Clarke and Madeleine Carson decided to install an elevator when they firmed up plans to build their retirement home in West Kelowna two years ago.
“The elevator was just a logical solution as we get older,” Carson said. “So we could live here longer.”
And they’re not alone; more and more homeowners are installing elevators, especially in the Okanagan, a region with an aging population.
“It’s kind of the baby boomer generation,” Jade Davidson with Hybrid Elevator said. “They are building retirement homes they want to stay in as long as possible. Many of them have put their parents into care facilities and that is not something they want to do and so they are putting in things in their homes like elevators.”
Davidson has been in business for five years and his company is busier than ever before.
“We are just trying to keep up now,” Davidson said. “It’s become very popular, it’s become a trend, we’ve been doubling our sales yearly since we’ve been in business.”
Single-family homes aren’t the only properties where elevators are being installed.
New townhome developments like Cameron Mews in Kelowna are also starting to offer the feature and it’s proving successful.
“It’s been one of the most important options we offer here,” Cameron Mews sales manager Bill Wendt said.
The townhomes at Cameron Mews are three storeys high and could pose mobility issues for potential buyers.
So far, five of what will be 100 townhomes have been equipped with elevators and more are expected to follow suit.
“We have quite a few more to build and occupy and we’re anticipating as high as 20 per cent of the units will have the elevators,” Wendt said.
Home elevators usually start at a cost of about $28,000.