Home Elevator Installation in San Diego, CA

How a home elevator installation works, start to finish

1. Free visit and measure. One of our team comes to the house, looks at the stairs, checks floor-to-floor height, finds where a shaft or closet stack could go, and asks who will use the elevator. Wheelchair and walker users need a larger cab than someone who just wants to stop carrying laundry.

2. Model and design. We show you the options that fit. Cab size, door style, wall finishes and fixtures are chosen here. See our custom finishes and the full home elevator lineup.

3. Drawings and permit. We prepare the drawings and handle building permit and inspection coordination with your city or the county. Cal/OSHA’s elevator program does not cover a single-family private home, but your city’s building department still reviews the shaft and electrical work. We do not promise a permit outcome, because that is the building department’s decision, but we know what each jurisdiction asks to see.

4. Construction. If your project needs framing, a pit, or electrical work, we coordinate it or work with your contractor. Then our crew sets the rails and machine, hangs the doors, wires the controller and installs the cab.

5. Testing and handover. We test every safety device, set the battery lowering system, and show you how to use the controls. Your inspection happens, and you get a warranty explanation and an offer of a maintenance plan. Savaria’s parts warranty runs 36 months through the dealer and requires regular maintenance.

Timelines you can plan around

Every home is different, so we give you a schedule in writing after the visit, not a guess over the phone. In general, the paperwork stage (drawings, permit, ordering the elevator) takes longer than the installation itself. Lead times from the factory vary by model. A shaftless lift in a home with no construction needed is the quickest path. A framed shaft with a pit, new electrical and finished drywall takes longer, and the elevator crew may only be on site for part of it.

The best way to shorten the schedule is to decide on the model early, tell us about any HOA review, and have your contractor ready. We tell you honestly which steps are on us and which are on the city.

Electrical and space: what your house needs

Most home elevators do not need much, but they do need the right things. The Savaria Eclipse, for example, runs on a dedicated 230-volt single-phase circuit plus a separate 120-volt lighting circuit. It needs about 8 inches of pit and 96 inches of overhead clearance above the top landing. The Infinity is hydraulic and wants a small machine space for the tank and controller. Through-floor lifts such as the Telecab run on a dedicated 110-volt, 20-amp circuit and need no hoistway at all.

These are the numbers we check on the measure visit. If your panel needs an upgrade or your ceiling is too low for one model, we move to a model that fits instead of forcing it. Read more on the Infinity, Eclipse and Telecab pages.

Which elevator fits which San Diego home

La Jolla and Point Loma hillsides. Homes on Mount Soledad, in the Muirlands and above Sunset Cliffs often step down a slope across three or four levels. A multi-stop elevator turns a long run of stairs into a one-button ride. Hillside lots also mean tight access, so we plan the delivery of the cab and rails before installation day. See La Jolla and Point Loma.

Rancho Santa Fe and Fairbanks Ranch. Large estates are usually two stories with a grand staircase, and sometimes a guest house or pool house as well. Clients here often want a custom cab that matches the interior. Neighborhood design review can apply, so we get the drawings in early. See Rancho Santa Fe.

Coronado. The island is almost at sea level and built partly on dredged fill, so the water table is high. A deep pit can become an engineering problem. A shaftless lift with an access ramp, or a model with a shallow pit, avoids digging down. We bring that up on the first visit. See Coronado.

Carlsbad and Encinitas beach rebuilds. Small coastal lots are being rebuilt as two- and three-story homes. A rebuild is the easiest time to add a shaft, because the walls are open. See Carlsbad and Encinitas.

Inland Poway, Escondido and Rancho Bernardo. Two-story tract homes from the 1970s through the 1990s, often with the owners who bought them new. Stacked closets are common, and an elevator frequently goes in without major structural work. See Poway and Escondido.

What a home elevator costs in San Diego

A fully installed home elevator in Southern California typically runs Pricing depends on the model, number of stops and construction — see what a home elevator costs. Where you land in that range depends on the model, how many floors it serves, the cab finishes and how much construction your house needs around it. A two-stop elevator in a closet stack with standard finishes sits toward the lower end. Three or four stops, a hardwood cab and a new shaft with a pit sit toward the upper end.