Home Elevator Cost in Ohio

We gathered published prices, compared them, and built these figures from what we found. You can read how we did it on our about page. Each figure sits in the middle of what other places report, rounded to the nearest $500.

The shaft is the enclosed column the elevator car rides inside as it moves between floors. Shaftless and through-floor models need nothing more than a hole cut in the floor, which is why they often cost less. A pneumatic model moves a clear, tube-shaped car with air pressure.

Nationally, an elevator serving two floors in a house runs $30,000 to $60,000 installed. Ohio tends to land inside that same spread, though nobody can give you a firm number until someone measures your house. One phone call puts you in touch with a nearby dealer who will come out, measure, and hand you a written price.

Two factors push the cost up faster than the rest: extra floors and building a shaft. Every floor beyond two typically adds $9,000 to $15,000. Adding a shaft to a house that never had room planned for one tacks on $5,000 to $25,000, and the total depends on how much framing and wall finishing the job needs.

Ohio installers make a bit less than the national median. That trims the labor share of your quote slightly.

Yes, one is. Under Ohio's elevator law, a lift inside a private house still counts as an elevator, so the state reviews the plans before any work starts. You send them to the Ohio Department of Commerce, Division of Industrial Compliance, or to the elevator office your city runs if it has one. That office issues the erection permit, which is the green light to build. The elevator stays off limits until the finished job matches the approved plans.

No permit fee for homes appears in anything we could find. The state's building standards board does tack on $3.25 to every certificate of operation and every inspection as an extra charge beyond what the visit itself costs.

Home elevators skip the twice-a-year state inspections that elevators in public buildings must have. Ohio holds this equipment to national safety codes: ASME A17.1-2019 covering elevators and ASME A18.1-2020 covering platform lifts and stairway chairlifts. A dealer familiar with these rules can draw up plans that clear approval without a hitch, and one call gets that moving.

Ohio law defines an elevator in a way that leaves out a stair chairlift in a private home. So the state's elevator permit rules do not apply to one.

The state licenses elevator contractors and mechanics, but anyone working only inside private homes is exempt from that license. Since the license is not required here, the installer's track record with home elevators is the main thing to ask about before you sign anything.

Think of a waiver as Medicaid-funded support that pays for care and household adjustments when someone would otherwise end up in a nursing home or similar setting. Ohio runs two waiver paths that can put money toward a lift:

• Waivers from Ohio Medicaid and the Department of Aging: these may contribute toward household modifications, up to $15,000 per person each calendar year. Whichever choice costs least while still suiting the person is the one the program picks.
• Developmental disabilities waivers: accessibility changes qualify for as much as $15,000 per project. Enlarging the house itself is not covered.

Assistive Technology of Ohio, the state's program for helpful devices, likewise serves residents seeking gear that makes everyday life at home easier.

Since a waiver backs the cheapest suitable option, getting quotes in writing for each kind of lift shows you what might qualify. Call today to schedule a visit to your home and receive your quote on paper.