Home Elevator Cost in Iowa

The prices listed here are typical installed costs. Each range comes from a number of published estimates, collected by home-elevator-cost.com. A shaftless model travels through an opening cut into the floor, so no separate enclosure has to be built.

Nationwide, a two-story home elevator runs $30,000 to $60,000 installed. Call a local dealer now to visit your house and get a written quote, which tells you which range really applies to you.

Every floor past two tacks on roughly $9,000 to $15,000. If the elevator goes into an existing home and needs a new shaft, that adds $5,000 to $25,000. The shaft is simply the enclosed column the car moves up and down inside.

Labor counts toward the total as well. Elevator and escalator installers in Iowa make a median of $55.43 an hour, while the national median is $52.84. Carpenters, who build the framing for a shaft or a floor opening, make about $27.75 an hour at the median in the state.

No. Chapter 89A of Iowa's elevator law leaves out any lift placed in a single private home. So the state never registers, permits, or inspects a residential lift, no matter which kind it is: an elevator for the house, a wheelchair lift, or a stair lift.

Those state rules are aimed at elevators in apartment and commercial buildings instead. Owners of those elevators register them with Iowa's Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing; they keep an operating permit and have inspections done on a schedule. A house is exempt from all of it, and no state fee comes with a home lift.

What your project does need is whatever permits your local government asks for: building or electrical, depending on your city or county. A dealer working in your area can sort that out as part of the quote.

For any lift put in on or after June 1, 2021, the state's rules follow the national elevator safety codes. The chapters aimed at home lifts are skipped, which lines up with the exemption the state gives houses.

Iowa does not issue a state licence for elevator mechanics or elevator contractors. Since the elevator law skips private homes, a residential job needs no state elevator credential of any kind. Local contractor or electrical licensing might still be in play.

Iowa runs some programs of its own that can help with the bill:

• Iowa Medicaid waivers. A waiver is a program that covers services at home beyond what regular Medicaid pays for. Under Home and Vehicle Modification, Iowa Medicaid reviews each request and then pays for home changes tied to a member's medical need. The Intellectual Disability waiver sets a lifetime cap of $5,493.88. Caps vary by waiver and shift from year to year.
• Able Up Iowa loans. This program offers loans at reduced interest to Iowans with disabilities for assistive technology, home modifications included. Easterseals Iowa's Assistive Technology Program helps run it.
• USDA Section 504. Iowa's office for aging services steers older homeowners toward federal repair loans and grants meant for homeowners of very modest means.

Having a written quote in hand helps with every one of these programs, since it spells out exactly what the work costs.

A single call connects you with a home elevator dealer in your area. They can measure your house and hand you a written price, so the real cost is clear before you commit. Call now and arrange your visit.