Wheelchair ramp guides

Planning. Rise drives everything. Measure from finished grade to the door threshold and multiply by 12 to get minimum run length. If that run exceeds what your yard can hold in a straight line, you're looking at a switchback, which means a 60-by-60-inch landing at the turn and a doubled footprint. Do this arithmetic before you talk to anybody — it changes which conversations are worth having.

Material selection. Aluminum ($130–$225 per foot installed) for speed, removability and low maintenance. Wood ($100–$250) for lowest build cost, highest upkeep. Concrete ($200–$250) for permanence, with zero tolerance for a slope error. Composite ($150–$200) as a middle path. Weigh the $50–$300 annual maintenance figure into any wood decision.

Hiring. Ask for a drawing with rise, run, slope ratio, landing dimensions, handrail placement and edge protection detail. Ask whether they have built ramps to ADA §405 geometry before. Ask who pulls the permit if one is needed, and get the answer to the permit question from your building department independently. Three bids on one drawing — labor alone ranges $50–$100 per hour or $50–$120 per linear foot, so the spread on identical scope is instructive.

Winter care. Ice is the failure mode that turns a good ramp into a hospital visit, and older adult falls are common — CDC reports more than one in four older adults falling each year and around 3 million fall-related emergency department visits annually. Specify non-slip surfacing at $5–$20 per foot at build time, keep a clearing plan, and budget the $50–$300 a year for maintenance rather than deferring it.

How to choose

Do the rise-times-twelve math yourself

It's one multiplication and it tells you whether the contractor's proposed layout is physically honest.

Include the user in the design

The person using the ramp knows things about approach angles and door swing that no drawing captures.

Consider an occupational therapist assessment

For complex needs or a changing condition, an OT's input on width, landing space and future equipment is worth far more than it costs.

Get three bids on one drawing

Labor ranges $50–$100 per hour or $50–$120 per linear foot. Identical scope makes that spread visible.

Design for winter on day one

Non-slip surfacing at $5–$20 per foot is far cheaper installed than retrofitted after the first ice event.