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StairBiz will be at the heart of your business. If you know how to drive it under the most demanding circumstances you will find it a totally indispensable tool – powerful and adaptable. But the secret is knowledge – learning what the program does, why, and how. This manual is the key to using StairBiz successfully. We recommend that you study it like you would study a subject in college.

The most important first step is to familiarize yourself with the tables of contents. There are three in this manual:

1. The chapter headings
2. The table of contents in detail
3. A topics list in alphabetical order

The topics list is very useful for cross referencing. Every topic reference in this manual is underlined with a straight line, for example “see the Setout window”. So whenever you see an underlined reference, refer to the topics list for the page number of the topic. A topic heading that is referenced from WITHIN that topic, rather than being underlined, is in bold. For example, with the topic on Setout window you would see “the Setout window is used to …” Buttons and other controls in a window which are referred to by name are also in bold, for example “click the Save button”. There is also a glossary of terms. Ever reference to a word or phrase which contains a definition in the glossary of terms is underline with a wavy line, for example “the balcony newel”. Some of the features listed in this manual do not apply to certain types of licenses.

How to view this manual – the Document Map

It is HIGHLY recommended that you use the MS Word Document Map (select it from the View menu). This shows a collapsible table of contents in a separate pane at the left of your screen which allows quick navigation to the topics you are reading on the right of your screen. Right-click the Document Map and select Show Heading 1. From there you can click the “+” symbol to temporarily expand whatever chapter you are reading. This is by far the easiest way to navigate around this manual.

The optional “Estimate” module

If you have not purchased the Estimate module, some things in this manual will not apply. The Estimate module consists of all things related to costing labour and materials for jobs, including the use of filters to do “take-offs” (converting items in your Cutting List to parts from your Parts window). Following is a list of the windows that you don’t have: Defaults windows: Parts Part Filters Labour Filters Process Windows: Materials Cost Labour Cost Quote Calculation Quote Invoice Payments Receipt View Windows: Project Materials Cost Labour Cost Quote Calculation Quote Invoice Receipt Others: Inventory (Project menu) QuickBooks (Export menu)

Following is a list of the windows that contain less information than usual: Defaults windows: Timbers (no timber costs) Miscellaneous (categories relating to costing)

Customizing this Manual

The main reason this manual comes as a MSWord document is so you can customize it for style and terminology. You can set a font (or size) more to your liking – we traditionally use ZaptEllipt, but have set it to Arial in case you don’t have ZaptEllipt. To set the font for the entire manual, it’s best NOT to select all the text and set a font – go to Style (from the Format menu), select the “Normal” style, select the Modify button, select the Format button, select Font, and change the font name. For best results all fonts and sizes should be changed by changing the style. Note that we have removed almost all the pictures from this manual to get the size down for a web down-load. With pictures the size is enormous. If your terminology is different to ours (most likely), you can do a find/replace on those terms so that the manual feels more familiar to you. Below is a list of the terms most likely to need customization, and instructions on how to change them. Note that you can also change the terminology in every window and menu used in StairBiz (see Language window). The terminology changes you make to this manual should match those you make in that window – see the Terminology section of the Language window for a quick way to do this).

1. The following terminology has been specially chosen to facilitate a quick and trouble-free global find/replace.
2. The following terms do not conflict with any other words in this manual. For example, the term “going” – sometimes called the “run” - is not used in this manual other than to mean the horizontal distance from nose to nose. So you can safely do a global find/replace knowing you will not encounter something like “he was going to the shop”.
3. Part of this strategy required that we use only single words in the terminology, however this doesn’t stop you for replacing a single word with two or more words (e.g. “balconyplate” could be changed to “return plate”, “closedstring” could be changed to “box string”) When doing a global find/replace, in Word’s Find and Replace window:
4. Click the More button to expose the Search Options.
5. Be sure the Match case option is UN-SELECTED (Word will auto set for upper and lower case as it finds it)
6. Be sure the Find whole words only option is UN-SELECTED (this will replace singular and plural in one hit)
7. All other options should also be UN-SELECTED
8. For each of the following terms (i.e. those that you want to change), copy/past the term shown below into the Find What text box, type the replacement (i.e. your terminology for that term) into the Replace With text box, then click the Replace All button.
9. Do not use capital letters in either the find or the replace (if the Match Case option is ticked, Word will deal with this appropriately).

After you have made your changes, it’s best to regenerate the table of contents.

1. Insert your cursor at the beginning of “Table of Contents” (the first line after the “Full Table of Contents” heading on page ii, Sec 3).
2. Go to menu Insert / Reference / Index and Tables.
3. Click OK.
4. You will be prompted to replace the existing – say Yes.

acorn The turned portion of a newel above the upper flat. It is entirely ornamental. Sometimes called “knob”, “ball” etc.

balcony The area around the cut-out in the upper floor. For example, balcony balustrade is the horizontal balustrade around the cut-out in the upper floor. Sometimes called a “return”.

balconyplate A horizontal piece of timber sitting on the upper floor along the well cut-out down into which run the balusters of the balcony

balustrade. Sometimes called a “plate”.

balconytrim A moulding which covers the gap between the balconyplate and the inside of the well cut-out in the upper floor.

baluster The vertical elements (often turned) that create a barrier between the handrail and the stair. Sometimes called a “spindle” or “picket”.

bearer Horizontal pieces of timber beneath a landing that give or add support to that landing. Sometimes called a “tread support”.

blank A plain piece of timber prior to being Profiled, turned or otherwise worked. It’s the piece of timber you pull from your timber rack.

bullnose One or more treads at the bottom of the stair that extend past the line of the string and often have rounded ends. Sometimes called “starter step”.

closedrise Refers to a flight where the riser boards are included. Usually called “closed rise”.

closedstring A string which is not sawtooth. The treads trenched into the side of the string and are normally wedged. Sometimes called a “box string” or “routed string”.

detachednose The nosing of a landing tread that has been detached from that landing tread for the purposes of facilitating installation. fillet The piece of timber used between balusters in the plow of handrail, shoerail and balconyplate. They are used to space the balusters accurately and tidy up the general appearance.

flat The portion or portions of a newel that is not turned. For example, the part of a newel that the handrail runs into.

fret A (roughly triangular) shaped piece of timber used on a sawtooth strings. It is fixed under the sidenosing of a tread and mitred into the end of the riser below the tread. It is purely cosmetic. Sometimes called a “bracket” or “stringer bracket”.

going The horizontal distance between adjacent nosings (or adjacent risers) in a stair. Sometimes called the “run”.

halflanding A single tread landing of a U-shaped stair which has a length the same as the combined widths of the upper and lower flights.

hockey Refers to a string which is made up of a straight flight string combined with a landing string (to form the shape of a hockey stick). In other words the two strings are joined to become a single string. For the sake of the exercise it can also refer to two straight flight strings joined together to be continuous (this is possible in StairBiz). The word “hockey” in this manual would almost always be followed by the word “string”. Sometimes called “continuous”.

kitelanding A quarterlanding with 3 treads, the second tread being in the shape of a kite. We sometime use this term to describe a quarterlanding with anything more than two treads.

lining Material used to line the underside of a stair (hiding the underside of the treads, risers etc.). Sometimes called “soffit”.

MDF Medium density fibreboard material (rather than grained material).

newel The vertical square elements used to support handrail. Sometimes called a “post” or “knewel”.

openrise Refers to a flight where the riser boards are excluded. Usually called “open rise”.

outstep The top nosing of the stair, which normally rebates over the trimmer and is flush with the upper flooring. Sometimes called a “landing nose” or “lander”.

platform An existing level landing (either created by the builder, or by the stair maker as something not part of the stair as designed by StairBiz).

plow The groove in handrail, shoerail and balconyplate made specifically to house balusters. Sometimes called a “rebate” or “groove”.

quarterlanding A square shaped single-tread landing (like the ones used in an L-shape stair). Sometimes called a “level landing”.

sawtooth Refers to a string which is cut such that the treads sit on the string rather than being trenched and wedged into the side of it. Sometimes called “open”, “cut” or “horse cut” string.

shoerail The piece of timber which sits on a box string (either tenonside or wallside) down into which runs the stair balusters. Although it would be more usual to have shoerail with a tenonstring, if a wallstring has balustrading, then shoerail would apply. Sometimes called “string cap”, “bottom rail”, “bottom plate”.

sidenosing Used only on sawtooth strings, it is a nosing fixed to the end of the tread to hide the exposed end-grain of the tread. Sometimes called a “returned tread”, “return nosing” or “false end cap”.

skirting Where a landing does not have strings (i.e. is existing, or the landing is supported by bearers rather than strings), and the adjoining flights have closedstrings, skirting may be used to trim the top-side of the landing to give the appearance that the adjacent closedstrings continue around the landing.

splitlanding A square landing (i.e. quarterlanding) with 2 treads.

string The element of the stair that runs up either side of the treads and support those treads. Sometimes called a “stringer”, “carriage” or “apron”.

tenonside We use tenonside and wallside to refer to a particular side of the stair. The tenonside side refers to the side which is (under normal circumstances) the open side (as opposed to the wallside side). For example, for a normal L-shape stair that goes up and to the left, it would be the left hand side when going up. Sometimes called “tenon”, “open” or “inside”. Usage includes “tenonside newel”, “tenonside bullnose”, “tenonside side of the stair”.

tenonstring A string on the tenonside side of the stair. Sometimes called a “tenon string”, “inside string” or “open string” (i.e. the string on the open side of the stair).

timber Material that comes from a tree. Sometimes called “lumber”.

trenched Refers to one component being “housed” or “logged” into some other component. For example, treads into strings, handrail into newels, etc.

wallbracket A piece of hardware used to fix wallrail to the wall.

wallrail Handrail which is fixed to the wall (using wallbrackets) rather than being fixed to newels.

wallside We use tenonside and wallside to refer to a particular side of the stair. For a normal L-shape stair that goes up and to the left, it would be the right hand side when going up. Sometimes called “wall”, “outside” or “closed” (being normally the closed side of the stair). Usage includes “wallside newel”, “wallside bullnose”, “wallside side of the stair”.

wallstring A string on the wallside side of the stair. In this manual, the term wallstring does not necessarily mean the string is adjacent to a wall - just that it would more usually be. Sometimes called a “wall string”, “outside string” or “closed string” (being the string on the closed side of the stair).

walltrim The piece of timber which covers the gap between a string and a wall.

winder Normally refers to a tread when that tread is part of a landing containing more than one tread such that the treads are angled. At times is may refer to the strings of such landing (winder strings) or the number of treads in such a landing (winder count) etc. The terms is used in many such contexts and it’s probably best not to change it unless you find the term confusing.

There are three other very important definitions (which probably should not be changed in order to maintain clarity through this manual) which are very important to understand up-front. All items in your BOM will be one of the following three types:

blank item A component of the stair or balustrade which has been created from a piece of timber (a blank) that has been pulled from your timber rack. In some cases it is simply cut to length (e.g. strings); in other cases it must be cut and profiled. Every component of a stair is treated as a blank item (with the exception of wallbrackets, and hardware) until such time as it is (optionally) converted into a part.

part A finished component usually purchased from a supplier in its finished state. It may need trimming to length. It has a fixed price. It always has a PartId (SKU), whether this PartId has been assigned by the supplier or by you. Parts are what you enter into the Parts window.

line item A line item is neither a blank item nor a part, but rather something a little less tangible. For example, some clients price stairs based on a certain price per tread/rise/string combination. This tread/rise/string combination could be generated in the part filter as a line item (it doesn’t exist in your parts window).

Another definition which ties all this together (and again probably shouldn’t be changed for the sake of clarity):

style A style is a name/size combination. For example, “Colonial 40x40” is the style of a baluster. Styles for a job are selected in the Components window. A timber is then allocated to the style. Based on the style properties, the timber, and the stair/balustrade as designed in the Design window, StairBiz generates blank items. These blank items may then (optionally) be converted into parts.

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