Home Elevator Cost in Idaho

The type of lift is a good place to start when comparing prices. Our site worked out these typical installed figures from published price ranges, using the method on our method page.

The shaft is the enclosed column the car rides in. Pistons working on fluid push a hydraulic elevator up, and a traction model is raised by cables driven by a motor. Air pressure moves a pneumatic lift within a clear tube.

Across the country, installing an elevator in a two-story house runs $30,000 to $60,000. Call us to talk through which type suits your home and get a written price.

Each story beyond the second tacks on roughly $9,000 to $15,000. When a house was never designed to hold an elevator, adding a shaft to an existing home costs about $5,000 to $25,000.

Carpenters handle some of that work, framing either the shaft or the hole in the floor.

No, it is not. Lifts in private homes sit outside the Idaho Elevator Safety Code Act, so whether it is an elevator, a platform lift, or a stair lift in your own home, you need no state installation permit, no operating certificate, and no scheduled inspections (Idaho Code 39-8603 and 39-8606). What covers you instead is the permit from your local building department.

This is true even if your home is one family's own apartment within a bigger building, not just a standalone house. The act also notes that other permits remain in force, so expect building and electrical permits as part of the work.

A lift in a private home follows whatever building code your city or county uses. The state's safety rules apply only to lifts outside private homes (IDAPA 24.39.40).

Idaho's occupational and professional licensing division runs the state Elevator Program. Its fees apply to elevators in businesses and other covered buildings, not to anything in a private home (DOPL). We include them here because you might run across them online and ask whether they will show up on your bill.

There is no state elevator mechanic licence of its own in Idaho. Any electrical work on the elevator still calls for a licensed electrical contractor, either a general one or a limited one, with supervision from a qualified electrician such as a journeyman, a master, or a limited elevator electrical installer (IDAPA 24.39.10).

Being exempt from the elevator rules at home doesn't change this, so your lift still needs a properly licensed electrical contractor, and electricians in Idaho earn a median of $30.29 an hour compared with $30.38 an hour nationwide.

If a lift strains your budget, two Idaho programs can help:

• Low-interest assistive technology loans (the Idaho Assistive Technology Financing Program): Idahoans with disabilities can borrow up to $60,000 at low interest to buy assistive technology, and no origination fees apply. Credit trouble tied to a disability is considered (Idaho Assistive Technology Project).
• Medicaid waiver for aged and disabled Idahoans: Covers minor home adaptations, ramps and lifts among them, that help someone in the program live at home more independently. The rule sets no dollar cap (IDAPA 16.03.10.326).

Ask about both programs before you sign, so you know what help you can count on.

The table shows a range, but your real price comes down to your stairs, floors, and walls. Call us today to talk through your home and get a written price, so you can plan around real numbers instead of a general estimate.