Residential Elevators Bay Area / San Francisco

 Residential Elevators Bay Area

What makes Residential Elevators Bay Area / San Francisco different than others? You have to know San Francisco, Oakland, Marin, Alameda, Berkeley and all the other areas to understand the challenges each area has. San Francisco, however, is pretty special. From the newly completed Bay Bridge and Mission District to the San Francisco Zoo and Golden Gate Park, there is nowhere else quite like San Francisco. Walking up and down Jackson Street or Vallejo Street, you know that there is no where for homes to go but up. While that offers homeowners wonderful views of the Bay, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate, it usually takes 5 flights of stairs to get to your roof. That’s where ACME Home Elevator comes in. With over 30 years in business, we are a San Francisco elevator company that understands the importance of  residential elevator design. There are a lot of variables that you need to take into account that only come with experience. Even then we are asked new questions every day! It’s amazing. 

What makes ACME unique?

residential elevators bay area

 

There aren’t many residential elevators companies and no one offers you the combination of in-depth experience, product knowledge, and dedicated customer service that ACME does. We have been in business since 1987 and are family owned and operated. Our long term staff commits themselves to delivering precision and quality in every project we take on. In fact, we have installed more than 4,000 lifts throughout California and Nevada. We can make an elevator work in just about any hoistway. Yes, we’ve put small home elevators the size of a phone booth in homes here, too. It’s basically the size of a personal elevator but sometimes that’s all the space we have to work with. We chose our products for their quality, value and durability. Our products are made by some of the top industry manufactures like Stannah Stairlifts, Custom Elevator Inc and others. If you’re here, you’re looking to learn all about Residential Elevators Bay Area CA.

Introduction To Home Elevators

Residential Elevators Bay Area

 

A Home Elevator can be the right option for your home. It really depends on the type of home you are building and what you want from your new home. In each city here in the Bay Area, you start to see some common qualities of the elevators in each city. San Francisco has a lot of 4 stop  (four levels) elevators. Alameda is mostly two stops. Oakland and Berkeley as well. Marin, surprisingly, has a lot of elevators in houses too. A Home Elevator is just that: an elevator that can move people from one floor to another inside a residence. They usually take anywhere from two to eight persons inside the cab up to 6 levels. We’ll go over this in detail but most are winding drum or hydraulic home elevators and can have a variety of finishes and designs. Before we get too far into this though, a little history. 

History of Home Elevators

Commercial Elevators were invented and installed in the late 1700s. The first “real” ones as we know them now, really didn’t come about until 50 years later. The first in-home elevators in the Bay Area were in San Francisco about 100 years ago. Otis actually installed a large amount of hydraulic and counter-weighted home lifts in the city. A majority in Pacific Heights and you still stumble on them from time to time. Most aren’t running anymore but you’d be surprised as we occasionally run across one that’s working just fine. After that, a lot of home elevators were cable driven with a large winding drum. The industry transitioned away from those into hydraulic over the last 30 years. 

Residential Elevator Code

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers writes and publishes the Safety Code for Elevators (ASME A17.1). This code contains the residential elevator code. Our founder, Terry Pope, was a long standing member of the committee until his retirement last year. This code tells manufacturers how to make a safe product and us how to install it safely. We sit on the code committee because we want to be able to insure that code is written with your safety in mind. We’re also able to get ahead of any changes are be prepared when those changes are written. 

Our Elevator Manufacturer

We provide and install elevators manufactured by Custom Elevator Manufacturing Company. The founders have over 150 years of combined experience in the manufacturing of many types of elevators. They have a great deal of experience in hydraulic and home elevators and a fully staffed engineering department, able to make any elevator fit into any home. They make their products 40 miles north of Philadelphia, PA. All of their work takes place in a modern 68,000 sq. ft. facility in Plumsteadville, PA. For these and many other reason, this is why we choose Custom Elevator Inc for all our Residential Elevators Bay Area.

ACME’s Quality Installation

A great product is one made by a great manufacturer and installed by a great residential elevator company. At ACME, our technicians train through a rigorous process that combines classroom and on-the-job training. Technicians are typically with us for years before their allowed to work on a residential elevator. That’s because we want to make sure that they are installing the elevator the right way, every time. After each installation here of a Residential Elevator Bay Area , one of our senior techs performs a Quality Assurance inspection. This is so important as residential elevators are not inspected by the State Elevator division. Only Los Angeles and Tiburon inspect home elevators. It’s crazy but true. Who you pick to install your elevator matters. If car dealerships got their vehicles in a box and assembled them, wouldn’t you take your time to pick the dealerships with the best technicians and the highest attention to quality? Yes, you would. 

After researching alternatives, we chose Acme Home Elevator to install a elevator in our San Francisco flats.

The entire Acme team ( sales, operations, customer service, service agreement personnel and the service team)  far exceeded all of our expectations in all aspects of the process.

Wes Rockhold and his entire team were a “pleasure” to work with!!!!!!

Atillio C.

Residential Elevators Bay Area Quick Facts

Operation. Our Elevators come in two types of operation: hydraulic and cable drive. Both have their advantages. We find that most people choose the hydraulic operation as it is quieter and more comfortable. 

Travel and Speed Options. Our Home Elevators can travel up to 50 feet and can go as fast as 100 feet-per-minute. 

Multiple Door Options. We can provide an accordion, tambour, or side sliding gate. You can read more about those here.

Cab Options abound. Looking for African Mahoganey? What about Zebra wood? Glass and Stainless Steel Residential Elevators? Yes, we can and have done them. Head over to our Home Elevator image gallery to see some for inspiration. 

Custom Cab Sizes. We can fit a cab into a spaces small enough to accommodate one person. 

Remodels and New Builds. No problems with either. We’ve done so many that we try to make it as easy as possible for you and your General Contractor. 

Battery Back Up. Our battery backup ensures that you can get out of your elevator in a loss of power. If the elevator is traveling and the power goes out, the battery backup will lower you down to the first floor where you can get out of the elevator.

24 hours a day, 7 days a week emergency phone support and service. One of our technicians is always on call so if you need anything you can always get a hold of an expert.