I financed a high end housing development a few years ago. Three storey homes with a full basements and elevators. $30K CDN got the cab, mechanicals, installation and all permits/licenses. Since its for residential use it only requires a permit for installation. No further inspection required.

The mechanism is slower than a traditional commercial grade unit but it is very quiet. If I were building my retirement home and it was multiple stories, I wouldn't hesitate to spec one. Not all of the houses had them and the elevator upgrade did not pay for itself as a premium in price over the non-elevator homes. End users all loved them however.

We just built a home on stilts with an REI elevator. The elevator was 22K give or take,, plus the CBS block shaft at about 12K. We did it as we have a couple of 80lb Labs that may end up having issues getting up and down the stairs,,, and in the not too distant furture we might as well.

That said,,, can you build you own? Probablly. The question is do you want the libality if someone other than family gets hurt?

If it's just for getting stuff upstairs a dumbwaiter would work. For people spend the 30k.

Good luck!

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This is what I would do if I currently had no need for an elevator. Stacking storage closets or an additional back stair case (or both) will ensure you have the needed room for a small elevator if needed. You may never lose the ability to climb stairs and may well sell the home and move before you do. You likely would not get your money back. Elevators are much like pools and gold-plated Porsches...you are often best to buy one that was part of someone else's dream.

I was considering building one for my mostly immobile mother to use...but she refuses to even visit, much left live here...so I almost wasted a bunch of money that I may well need for her nursing home.

If you wait until a doctor tells you that you need one as a "medical necessity"...you can likely write off most of the expense against taxes (IIRC medial expenses over 7.5% of income). Probably would save close to $20K.

I've installed elevators in small commercial buildings and can't see the expense of an elevator making sense in a house. Just build a single floor house...

I've built a dumbwaiter into a high end house, which makes a little more sense financially. You can buy the systems or build them yourself. Figure 2-3k and up. Limited use, as far as I'm concerned. Again, if I thought mobility would become an issue in old age, I'd stick to one floor.

JR

We sold our 2 story home when Joanna's MS at age 46 forced her into a wheelchair. We thought about adding an elevator but 30k, the space that it takes and we found a better neighborhood out of LA County and took advantage of a loophole in our property taxes and moved !

It makes a lot of sense if you have a unique property or home that you do not want to leave...since much of the cost can be written off as a medical expense. It costs little to plan for one for later when you are designing/building. Lots architects build this area into the their plans now (usually two small rooms or closets one above the other). Sometimes a one story home just eats up too much of a lot (if the lot is not large).

My father put one in -- after starting they had to tear out the cement pad and redue it with rebar...

if spending 30 k extra for an elevator, when building new.

I'de just get more ground surface and build flat.
Floors don't need maintenance, electricity, nothing can go wrong with them, they always work
And people who are about the retire typically don't need as much room anyway. Kids are out of the house and all that.

If you do need more room, say guest rooms, then put those upstairs and get your own spaces downstairs.

We are building now and have one going in our home. This is hopefully our 'last' home and have designed and built from a "what if" mindset. I, nor my wife have no desire to move again. This is our dream home in a fantastic private (NOT retirement) community with lots of P-car owners, why would you want to move!?! We are active, healthy people in our mid 50's. You never know what curve balls are coming your way in life.

My wife's grandfather put one in. The stairs are a spiral staircase so he and his brother built one with a basket that you stand in with the controls and it pushed panels up in the floor above. It probably helped that his brother owned a steel company. I would bet he had less than $10k in the whole thing since they didn't have a lot of money.

Now I am creating a new home & it's my dream to make my home with a very good design. So I planned for this & used some techniques for that. I like the staircase design very much. So I installed a staircase which I have ordered from Stairs-interiors through online. My family members are very much happy to see the designs. I also want to use some extra equipment to decorate my home. If anybody has any better idea to decorate home then please tell me.