Wheelchair Ramps · Service

The rise decides everything — measure it before you call anyone

One vertical measurement, from the ground to the top of the threshold, sets the length of the ramp, the footprint it needs in your yard, the material that makes sense and whether a ramp is even the right answer at this door. It takes two minutes with a tape measure and it changes every conversation you are about to have.

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In short

What is wheelchair ramp installation?

Wheelchair ramp installation means building a sloped, guarded route from ground level up to an entrance so someone using a wheelchair, a scooter, a walker or a rollator can get in and out without stairs. The whole job is driven by one number: the rise, the vertical distance from the ground to the top of the threshold. Gentler slopes are safer and easier to self-propel, and a gentler slope means a longer ramp — so as the rise grows, the space the ramp needs grows faster than most people expect, once level landings are added at the top, at the bottom and at every turn.

Triggers

Signs you need wheelchair ramp installation

Someone is coming home from hospital or rehab and there are steps between the car and the front door
A wheelchair or scooter has arrived in the house and there is currently no way to get it out of the house
A family member is being lifted or bumped up the steps by hand, which is unsafe for both people
The front steps have become the reason someone declines invitations, appointments or a walk outside
A walker or rollator gets carried up the steps separately, so the person climbs unaided at the exact moment they are least steady
Emergency responders would have no straightforward way to bring a stretcher or chair out of the house
A condition is progressing and the household would rather build once, ahead of the need, than improvise later

Seeing something not on this list? Browse wheelchair ramps problems by symptom →

The job

How wheelchair ramp installation actually works

Measure the rise at every possible entrance, not just the front door

Rest a straight board on the top of the threshold, run it out level, and measure straight down to solid ground. Do this at the front door, the back door, the garage and any side door. The numbers are often very different, and the door with the smallest rise is frequently not the one anyone had in mind.

Watch for: Measuring to grass or to a soft flowerbed rather than to the finished ground the ramp will actually sit on. A few inches of error at the bottom changes the length and the landing.
Decide which entrance the ramp should serve

The right entrance is the one that combines the lowest rise, the most room to run the ramp, a door wide enough to pass through, a place to put a level landing outside it, and a route indoors that does not immediately hit a narrow hallway or a step down into a sunken room.

Watch for: A ramp designed to the front door for appearance reasons when the garage or a side door has half the rise and a driveway already at the right height. Ask the contractor to price both.
A site visit that looks at the ground, not just the steps

The slope of the yard, where water runs, where the downspout discharges, where the gas meter and the utility connections sit, where the septic field is, and how far the run can extend before it reaches a fence, a driveway or a property line. All of this constrains the design before any product is chosen.

Watch for: A quote produced from photographs. Photos flatten grade, and grade is the thing that decides whether a straight run works or you need a turn.
Design to the slope your jurisdiction requires — and get that in writing

Maximum slope, landing sizes, ramp width, handrails and edge protection are governed by published accessibility standards and by your local building code. Residential requirements often differ from those for public and commercial buildings, and both vary by jurisdiction. Your contractor should tell you plainly which standard they are designing to.

Watch for: A verbal "it will be to code". Ask for the standard named on the quote. If nobody will name it, that is your answer about how the job will be built.
Establish whether a permit and an inspection apply

Some jurisdictions require a permit for a ramp, some exempt residential accessibility work, and some treat a ramp attached to the house differently from a freestanding one. Whoever builds it should know, and should be the one who files. A permitted, inspected ramp also protects you when you sell.

Watch for: A contractor who offers to skip the permit to save time. That decision transfers all the risk to you and to the person who will use the ramp every day.
Choose the material and the delivery model

Site-built timber, prefabricated aluminium, a bolt-together modular system that can be rented, or poured concrete. This is genuinely four different decisions about permanence, speed, upkeep and what happens when the need changes — not four prices for the same object.

Watch for: Being sold the material the contractor happens to stock. A company that only builds in one material will always find that one material is right for you.
Foundation, frame and surface

Depending on material this is footings dug below the frost line, screw piles, adjustable ground pads or a prepared gravel base. The frame goes on next, then the walking surface, then handrails and edge protection. The surface has to stay usable when it is wet, iced or covered in leaves.

Watch for: Support posts sitting directly on the soil or on a paving slab laid on grass. That is how a ramp develops a sag and a lip at the landing within a couple of winters.
Handover — with the person who will actually use it

Before the crew leaves, the person using the ramp should go up and down it in their own chair, in their own shoes, with their own hands on the rails. A carer should push it too if that is how it will be used. Wet it down if you can.

Watch for: A handover done with an empty chair or with an able-bodied installer walking up it. A slope that a walking installer calls gentle can be unmanageable to self-propel.

Money

What does wheelchair ramp installation cost?

Ramps are priced by the rise you need to climb and the material you build in, because the rise sets the length and the length sets nearly everything else. A single step and a high porch on a tight lot are not the same project. The Cost Guide carries ranges by material and configuration.

See the full wheelchair ramp installation cost guide — by material, size and region →

Straight answer

When wheelchair ramp installation is the wrong call

Everyone else ranking for this is paid when you say yes. Here's when you shouldn't.

The rise is only an inch or two. A single low step or a raised door sill is a threshold-ramp problem, and that costs a tiny fraction of a built ramp. Measure before you assume you need a run of ramp at all.
Regrading the walk would do it. Where the ground falls away from the house, sometimes raising and resloping the path, or replacing three shallow steps with a gently graded walk, removes the rise entirely. A landscaper may solve this more cheaply than a ramp builder.
The need is expected to be short. Six or eight weeks of recovery after surgery is a rental problem, not a construction problem. A modular system goes in quickly, comes out again, and nobody is left with a permanent structure they no longer want.
Nobody can push it or propel it. If the person cannot self-propel up any compliant slope and there is no one able to push them up, a ramp does not restore independence — it just relocates the difficulty outdoors. A vertical platform lift or a change of living arrangement is the honest conversation.
The yard physically cannot hold the run. On a high porch with a short setback, a compliant ramp with its landings can consume the entire front garden and still not fit. Better to find that out at the measuring stage than after a deposit.
The house is going on the market. If a move is genuinely planned within the year, a rented modular system or a portable solution keeps the money with you rather than in a structure the next buyer may remove.

Your options

Types of wheelchair ramp installation

Aluminium ramp installation

No rot, fast install, comes back out again

Modular ramp installation

Bolt-together systems you can rent or buy

Wooden ramp construction

Site-built timber, lowest upfront outlay

Concrete ramp construction

Permanent, and permanent both ways

Compare ramp options side by side

Material and configuration comparisons

Accessibility standards explained

What the published standards govern

Compare wheelchair ramps options side by side →

Before you sign

What to check when hiring for wheelchair ramp installation

What rise did you measure, and where did you measure it from?

It is the governing number for the whole job. If the contractor cannot tell you the figure they designed to, they have not designed anything yet.
Which accessibility standard and which local code are you building to?

Requirements differ between residential and public buildings and vary by jurisdiction. You want the standard named on the quote so that the finished ramp can be checked against something.
Does this need a permit here, and will you pull it?

An unpermitted structure attached to the house can surface as a problem at sale or at an insurance claim. The contractor should know the local answer without having to look it up.
Show me the entrance you would use and why — including the ones you rejected.

Hearing why the side door was ruled out tells you whether the whole property was considered or only the door you pointed at.
What is under the posts, and how deep do they go?

Footings and ground bearing are where corners get cut, because they are invisible the day the job finishes and obvious the second winter.
What is the surface like wet, and what happens in ice?

Traction is the single most consequential day-to-day property of a ramp and the one least discussed at the quoting stage.
If we no longer need it, what does removal involve and what does it cost?

The answer differs enormously by material, and knowing it now is part of choosing the material. Concrete is demolition; a modular system may be bought back.

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Local pros

Wheelchair Ramp Installation near you

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Related work

Often done at the same time

Modular Ramp Installation

Fast, reconfigurable, rentable

Threshold Ramp Installation

When the rise is only a step

Multi-Landing Ramp Systems

High porch, small lot

Ramp Repair

If you already have one

All wheelchair ramps services →

FAQ

Wheelchair Ramp Installation — questions people ask

Still have a question? Talk to our team →

How long does a wheelchair ramp need to be?

It depends entirely on the rise and on the maximum slope your jurisdiction requires, which is why measuring the rise is step one. The useful thing to understand is the shape of the relationship rather than a formula: a gentler ramp is a longer ramp, and doubling the rise more than doubles the total footprint once you add the level landings needed at the top, at the bottom and at every change of direction. That is why a high porch so often ends up as a switchback rather than a straight run, and why some rises simply do not fit on some lots.

Which door should the ramp go to?

Whichever one gives the lowest rise with usable space around it — and that is frequently not the front door. Garage entrances often have a floor slab only slightly above the driveway, and side or back doors often sit lower than the formal entrance. It also matters what happens once you are inside: a door that opens straight into a narrow hallway or onto a step down into a family room can undo the benefit. Ask your contractor to measure and price at least two entrances before you settle.

Do I need a permit to build a wheelchair ramp?

It varies by jurisdiction, and it is one of the things you should not take from a website — including this one. Some places require a permit for any structure attached to the house, some have specific exemptions for residential accessibility work, and freestanding ramps are sometimes treated differently from attached ones. Your building department can answer it in a phone call, and a contractor who works in your area should already know. See the permits section for how to approach that conversation.

Can I build the ramp myself?

A threshold ramp at a single low sill is a genuine homeowner job. A load-bearing ramp that someone's weight and safety depend on is not, and the reason is specific: the failure modes are a slope that is too steep to control on the way down, a surface that is slick when wet, a handrail that comes away in someone's hand, and a footing that settles and creates a lip. Every one of those injures the person least able to absorb a fall. If cost is the obstacle, look at volunteer and nonprofit ramp-building programmes before you look at building it alone.

Will a ramp hurt my home's resale value?

It depends far more on the material than on the existence of a ramp. Aluminium and modular systems are removable and often retain resale or buy-back value, so they leave the fewest traces. A well-built timber ramp reads as a deck-like structure and is removable with effort. Poured concrete is the one to think hardest about, because removing it later is demolition with a machine and a skip. If resale is a live concern within a few years, that consideration should push you toward a removable system rather than away from a ramp.

How quickly can a ramp be installed?

This is the real practical difference between the options. A prefabricated modular or aluminium system can often be assembled in a day once it is on site, because the components are stock parts that bolt together. A site-built timber ramp takes longer and depends on weather. Concrete takes longest, because the base has to be prepared and the slab has to cure before anyone uses it. If someone is being discharged from hospital next week, that timeline difference usually decides the material on its own.