![clock icon](https://www.1stchoicestairlifts.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/clock-regular.png"){kind=small}
Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutesAre you having difficulty climbing stairs?
If you’re currently facing the problem of not being able to get up and downstairs, you may be wondering what your options are. In this blog post, we’ve listed a few stair lift alternatives, with estimations of what they may cost.
Stair lift Alternatives
1). Do Nothing
Cost: £0 – Could deteriorate your health and quality of life
Trust us, in our experience, many people put off having a stair lift installed because they believe that they are managing. Struggling up and down stairs on a daily basis, or being confined to one area of your own home could result in aggravated health conditions. Many people often claim that they want to continue using their stairs because they help them stay active and are a form of exercise. However, exercise should never risk personal safety, especially in older age. Stairs are a high risk place for an accident; read more on Avoiding Falls on the Stairs.
We have also experienced people who have declined having a stair lift installed because they have friends or family members to care for them or assist them in and around their own home.
2). Altering your Home Layout
Estimated cost: £10,000 – Could devalue your home
A rather expensive stair lift alternative, is the option of moving all of your living space downstairs. Potentially changing your living space or a dining room into another bedroom is possible. However, if your bathroom facilities are upstairs, you will still want to be able to access this basic necessity. You could alter the ground floor of your home to accommodate a downstairs bathroom, this however, effectively turns your house into a bungalow. Altering your home by installing new plumbing and drainage to create a downstairs bathroom and bedroom could be expensive. At a later date, when the house needs to be sold, the resale value could be affected.
3). Moving House
Estimated cost: £10,210 + additional funds – Emotional stress and upheaval
Moving to a new home is one of the most stressful times in our lives, ranking alongside getting married. Finding single storey dwellings are often a challenge. Finding a house you would like, let alone the house of your dreams may also not suit your budget. After purchasing a new home, there’s the cost of moving, stamp duty, solicitors fees, surveys, estate agents fees, and removal people. When deciding to sell, there’s stress involved in packing and perhaps getting rid of treasured possessions if you’re downsizing. Moving house is quite a big hassle and not a pleasant experience or great alternative if you’re having difficulty stair climbing.
4). Going into a Care Home
Estimated cost: £955+ per week – Loss of independence
Of course, moving into a care home seems like a great stair lift alternative, however it does involve a lot of upheaval. Finding the right Care Home can be very stressful, it also appears on the “stressful events in your life” list. There’s also the emotional stress of finding a care home when the country is running short on beds. If you’re able to live independently at home, or with the assistance of carers, in the place you love, staying at home may be the best option for you.
Research has also proven that by having independent living adaptations done to your home, like having a stair lift or platform lift installed, can delay going into a care home by 4-7 years! If we take the average cost of going into a care home at the national average of £955 per week and times that by 4 years – you could save an eye watering £200,000!
5). Buy a Home lift
Estimated Cost: £15,000+
Some people may consider a home lift as a stair lift alternative. A home lift is a small personal elevator designed for use in homes or other residential buildings. It functions similarly to a traditional elevator through vertical transportation. A Home lift is typically smaller in size and specifically tailored for residential use. Homeowners install home lifts to improve accessibility, convenience, and mobility within their homes, especially if they have multiple floors.
A home lift is a small personal elevator. Generally, they are more aesthetically pleasing, however, they are more expensive than a stairlift. You would be looking at spending at least £13,000 and you’d have to have building works to cut a hole in your ceiling for the home lift to travel through. This would be a few days of building works in your home and then one to two days for the home lift installation.
If you needed to sell the property at a later date, a home lift to the right buyer might add immense value to your home. However, to the wrong buyer it may devalue your home as the home lift would have to be removed, ceiling patched over, floor and joists reinforced and new carpets to be laid.
At 1st Choice Stairlifts, we install home lifts and can help with this option if it were a consideration.
If you are a wheelchair user and cannot transfer onto a stair lift, then we also offer a through the floor lift which would be suitable with a larger lift platform size than a home lift. Have a look at our full range of home lifts here.
6). Install a Stair lift
Estimated cost: from £1,000
It may not be a shock that we would recommend getting a stair lift installed if you’re experiencing difficulty stair climbing. If none of the listed stair lift alternatives resonated with you.. then maybe a stair lift is the best option for you. Other than doing nothing, which is free but may impact your quality of life, having a stair lift installed is a cheaper option than any of the above.
Stair lifts are a battery powered device that helps people with mobility needs and challenges move up and down stairs. Stair lifts offer a safe and convenient way for individuals with difficulty climbing stairs to access different levels of their homes. There are straight stair lifts for straight staircases and curved stair lifts for staircases with curves or landings. Stair lifts can start from £1000, with options for new, reconditioned, and rental available, making a stair lift one of the cheapest and safest options for you.
You can also read our blog post on how much a stairlift or home lift costs for more information.
How can 1st Choice Stairlifts Help you?
At 1st Choice Stairlifts, we are an independent stair lift company dedicated to finding the perfect stairlift solution for our customers. We are truly independent and not biased to any manufacturer to enable us to provide our customers with a choice of products to suit their individual needs and their stairs. All our staff are manufacturer trained and our engineers are certified to carry out all engineering work on the range of products we offer. We are an endorsed Which? Trusted Trader and a member of the British Healthcare Trades Association and uphold their Code of Practice. We provide a range of product options including stair lifts, platform lifts, wheelchair lifts, and home lifts to suit both you and your home.
Come and visit our showroom, at our headquarters in Calne, Wiltshire, we have a showroom that houses several of the lifts in our range. Visiting a showroom is a fantastic way to gain a better understanding of not only how stair lifts work, but also how they’re going to suit your loved one’s home and needs. Objections to having a lift can often be overcome on a showroom visit. Here at 1st Choice Stairlifts, we never pressure our customers into a purchase, that’s just not how we do business. There is absolutely no obligation to buy a lift, so even if your loved one is not quite ready for a stair lift, they can still gain a clearer understanding of how it all works. We have a range of straight and curved stair lifts available to try, as well as platform lifts and through the floor home lifts.
Within a few short, hassle-free hours we can have you safely traveling up and down the stairs. For an accurate price, book a free, no obligation home assessment visit. We will assess you, your stairs and your home to advise on the best options to suit your needs. Call us today on freephone 0800 019 22 10.
Contact Us
Still unsure if a lift is right for you? Book a showroom demonstration visit by contacting us on 0800 019 22 10, and come visit our showroom at:
