← Home elevator bid calculator
Owners call with a crate in the garage: “I already bought a Stiltz / Savaria. Can you just install it for $4,995?” That sounds like free margin because the unit invoice left the bid. It did not leave the trip, the through-floor cuts, the set hours, or the chance that the opening does not match the tube they bought.
Open the free home elevator bid calculatorA contractor-supplied pneumatic tube still carries the unit invoice. An owner-supplied unit that actually fits zeros that line and keeps the same set hours. On a typical two-stop through-floor cheap special — $52 wage, 32% burden, 15% overhead, 20% target margin, ten miles — the contractor-supplied bid is about $28,108. Zeroing a $14,500 vacuum unit drops it to about $7,264, and the owner-supplied walk-away is about $5,811. Taking the Facebook special to “just set what they bought” at $4,995 still loses about $816. A $6,995 number keeps about $1,184 when the opening matches. A wrong opening still loses about $2,231.
| You supply | They supply, it fits | They supply, wrong opening | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit invoice in the bid | Yes | No | No |
| Set hours | Same | Same | Same, plus an inspect trip |
| Walk-away on the cheap special | About $22,486 | About $5,811 | About $9,226 |
| At $4,995 install-only | Loses about $17,491 | Loses about $816 | Loses about $4,231 |
| At $6,995 install-only | Loses about $15,491 | Keeps about $1,184 | Loses about $2,231 |
Online listings skip the template. Openings come in short, floor-frames are missing, and the feeder or inspection they expect you to eat is not in the crate. Setting the wrong unit means a second dispatch plus adapter plates. Price that callback on the same house before you agree. The calculator adds a starting inspect trip and an opening-kit line on top of the rates you already typed.
Open the home elevator bid calculator, enter the house you are standing in, and put their install-only number in “price you’re considering.” The who-supplies table scores that number against you-supply, owner-supplies-it-fits, and owner-supplies-wrong-opening. Nothing is uploaded.
This is the same arithmetic as how much to charge to install a home elevator. Hospital discharge this week? See should I expedite a home elevator for hospital discharge. It is not an elevator specification, a structural design, a building-code determination, or a reason to refuse a customer — it is the walk-away number on each supply path.
Only after you price the set without the unit invoice. Setting their Stiltz or Savaria is still a trip, a through-floor cut, and crew hours. A $4,995 install-only special often sits under that walk-away number even when the unit is free to you.
Usually not. Zeroing a $14,500 pneumatic invoice drops the bid, but loaded labor, hoistway cuts, travel, and overhead stay. On a typical two-stop through-floor tube the owner-supplied walk-away is about $5,811. A $6,995 number covers that set if the opening actually matches. A wrong opening adds a second trip and an adapter kit and walks away about $9,226.
That is a second dispatch plus adapter plates or a floor-frame kit. Price that callback on the same house before you agree to set whatever they rolled into the garage. The calculator adds a starting inspect trip and opening hardware on top of your current rates.