We install home elevators across Washington
A local, veteran-owned team installing residential elevators in Washington homes — permitted, inspected, and built to the safety code this state actually adopts.
- Free, no-pressure in-home consultation — we walk your home and tell you what will actually fit
- We handle the permitting — application through final inspection
- Transparent pricing — a clear scope of work, no hidden costs
- We service what we install — and every other major brand
A residential elevator we installed in the Inland Northwest.
- Veteran-Owned
- Family-Owned
- Licensed & Insured
- Free Estimates
- Permitting Handled
The experience of a big company, the care of a neighbor
We’re a local, veteran-owned and family-owned elevator company. We install, service, and maintain residential elevators, stairlifts, and hillside trams for homeowners across Washington and North Idaho — and we’ve built the business around a simple idea: declining mobility shouldn’t force anyone out of the home they’ve built their life in.
A home elevator is a construction project, an electrical project, and a permitted, inspected piece of safety equipment all at once. Most homeowners have never managed one, and shouldn’t have to. We manage all three — the equipment, the trades, and the paperwork — and we tell you honestly what your house can and can’t take before you spend anything.
That last part matters more than it sounds. Not every home is a good candidate for every type of elevator, and we would rather talk you into the right lift — or out of one entirely — than sell you a project your house will fight the whole way through.
Four drive systems — and an honest opinion about which fits
Every home is different. During your free consultation we’ll recommend the drive system that actually suits your space, your budget, and the number of floors you need to reach.
Hydraulic
The smoothest ride and the highest capacity. Needs a pit, overhead, and somewhere for a power unit — which can sit remotely in a basement or garage.
Cable & traction
Space-efficient and energy-conscious, with no separate machine room needed in many applications. A good answer for three or more stops.
Winding drum
Compact and reliable, well suited to retrofits and homes where space is genuinely tight.
Pneumatic vacuum
Panoramic, self-supporting, and striking. No pit, no shaft, no machine room — and the fastest installation of the four.
We also install straight, curved, and outdoor stairlifts, hillside trams for sloped and waterfront lots, and platform lifts — and we handle maintenance and repair on all major brands, including equipment somebody else installed.
Elevators we’ve put in Washington homes
Cabs, gates, and finishes are fully customizable — wood, glass, metal, custom panels, and fixtures matched to the rest of the house.
What working with us actually looks like
Free consultation
We come to your home, look at the vertical path, the overhead, the floor below, and your electrical panel — and tell you what’s realistic.
Clear proposal
A firm price with a defined scope of work and engineered schematics. No moving numbers, no surprises later.
We handle everything
Permitting, plan review, equipment ordering, construction coordination, and scheduling. You don’t file anything.
Inspection & handover
The elevator is tested and inspected before it goes into service, and we show you how to operate and live with it.
Plan review, not installation, is usually the long pole. We start permitting as soon as a project is under contract rather than when equipment ships. Once the shaft is ready the elevator itself goes in quickly — days, not months. In a retrofit it’s the construction and the review that set the schedule.
For budget context, see what a home elevator costs in the Spokane area, and if you’re weighing a retrofit, what it takes to put an elevator in an existing house.
Where we install in Washington
We’re based in Spokane and install throughout Eastern Washington and North Idaho — Spokane and Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Cheney and Airway Heights, Deer Park and Mead, and across the Inland Northwest into Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, and the surrounding communities.
Because permitting authority changes at the Spokane city line (more on that below), we file each project with whichever authority actually applies — city or state — rather than sending everything to the same place and hoping.
If your home is in the Puget Sound region, our sister company Seattle Elevator Co. covers the west side of the state, including the City of Seattle’s separate permitting process. Same family of companies, same standards — closer to your driveway.
What Washington requires — and what we handle for you
A home elevator in Washington isn’t treated like a deck or a bathroom remodel. It’s a regulated conveyance under Chapter 70.87 RCW and Chapter 296-96 WAC, built to ASME A17.1/CSA B44-2019, the edition this state has actually adopted. Private residence elevators fall under Section 5.3 of that code, which has its own limits on car size, speed, travel, and door clearances — it is a different rulebook from commercial elevators, not a lighter one.
Practically, that means three things happen before anyone rides it: a permit is pulled before work starts, plans are reviewed and approved, and the finished installation passes an acceptance inspection. Only a licensed elevator contractor can apply for that permit — there is no path where a homeowner files it. We do all of it.
Who issues your permit depends on where you live
This is the piece national articles get wrong. Washington law lets a city that had its own elevator code before June 13, 1963 keep jurisdiction inside its limits. Two cities do: Seattle and the City of Spokane. So if your home is inside Spokane city limits, your elevator permit comes from the City’s Development Services Department under SMC Chapter 17F.060 — not from L&I.
| Where the home is | Who permits & inspects |
|---|---|
| Inside City of Spokane limits | City of Spokane |
| Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Cheney, Airway Heights, Deer Park, Mead, unincorporated Spokane County | Washington State L&I |
| Inside City of Seattle limits | City of Seattle |
| Everywhere else in Washington | Washington State L&I |
There are also two permit tracks, not one. The elevator permit covers the conveyance — equipment, controls, safeties. It does not cover the building work around it: framing the hoistway, cutting floor openings, excavating a pit, running the feeder. Those are ordinary building and electrical permits from your local department. Most projects here involve both, running at once. Coordinating them is part of the job.
Will you owe an annual inspection?
Under state law, for a normal home: no. Washington exempts a private residence elevator operated exclusively for single-family use from the annual inspection and operating certificate that commercial equipment carries. An owner may request one voluntarily, but the state doesn’t require it.
Two caveats worth knowing. The exemption follows use, so a home operating as a licensed care facility is treated differently. And Spokane and Seattle set their own local requirements and may be stricter than the state — if you’re inside either city, confirm locally rather than assuming the exemption carries over. We check this on every project.
Skipping the state inspection is legal. Skipping annual service is how a 25-year elevator becomes a 12-year one. See how long a home elevator actually lasts and what changes the answer.
What permitting costs
The state’s permit fee scales with the total installed cost of the conveyance. For a typical residential elevator, expect roughly $550–$1,300 plus about $50 for plan approval, with the acceptance inspection included in the permit fee. Spokane and Seattle publish their own fee schedules. Either way it’s a small fraction of the project — and it should be carried in your installer’s budget, not billed to you as a surprise.
Who is legally allowed to install a home elevator here
Washington is strict about this, and it’s worth knowing before you compare bids.
- The company must hold a current elevator contractor license from L&I, and be a registered contractor under state law.
- The person doing the work must hold a current elevator mechanic license in a category that specifically covers residential elevators — a license limited to chairlifts and platform lifts is not enough.
- The state cannot issue a permit for private residence conveyance work to anyone who isn’t a licensed elevator contractor.
- Doing conveyance work without the right license is a misdemeanor, with civil penalties that accrue per violation, per day.
There is one narrow homeowner exemption and it’s narrower than people hope: an owner living in the residence may perform maintenance on their own conveyance. That covers upkeep. It doesn’t cover installation, and it doesn’t cover alterations.
Ask any installer for their L&I elevator contractor license number and who is pulling the permit. If a bid is cheaper because permitting “isn’t necessary,” that isn’t a discount — it’s an unpermitted elevator in your house, and it becomes your problem at resale, at insurance renewal, and if anyone is ever hurt.
Requirements this state adds on top of the national code
Beyond adopting ASME A17.1, Washington writes its own extra rules for private residence elevators. These show up on our installations constantly and are almost never mentioned in national buying guides.
The machinery space
Wherever the controller and power unit live, Washington requires the mainline and car-light disconnects adjacent to the controller, motor brake access through a lockable door of at least 6″ × 6″, and a stop switch, light switch, and GFCI receptacle within reach of that access door. A machine room isn’t mandatory for a private residence elevator — but if one is provided, National Electrical Code working clearances apply, which quietly rules out a lot of tight closets people hope to use.
In-car communication — the four-hour rule
Washington requires a permanently installed two-way communication means in the car that reaches personnel 24 hours a day, and it explicitly may not route to an automated answering device. On a power failure it has to transfer to backup power good for at least four hours.
This one catches people: the in-car phone can’t just dial a cell and go to voicemail, and the backup battery has to be sized for the requirement, not just enough to lower the car once. In a region that gets winter windstorms, it’s a rule worth having.
One more, if you already own an elevator
In Washington, replacing a controller counts as a major alteration. That triggers a permit and pulls in additional code requirements for the existing installation — so “just swap the controller” is a bigger job here than a national quote would suggest. Worth knowing before you accept a modernization bid from someone who doesn’t work in this state often.
If your elevator predates 2018, please read this one
Older residential elevator installations can have a space between the swinging hallway door and the elevator car door large enough for a small child to fit into — and then be carried by the moving car. It has caused serious injuries and deaths nationally, and triggered a federal recall of residential elevators from multiple manufacturers.
The code edition Washington adopted in October 2018 tightened this: the space between the doors must now reject a 4-inch diameter ball at all points. Elevators installed before that date were built to the older, looser allowance. L&I has estimated there are roughly 3,300 residential elevators in Washington, with the large majority installed before the change took effect.
Check the gap. If a 4-inch ball — roughly a large orange — fits anywhere between the hall door and the car door or gate, treat the elevator as unsafe for unsupervised children until it’s addressed.
The remedies are usually straightforward: space guards on the back of the swinging hall door, relocating the hall door closer to the threshold, and replacing round knobs with low-profile hardware a child can’t use as a foothold. We assess this on every service call to an older installation, whoever installed it.
If your home has a pre-2018 elevator, we’ll look at it — get in touch.
Planning a home elevator?
What a home elevator costs
2026 ranges by type, what moves the number, and how to budget the whole project.
Can you install one in an existing house?
What a retrofit takes in older housing stock — and when it isn’t the right call.
Hydraulic elevators explained
How they work, what they need from your house, and the trade-offs nobody puts in the brochure.
How long does one last?
Realistic service life, what wears out first, and the reason most elevators get replaced.
Washington home elevator questions
Do you handle the permits?
Yes — that’s the point. We pull the elevator permit, submit plans for review, coordinate the local building and electrical permits for the construction work, and schedule the acceptance inspection. In Washington a homeowner can’t file the elevator permit anyway; only a licensed elevator contractor can.
Do I need a permit to install a home elevator in Washington?
Yes. A permit must be obtained before the work begins, plans must be reviewed and approved, and the elevator must pass an acceptance inspection before it can be placed in service.
Does a home elevator in Washington need an annual inspection?
Under state law, no. A private residence elevator operated exclusively for single-family use is exempt from the annual inspection and operating certificate required of commercial conveyances, unless the owner requests one. Homes used as licensed care facilities are treated differently, and cities with their own elevator codes — Spokane and Seattle — may set stricter local requirements.
Who issues elevator permits in Spokane?
Inside City of Spokane limits, the City’s Development Services Department administers the elevator code and issues the permit, not the state. In Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, unincorporated Spokane County, and most of the rest of Washington, elevator permits come from Washington State L&I. Separate local building and electrical permits are required either way for the construction work.
Can a general contractor install my home elevator?
Not the elevator itself. Washington requires a licensed elevator contractor and a licensed elevator mechanic in the appropriate residential category. A general contractor can absolutely do the surrounding construction — framing, drywall, finishes — but the conveyance work and the permit have to go through a licensed elevator contractor.
How long does a home elevator installation take?
Plan review typically sets the earliest start date and runs weeks rather than days, which is why we begin permitting as soon as a project is signed. Once the shaft is ready, the equipment itself goes in relatively quickly. In a retrofit, the construction and the review dominate the schedule, not the elevator.
What does a home elevator cost in Washington?
Most residential elevators in this area run roughly $30,000 to $60,000 or more installed, depending on the number of floors, the drive system, the finishes, and how much construction your home needs. We give firm pricing after a free in-home visit rather than quoting a range and adjusting later.
Do you service elevators you didn’t install?
Yes. We maintain and repair all major brands, whoever put the equipment in.
Regulatory information on this page is summarized in plain language for homeowners and is current as of August 2026. Codes, rules, and fee schedules change, and local jurisdictions may impose additional requirements. It is not legal advice and is not a substitute for the current text of Chapter 70.87 RCW, Chapter 296-96 WAC, or your local municipal code. Pricing figures are general planning ranges, not a quote. For requirements specific to your project, contact The Spokane Elevator Company or the authority having jurisdiction in your area.
Let’s find out what your home can take
We’ll walk your home, tell you honestly which type of lift fits, handle the permitting from application through final inspection, and give you a real number — not a range.
Mon–Fri, 7am–6pm · help@spokaneelevator.com