Creating a staircase in SketchUp can be done easily by following just a few simple steps. We demonstrate the whole process in each of our SketchUp training courses.
To create a staircase similar to the one illustrated here first zoom into the location of the stairs on your imported floor plan. It might be agood idea to hide the internal walls (if these are on their own layer) in order to see and move around the space better.
The first step is to create a rectangle for the bottom stair (or riser). Then use the Push/Pull (P) tool to extrude this rectangle upwards by, say, 190mm (which is the maximum height for risers in Australia). With the Selection tool we then triple-click on the box to select all faces & edges. Then right-click on the box to choose Make Component. We could then name it Riser or Step.
We then copy this step once by moving with the Move tool whilst holding down the Control key on your keyboard, (Mac: Option) and copying it from the bottom right to top left corners to create step number 2. We then type x 2 onto the keyboard and hit the Enter key to create two copies.
The illustration here features a landing. To create this right-click on the last step to select Make Unique. Next orbit around the construction and double-click to enter the riser component. Then use the Push/Pull (P) tool to push the left hand face out to the wall (as shown here). Using the Selection tool we triple-click to select the landing and right-click to choose Make Group. We can then copy and rotate one of the steps to create the next flight of stairs. Copy this upwards as before (by moving whilst pressing on the Control key (Mac: Option). Then type x13 and Enter – this may give us one extra step above the walls, which can be modified to fit with the ceiling/floor. We would then select all the stairs (with either a crossing selection, or by pressing down Shift to add to a selection)and right-click to choose Make Group.
The next step would be to create balusters and a handrail – we will cover this topic in another blog post.
Many useful tips and techniques can be found at the SketchUp website. And see many examples of our own clients’ work on our Facebook page.
Other related SketchUp Blog Posts:

• SketchUp background
• SketchUp introduction
• SketchUp modeling
• SketchUp contours
• SketchUp workspace