A friend of mine is having his hardwood floors installed, and some treads put on his stairs. He was told by the installer he hired that he (the installer) would need to install the treads before the wood floor? I am obviously not an installer, but that doesn't seem to be right to me. What do you guys think? THe problem is the wood is here ready to be installed, but the treads will not be shipped until the day they are to be installed. Thanks for any and all advice.

Personaly, I prefer doing the stairs first. The reason? I don't want to work on a finished floor. Installing treads requires a lot of cutting and fitting and one needs a decent work area near the staircase. If you have to work on a finished floor, it makes a hard job harder.