Custom Aluminum Railings for Metro Vancouver

Generally less than comparable custom steel — aluminum is lighter on the wallet — but every quote is site-specific: pricing depends on guard length and height, the infill, the powder-coat colour, mounting conditions, whether engineering is required, and strata approval requirements. Send photos and rough dimensions and we price after a site measure.

A kit is stock extrusion lengths field-cut and bolted together on your deck: visible splice joints, surface-mounted base plates that can loosen over time, and usually three factory colours. Custom aluminum is fabricated to your site measurements with welded joints, engineered post anchorage, and in-house powder coating in any of 200+ RAL colours. For a straight, level, ground-floor deck a basic kit can be the right call — everywhere else the difference shows within a few winters.

Aluminum is naturally rust-proof — it will not develop red rust. The weak points are the finish and the connections: anodized finishes chalk under sustained rain cycling, and bolted kit connections loosen over time. We powder coat instead of anodizing and weld instead of field-bolting, which removes both failure modes.

Steel feels premium, gives more design options — twists, curves, seamless flat bars — and delivers superior structural rigidity for public and heavy-use guards. Aluminum is lighter on the wallet, naturally rust-proof, and lighter on the structure. Both keep your family safe when built to code; the difference is feel, aesthetics, and customizability.

Yes. Builder-grade aluminum is surface-mounted with bolted base plates and can be removed without structural modification. On strata properties, written strata council approval is required before replacing exterior railings classified as common or limited common property. Confirm the actual scope with the municipality; like-for-like replacement is not an automatic permit exemption.

Aluminium can be used when the complete assembly meets the applicable design requirements. Part 9 defaults to 1,070 mm guards with 900 mm exceptions for specified residential conditions; ordinary required-guard openings use a 100 mm sphere. Handrails generally use 865–1,070 mm, with separate graspability and accessibility checks. Loads, connections and professional documentation depend on the project.

No repainting cycle. Powder coat is the finish — factory-applied and cured, not brushed on — so maintenance is an occasional wash. This is the opposite of anodized kit finishes, which chalk under sustained Fraser Valley rain cycling, and of wood, which needs refinishing on a schedule.

Any of 200+ RAL colours from our in-house powder-coating facility — matte black, white, bronze, or your strata's exact colour code, matched perfectly rather than settled for from a three-option factory catalogue. Matte black remains the most requested finish for modern homes and townhomes.