My mother-in-law just got some esitmates for this. She looked at both the up-the-stairs kind and the straight-up kind. She decided to go with the straignt up kind, which will go where there’s already a dumb-waiter going from the kitchen up to the second floor. The estimate came in at around $60K (includes all the permits and 5 year maintence plan).
Ouch. $60K is above tolerance. I have seen that you can really add in lots of options, and we’ll stay basic. We can use the kind that either DO or DON’T require an equipment room, as we have a good deal of space on the first floor.