By: Ryan Plunkett, Concept Designer at Premier Lifts
A home lift is an incredible way to enhance the comfort and style of your property, making movement between floors seamless and luxurious. Not only does installing one give you the freedom to move around your home more independently, improving your quality of life, but it’s also a sure-fire way to give the value of your property a tremendous bump. Intrigued? Well, we’ve put together this guide to bespoke lifts and their indisputable potential, including how they are installed and why so many people are investing in them.
How to decide on a home lift
It takes time, effort and careful consideration to ensure the perfect lift for your residence is installed. Prior to installing the lift, you need to consider a number of factors about your home. The process largely depends on how much space you have available in your property, how many people the lift needs to accommodate, and whether the lift will be used for disabled access.
Smaller lift cabins tend to be less expensive due to there being fewer materials required, and the fact they can be slotted into smaller spaces in your home. However, if you intend for the lift to be used by a wheelchair user, you’ll likely require a larger cabin.
For a more tailored fit, it is possible to have a bespoke lift designed that is specifically adapted for a given space in your home. This often circumvents the need for extensive building work and inconvenience, but going bespoke usually comes with higher associated costs.
Once you decide which type of lift you want to install (bespoke or not), consider the construction work, service costs, and time frames involved. You’ll need an expert designer, construction manager, building materials, and, what most people often forget: time.
How long does it take to install a lift?
Putting a time estimate on how long it takes for a lift to be built and installed is difficult as so many factors are at play. Realistically, the job will probably be completed within weeks if standard, or months if the lift is bespoke. It’s also wise to consider how much it will cost to operate, service and maintain once the lift is completed.
All of this may sound daunting at the beginning, but any work worth doing involves some sacrifice. If a few weeks or months is what it takes to add long-lasting quality to your life, as well as immense value (we’ll talk about this next), you’ll probably find it’s worth it.
What financial value does a home lift add to your property?
Beyond the obvious benefits of increased mobility around the home, a home lift can also be a beneficial addition when it’s time to move out. With an aging population, home lifts have become a coveted property feature in real estate, adding significant value to your home once you decide to sell. While the amount of value a lift adds to a home depends on various factors, Premier Lift Group estimates that you could see the value of your property grow by up to 25%.
But it’s not just the financial value the lift will add to your home, there are other benefits, both intangible and tangible, that make the project a brilliant investment.
Why are more people investing in home lifts?
Luxury design feature
Lifts are valuable for practical and functional reasons, but they also make memorable, eye-catching design features. As lifts aren’t common in residential properties, installing one is an effective means of getting your not-so-humble abode to stand out.
In the past, home lifts were limited to the industrial styles of previous generations. This is no longer the case. Now you can install something sleek and glamorous: a simple solution to inconvenience that blends in with the aesthetic and colour palette of your property. This finish is best achieved with a bespoke lift that adapts to the shapes of your home. Whatever style you decide upon, a home lift is sure to add a stunning aspect to your property, and ensure it lives in the memory of those who visit.
Convenience
Stairs can be impractical when it comes to transporting household items, especially for those with chronic illnesses that make such tasks even more difficult. Whether it’s a heavy suitcase that needs to be brought downstairs for a holiday, or a new piece of bulky furniture going up to the first floor, a lift could be the difference between a few minutes of struggle or a few seconds of simplicity.
It’s not just the larger items that it helps with, it’s the day-to-day ones too. For example, a pile of laundry can be carried upstairs while a vacuum cleaner is sent up in the lift, eliminating the need for multiple trips and saving you precious time.
Retirement
Another explanation for the increased demand for home lifts is the fast-growing retirement market. Once they end their careers, baby boomers tend to look for a home that will see them through the remainder of their lives. With this considered, the idea of future-proofing their property is appealing, and homes with lifts offer just that.
Stairs can be a serious barrier to free movement among the elderly, which explains why so many pensioners opt to live in a bungalow or single-floor accommodation. A House of Commons report found that 61% of older people want to move into a bungalow, but this type of housing is in short supply. Home lifts enable retired residents to live independent and comfortable lives in multi-storey buildings, thus reducing the traditional reliance on bungalows.
The average buyer may not have envisioned a lift as being such a key feature of their home, but the benefits of such an investment reach all corners of everyday life. A home lift brings convenience to daily chores, childcare, decorating and more, while also guaranteeing the home will remain suitable in your golden years. It’s also an attractive prospect for buyers for the same reason, so has the potential to add a welcome boost to property value if you’re looking to sell.
