Stairs are a travel upgrade between the lodge and the farms. They are not income.
Cost, place, and timer
A January 2026 tutorial shows this setup:
- The original stairs are bought at the wood pile between the Haven and the farm plots.
- Price shown: 1000 coins.
- Build time shown: 6 hours.
- Tool: the hammer, or build tool. The stairs icon appears after you select it near that wood pile.
The same video puts the separate stair tool and the floor tool behind the three dots above the backpack, each at 1000 coins. Those tools move stairs and fill floors. They are not required to place the first horizontal rooms.
When to start the timer
Start the six-hour craft when you can say yes to most of these:
- Warmth covers the current guests.
- The cooker has coal.
- At least one farm plot is planted.
- You still have coins after paying 1000.
- You can leave the hammer running while workers keep the plot alive.
There is no payoff for rushing stairs with a single builder while Hunger or Sleep is failing. Build outward on completed sections first. You can only extend from finished sections, so players buy temporary foundations, reach a new wing, then delete or sell the bridge. That is how a lodge stops being one square. Details are in layout and comfort.
Moving stairs later
Open the three dots, choose the stair tool, and use the arrows to reposition. If the section already exists, the floor or roof can fill in. Check the hole afterward and patch it with the floor tool or roof pieces. See roofs.
Keep a route to the rear coal rock. A pretty stair that traps miners is a fuel outage.
During the six hours
Assign gardeners and miners, meet the unlocked needs, and collect offline coins if you leave. Do not stand at the wood pile. The timer is not a cutscene.
Use the stair payback estimator only after you replace the example profit with your own guess. The form does not know what your lodge earns.