Home Elevator Cost in Florida

Every style of lift comes with its own price band. Here are the installed prices you'll typically see for each:

The shaft, sometimes known as a hoistway, is the closed column the car travels through between floors. The right type of lift depends on the space available and the changes your home needs, and a written quote can show what each option would cost in your house.

On this list, a platform lift costs the least and a glass elevator costs the most.

Most quotes you'll see assume the lift connects just two floors. For each floor beyond two, the price goes up by $9,000 to $15,000.

If there's nowhere in your house to put a shaft, you'll need to build one. In an existing house, putting in a shaft runs an extra $5,000 to $25,000. Have a dealer measure your home and tell you which of these costs will land on you.

Labor is built into every quote, and Florida elevator installers earn a median of $50.35 an hour, a little less than the US median of $52.84.

No. Elevators, stair chairlifts, and wheelchair lifts inside private homes sit outside the reach of Florida's elevator safety law, Chapter 399. So the state Bureau of Elevator Safety never permits, inspects, or certifies them.

Instead, your contractor pulls a permit from the city or county building office, and that office does the inspecting. Home units are also exempt under state law from the pre-use independent inspection and from the certificate of operation.

Under these rules, a private residence counts as a single family's own apartment in a multi-unit building too.

Florida has been enforcing the 8th Edition (2023) Florida Building Code since January 30, 2024. Its residential section points home elevators to ASME A17.1, the country's elevator safety standard.

One Florida rule still touches every new home elevator in the state. Under the Max Grablin Act of 2016, the gap where the hoistway door meets the edge of the landing must stay small enough that a child can't get caught in it.

• Swinging doors: gaps of 3/4 inch or less
• Sliding doors: gaps of 2 1/4 inches or less

Ask your dealer how your doors will meet this rule.

The state hands out an elevator certificate of competency for $50 a year, and it asks for four years of experience plus 8 hours of continuing education. That credential covers equipment governed by Chapter 399, so Florida doesn't require it for jobs inside private homes only.

Your local building department might still insist that a licensed contractor pull the permit. Ask your dealer who will pull the permit for your job.

A few Florida programs can soften the bill. A Medicaid waiver is a version of Medicaid that pays for care and home modifications so someone can keep living in their own home.

• FAAST New Horizon Loan: Run by the Florida Alliance for Assistive Services and Technology, this program makes loans straight to Floridians with disabilities and their families to fund home modifications. The program works with applicants who have low credit scores or a fixed income.
• APD iBudget Waiver: If you have a developmental disability and use this waiver, spending on home accessibility is limited to $20,000 over five years. Anything over $3,500 needs a qualified professional's assessment, and additions that expand your home's square footage aren't covered.
• Medicaid Long-Term Care: Home accessibility adaptation appears on the list of services in Florida's long-term care program. No dollar limit has been published.

A written quote gives you a clear number to bring to any of these programs.

A price on paper is only where the conversation starts, because your stairs, walls, and floors set the real number. Phone us and a local dealer will come out, measure your home, and put a price in writing, the number you need to plan and to apply for help paying.