile lists the areas they are qualified to review.
• Dated and revisited. Each guide shows a last-updated date. Prices, material availability and fitting methods are re-checked when they change.
• Corrections welcome. If something is wrong, tell us — we fix it and the updated date moves. Contact us.
• No paid placements. Suppliers and products mentioned in guides are not paid placements, and estimates are ranges, not quotes — always confirm with your supplier and fitter.

This page is maintained by the Stair Runner Calculator team and describes our own practices; it is not an independent certification.

Start with the numbers: our stair runner calculator also works as a stair runner length calculator, adding nosing wrap, landings, winders, pattern repeat and waste so you order the right length first time.