Home Elevators & Lifts near you

A stair lift is often the quickest answer when the person can still take a few steps and transfer safely to a seat, and the staircase is wide enough to let others pass once the seat is folded. It doesn't help someone who has to stay in a wheelchair, and it carries one person at a time, so a second wheelchair or a walker still has to be carried up.

Platform lifts and home elevators suit wheelchair users and households planning for the long term. A vertical platform lift can solve an entrance with a few steps where a ramp would be too long for the lot, while an elevator changes the layout of the house and needs space stacked on every floor it serves, but works for everyone in the household. An occupational therapist's assessment helps match the device to how the person moves today and is likely to move later.

In Ontario, the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) regulates the safety of elevating devices. Its page on what is regulated lists private dwelling houses used exclusively by the occupants and their guests as exempt, unless the owner requests in writing that the rules apply to them, and TSSA offers a questionnaire to help decide whether a home qualifies. If the home is used by more than the people who live there and their guests, the exemption may not apply, so check with TSSA before you buy.

In Quebec, elevators and other elevating devices are subject to chapter IV of the Construction Code and chapter IV of the Safety Code, overseen by the Régie du bâtiment du Québec (RBQ). The RBQ states that construction work on these devices requires the appropriate contractor licence: subclass 14.1 covers elevators and similar equipment, and subclass 14.2 covers lifting devices designed specifically to carry people with disabilities under the CSA B355 standard. Ask for the licence number and check it in the RBQ's register.

Everywhere, the power supply for a lift is electrical work. In Ontario, the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) says a notification should be filed before the work starts; in Quebec, the Corporation des maîtres électriciens du Québec (CMEQ) reminds owners that only an electrical contractor may do electrical work for others. Structural changes, such as opening floors for a shaft or building a landing for an outdoor lift, usually need a municipal building permit as well.

The federal Home Accessibility Tax Credit can apply to a lift when the work is of an enduring nature, becomes part of the home of someone who is 65 or older at the end of the year or eligible for the disability tax credit, and helps them get around the dwelling or reduces their risk of harm. The Canada Revenue Agency also lets an expense that qualifies as a medical expense be claimed under both credits. Our accessibility equipment page explains the credit in more detail.

Provincial help exists too. In Quebec, the Société d'habitation du Québec's home adaptation program (Programme d'adaptation de domicile, or PAD) gives owners financial assistance for adaptation work in a dwelling occupied by a person with a disability; check whether registrations are open before planning around it. In Ontario, the Home and Vehicle Modification Program, under the Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility, lists stairway lifts and platform lifts among eligible items for permanent residents whose disability limits their mobility, and the province directs applicants to March of Dimes Canada to apply. Read each program's rules before signing a contract.