UK Homelifts price research / September 2026
Two UK trades directories publish a labour cost for the same job — fitting a through-floor home lift — that differs by a factor of thirteen. MyBuilder says £4,000 to £7,000. MyJobQuote says £300 to £1,500. Both were live on 3 September 2026, and neither shows its working.
The short answer. For most UK homes, installation adds £1,500 to £6,000 to the lift itself, and it is usually already inside the “from” price a manufacturer quotes. A simple retrofit through a timber floor is one to three days. A concrete floor, a structural beam in the way, or a shaft build takes one to six weeks and can add £5,000 to £15,000. The variable is your floor, not your lift.
What the headline price actually includes, brand by brand
Before comparing installation quotes, you need to know whether installation is already in the number you are comparing. It usually is — but not always, and almost no one says so plainly. This is what each brand publishes, in its own words.
| Brand | Published price | What that figure covers, as stated | Building works included? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stannah | From £15,000 | “Through-floor home lift prices start from £15,000 (including building works)” | Yes, explicitly |
| Companion | £14,000 to £19,000 excluding VAT | “the average total costs range from £14,000 to £19,000 (excluding VAT)” — total cost including building work | Yes, explicitly |
| Stiltz | From £17,000 excluding VAT | Lift, delivery, installation and a 12-month warranty | Installation yes; structural building work not stated |
| Lifton | From £18,000 plus VAT | Includes standard site preparation and standard installation | “Standard” only — undefined |
| Cibes | From £19,000 exclusive of VAT (Cibes Air) | Described only as a “basic lift model offering” | Not stated |
| Aritco | £22,000, smallest model, two floors | “standard fitting” — scope not defined | Not stated |
| Terry Lifts | No price published | — | — |
| Wessex | No price published | — | — |
| SWIFT | No price we could verify | — | — |
Read from each brand’s own live pages, captured 20 August 2026 and re-checked 3 September 2026. Full dataset in the price tracker.
Of the six UK brands that publish a home lift price, two say clearly whether building works are inside it. (Only four of those six state their VAT basis usably, which is the separate count our price tracker reports.) That is the single most useful thing this page can tell you, because the gap between “installed” and “installed including building works” is routinely £1,500 to £6,000 — enough to reverse which of two quotes is actually cheaper. Ask every supplier the same question in writing: does this figure include cutting the aperture, making good the ceiling and floor, and the electrical connection?
The £300 lift installation and the £7,000 lift installation
Two of the UK’s largest trades directories publish installation costs for a through-floor home lift. They do not agree, and the gap is not marginal.
| Publisher | What it says installation costs | Scope as published | Date on the page |
|---|---|---|---|
| MyBuilder — source | £4,000 – £7,000 lift installation, plus £1,000 – £3,000 structural modifications | Labour only, and building work priced separately | 25 Nov 2025 |
| MyJobQuote — source | £300 – £1,500 in total, over 2–5 days at £150–£300 a day | Labour only | 2 Jul 2026 |
| Checkatrade — source | No separate installation figure; prices given as installed totals only | Installed | Header 11 Jul 2023; table May 2024 |
All three checked live on 3 September 2026.
MyJobQuote’s own numbers do not reconcile with each other either: two to five days at £150 to £300 a day gives £300 to £1,500, which is right only if a single tradesperson fits a through-floor lift alone. Lift installation is a two-person job on a manufacturer-trained team, and the aperture work is a separate trade again. MyBuilder’s £4,000 to £7,000 is much closer to what suppliers actually build into their prices — but it is a year old, and it is presented without a single source.
Neither figure is wrong so much as unaccountable. That is the pattern across this whole category, and it is why we publish the source and date beside every number we use.
Installation cost by scenario
These are our own working bands, built from the published figures above, from the scope statements suppliers attach to their prices, and from what our nine brand pages say about site preparation. They are estimates, and we label them as estimates.
| Installation type | Typical added cost | Time on site | What it involves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple retrofit — through-floor or vacuum lift, timber floor, clear run between joists | £1,500 – £3,000 | 1–3 days | Cut the aperture, trim the joists, fit the lift, connect a 13A supply, make good |
| Moderate retrofit — concrete floor, or joists needing structural trimming | £3,000 – £6,000 | 1–2 weeks | Structural calculations, cutting and supporting concrete, new steelwork, plastering and flooring reinstated |
| Complex installation — shaft construction, a pit, or three or more stops | £5,000 – £15,000 | 3–6 weeks | Shaft build or self-supporting structure, pit excavation, possible three-phase supply, multiple trades |
| New build — designed in before the floors go down | £2,000 – £5,000 | Absorbed into the build programme | The aperture and supply are part of the original design, so nothing is cut or made good twice |
UK Homelifts estimates, reconciled 3 September 2026. Not published prices — see the table above for those.
What actually moves the number
The floor you are cutting through
This is the single biggest variable and it has nothing to do with which lift you buy. Timber joists at standard centres with a clear run is the cheap case. Concrete needs structural calculations, diamond cutting, and support while the slab is opened, and it can double the installation element on its own. A steel beam or a load-bearing wall where the lift wants to go can move the lift to a different room, which changes everything downstream.
What sits directly above and below
A through-floor lift needs a landing area upstairs that is clear, square and structurally sound, and headroom above the top of the car. Fitted wardrobes, a stairwell, a bathroom with its own drainage, or a beam at ceiling level all mean either relocating the lift or building around it.
The electrical supply
Most domestic through-floor lifts run from a standard 13A fused spur, which is why installation stays cheap on them. Larger platform, hydraulic and traction lifts can need a dedicated circuit or, at the top of the range, three-phase power — a separate job with a separate lead time and its own network connection cost if the supply is not already there.
Pit, upstand or neither
Through-floor lifts generally need neither, which is their whole commercial case. Shaft and platform lifts often need a shallow pit or a low upstand ramp. A pit in a concrete ground floor with a high water table is the most expensive small hole in this industry.
Making good
Ask specifically whether the quote includes reinstating flooring, skirting, plaster and decoration on both levels. This is the most common thing to sit outside a “standard installation”, and it is the difference between a finished room and a functional lift in a building site.
Access and scaffolding
The lift comes in through a door. Terraced houses with no side access, tight stairwells and narrow landings occasionally need a window removed or an external lift to get components in. It is rare, but it is the sort of thing that appears late in a survey, so raise it early.
How long installation takes
Most compact through-floor installations are complete in one to three days, and several manufacturers build their marketing on exactly that. MyJobQuote publishes two to five days for a through-floor lift, which is consistent. Where the times stretch is everything around the lift: structural work, waiting on calculations or a building control sign-off, and lead time on the lift itself. Companion, which supplied its figures to us directly, quotes an eight to ten week lead time from order to installation — the fitting is the short part.
If the work is grant-funded through a Disabled Facilities Grant, add the council’s assessment, approval and contractor scheduling to the front of that. Six months from application to a working lift is not unusual and is worth planning for.
Do you need building regulations approval?
In most cases yes, and it is usually the installer’s job to handle it. A through-floor lift creates a new opening in a floor, which engages structural requirements, and where it forms part of a means of escape or affects fire compartmentation there are further requirements. Planning permission is a different question and is rarely needed for an internal lift. We cover both in detail on home lift building regulations and planning permission for a home lift, and the whole sequence in the installation process guide.
How we built this page. The published figures were read from each publisher’s live page and recorded exactly as written, with the scope they state, a verbatim quote, the date shown on the page and the source URL. Where a publisher does not state whether building works are included, we say “not stated” rather than assuming. The scenario table is clearly labelled as our own estimate and is not mixed in with the published figures.
Where the figures come from. The full dataset is 95 published prices from 34 UK publishers, held in our home lift price tracker and refreshed monthly with a change log. Brand figures reconcile to our nine brand pages, which are the source of truth for every price on this site.
Independence. UK Homelifts does not manufacture, sell or install lifts, and does not score brands. We are paid when a reader asks us to pass their details to suppliers, and that has no bearing on which figures appear here.
The rest of the price cluster
Home lift prices in the UK 2026 — the full guide, brand by brand and type by type
Home lift cost by number of floors — what a second and third stop actually add
Cheapest home lift in the UK — every published price under £15,000
The price tracker — all 95 published prices, with sources
Home lift installation cost: your questions answered
How much does it cost to install a home lift in the UK?
For most homes, installation adds £1,500 to £6,000 on top of the lift, and it is usually already inside the “from” price a manufacturer publishes. Published UK figures for the labour element alone range from £300 to £1,500 (MyJobQuote, July 2026) to £4,000 to £7,000 plus £1,000 to £3,000 of structural modifications (MyBuilder, November 2025). Complex installations involving a shaft, a pit or three or more stops can add £5,000 to £15,000.
Is installation included in the price of a home lift?
Usually, but only two of the six UK brands that publish a price state clearly that building works are included: Stannah says its £15,000 starting price includes building works, and Companion says its £14,000 to £19,000 range is a total cost including building work. Stiltz states the lift, delivery, installation and a 12-month warranty. Lifton says “standard site prep and standard installation” without defining standard. Cibes and Aritco do not state the scope at all.
Why do installation quotes vary so much?
Almost entirely because of the floor. A timber floor with a clear run between joists is a one to three day job needing only a 13A spur. A concrete floor needs structural calculations, diamond cutting and temporary support, which can double the installation element on the same lift. Beyond that, headroom, what sits directly above and below the lift, whether a pit or dedicated circuit is required, and whether making good is included all move the figure.
How long does home lift installation take?
A compact through-floor lift is typically installed in one to three days, and MyJobQuote publishes two to five days. Concrete floors or structural work push that to one to two weeks, and a shaft build with a pit runs to three to six weeks. Lead time before installation is longer than installation itself — Companion quotes eight to ten weeks from order. Grant-funded work adds council assessment and approval on top.
Do I need building regulations approval to install a home lift?
In most cases yes, because cutting a new opening in a floor engages structural requirements, and there may be further requirements where the lift affects means of escape or fire compartmentation. The installer normally handles the application. Planning permission is a separate question and is rarely needed for a lift inside the house.
Published figures captured 20 August 2026 and re-checked 3 September 2026 against the publishers’ live pages. Compiled by the UK Homelifts research team from the sources linked above. We publish our workings: see the full dataset.
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