SO UPLIFTING
Popularity of in-home elevators on the rise as more homeowners choose to age in place
When Fiona and Simon Lucchini were building their two-storey home three years ago, they designed it with aging in mind by adding an elevator.
“We wanted to stay in our home as long as possible, and we wanted to make it more practical,” says Simon. “Adding an elevator seemed like the logical way to go.”
Gone are the days when elevators were only for shopping malls, office towers or the very wealthy.
These days, many Calgarians are adding in-home elevators to their living spaces, whether they're building a new house or retrofitting an older home. An in-home elevator can help you age in place or live with movement-related disabilities. An elevator can also allow multiple generations to live in one home, making it easier to move people, groceries, furniture, you name it, from floor to floor.
“Twenty years ago, a lot of people associated home elevators with wealthy people or people in wheelchairs,” says Chris Gallant, owner and director of Cambridge Elevator. “But there's been a real shift to people who are planning toward staying in their home forever, and an elevator can help with that.”
Business has been growing substantially for Gallant, who has seen demand for in-home elevators skyrocket in the past 20 years.
“Some people are willing and able to pay more to get a house that's fully accessible,” he says. “An elevator can add up to 10 per cent to a home's value.”
A couple of decades ago, only about 10 per cent of Cambridge Elevator's clients wanted to retrofit an older home, adding an elevator to an existing house. These days, that number has grown to about 50 per cent of Gallant's clients.
WHAT HAS CHANGED?
“I think during the pandemic, people realized how important their homes were and they didn't want to go into a long-term care facility,” he says.
With an elevator, they can move between each storey of their home without the potential falling hazards and physical strain that the stairs may cause.
Cambridge Elevator works with builders across the province during the construction phase of a new home, and Gallant even sometimes works with realtors, examining homes for retrofitting potential for buyers who need an elevator but don't want to go through the new build process.
There are all kinds of elevators for all kinds of homes, too, says Gallant, whose business has a showroom in Calgary for people to check out options.