Installing a handrail

[nd01]

Hello- I need some advice - We're looking to have some handrails installed in our home (we have old plaster and lathe walls so I don't want to do it myself). We are putting them in two enclosed stairways - they are about 12 ft each and would require a gooseneck up top for the up part - it is an old house with some weird angles. We also are having them do a plain one for the basement stairs (the other two will be stained, etc).

Long story short, we got two very different estimates - $575 and $825. I've never had this kind of work done before so I have no idea what the ballpark should be but $250 seems like a big difference in price given the scale. Does anyone have any experience with this? I fear if we don't choose one soon, my husband and father-in-law will insist on doing it and they have absolutely no experience.

Thanks (and I apologize if this is not exactly what this forum is for)!

[HayZee518]

plaster n lath or sheetrock walls - you need to install a wooden stringer into the studs. a decorative routed strip of pine or oak stained and polyurethaned. installed at an angle to the steps. the brackets install onto this strip. usually the rail is held with metal brackets to the strip. ideally the brackets would be stronger if they were installed through the strip into the studs.

[pushkins]

Between $575 and $675 seems about right to me, the $850 seems high.
The difference might be in the species of wood, if one pine and the other oak......this would make a noticeable difference in price.

[ToPleasureYou]

The prices on the lower end seem about normal for the work and materials required to do it right the first time. And as mentioned above the higher price might include better quality wood