Unfortunately, for me, the lift is a necessity rather than a luxury. It is in fact the reason for the whole project. I have a rare muscular dystrophy which is steadily making me less mobile. Eventually I will be confined to a wheelchair, and won't be able to use the stairlift we currently have. So, the lift will give a degree of future proofing for when that happens. It will give me access to all areas of the house, and a route outside, even in a wheelchair.
I did a lot of research into the lift and discovered that here are many types of lift available; the cheapest being a "through the floor lift" c. £10k This wouldn't work for us because of the height it would have to travel and the fact we wanted 4 different stops.
The next cheapest is a platform lift c £12-20k. The type you see in Halfords. These are a bit industrial looking.
Cabin lifts (like you see in hotels) are more expensive still, and the quotes ranged from £24k - £40k. They also need more headroom because of the mechanism at the top of the lift shaft. This was a problem due to the roof profile we had planned, which gave only 250mm clearance above the lift shaft.
So, in the end we went for an up-rated platform lift, which has a wrap around cabin. It looks and feels similar to a cabin lift, but quite a bit cheaper.
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