Home Elevator Cost in Delaware

Here are typical installed prices, drawn from published ranges. Use them to get a feel for which lift matches your budget before anyone comes out to measure.

A shaftless model travels through a hole cut into the floor, so no enclosed tower is needed. A pneumatic model moves a clear tube between floors using air pressure. Curious how we arrived at these numbers?

For an existing house, two factors usually account for the biggest jumps:

• A new shaft runs about $5,000 to $25,000, per one published estimate.
• Every floor beyond two adds roughly $9,000 to $15,000, going by published per-stop figures.

So a three-story home that needs a shaft built can run well past the cost of a simple two-story installation. Once a dealer measures your place, they can point out which of these fit your situation.

Delaware electricians make a median of $30.63 an hour, nearly the same as the US median of $30.38. Carpenters, the people who frame a shaft or a floor opening, earn about $28.46 an hour at the median statewide. Because local labor rates sit so close to the national numbers, the lift you pick matters far more than your zip code.

Delaware has no state or local sales tax, so buying a lift or elevator here means no sales tax on the purchase. Businesses pay a gross receipts tax of their own, and that never appears as a tax line on your invoice.

There is no statewide elevator safety code or inspection program in Delaware. Instead, each county or city handles elevators under the building code it has adopted. Your elevator permit comes from the local building department along with the building permit.

In New Castle County, the shaft and structure get checked by county staff during the building permit process. After that, a Qualified Elevator Inspector examines the elevator before it goes into service. If your elevator is in a single-family home and not open to the public, that single inspection is all it gets, and it stays off the annual certificate renewal cycle. We could not find a residential elevator permit fee listed for the county.

The county follows ASME A17.1 for elevators and ASME A18.1 for lifts and stair chairlifts, which are the national safety standards for both. Wilmington's fee is $50 per elevator for a certificate of operation, plus another $50 for lifts.

Elevator mechanics in Delaware are licensed by the Board of Elevator Mechanics. That licence allows them to install and repair elevators in any building in the state. Private homes get no exemption, so your house is included. New Castle County goes further and lets only Delaware-licensed mechanics service, fix, change, or swap out an elevator or lift.

Doing this work without a licence is a misdemeanor. A first offense brings fines of $500 to $1,500, and later offenses run $1,500 to $2,300. One phone call links you with a licensed local dealer, so the job is done right from day one.

A few Delaware programs can cover part of the bill:

• DDDS Lifespan Waiver. Members with intellectual or developmental disabilities can use home modifications, with limits of $6,000 per project, $10,000 a year, and $20,000 in a lifetime.
• Diamond State Health Plan Plus. Under this long-term care program, home modifications are limited to $6,000 every five years, and that amount is shared with vehicle modifications.
• Easterseals FYI: Finance Your Independence. Easterseals partners with lenders on lower-interest loans for assistive technology, home modifications included.

The state's assistive technology program goes by the name Delaware Assistive Technology Initiative. Since a waiver rarely pays for a whole elevator, a written quote makes it easier to plan for whatever remains.

Call once and a local home elevator dealer will come to measure your house and hand you a written price. Call now to learn what your elevator will cost.