Country Home specializes in making homes accessible

Eighty percent of Craig and Kimberly Jones' customers are senior citizens. "They may have a broken hip or have mobility problems," Craig Jones said. "Some of the other customers are people ages 40-60 who are planning ahead."

Jones and his wife Kimberly are the owners of Country Home Elevators & Stair Lifts, located at 1566 E. 565th Road in Brighton.

"Our key service is assisting people in figuring out how to make their home accessible," Jones said. "People want to find a way to be able to stay in their home longer or they may have a parent who's coming to live with them."

Home products

Country Home Elevators & Stair Lifts offers three different products that can be installed in the home: a stair lift, a vertical lift and an elevator.

The stair lift is used to move a person from the first floor to either the second floor of the home or to the basement. The elevator is also used to move someone from one floor to another. The vertical lift serves to move someone from a garage into the interior of the home or onto a deck or other elevated area.

To install a stair lift, vertical lift or elevator in an existing home, Jones first finds the right location for the equipment. If it's an elevator being installed, a hole is cut into the floor to allow it access.

Country Home Elevators & Stair Lifts also places lifts and elevators in new homes. Jones said the company is installing their equipment in more new homes than in remodeled ones right now. "I think that's because interest rates are so low right now and because the number of people moving closer to retirement age is expanding," he said.

The stairway lift requires about four hours for installation. The lift can be placed in homes with straight or curved stairways. The cost of a stair lift, including installation, ranges between $2,900 and $10,000. The less expensive lifts are installed on straight stairways, the more expensive on stairways with one or more curves.

A vertical platform lift can cost anywhere from $4,000 to $18,000. Jones said the vertical platform lift costs more than a stairway lift because it's a larger piece of equipment.

Installing an elevator takes four to eight weeks, Jones said, because the joint efforts of everyone involved have to be coordinated. "We're working with carpenters, electricians and drywall people, among others, who all have different schedules," he said. The price of an elevator, installed, starts at $12,500 and can cost as much as $20,000.

Jones installs the equipment and also has four or five installers working for him. He contracts with electricians, carpenters and other skilled workers he met though his membership with the Home Builders Association.

Jones said that Medicare and Medicaid do not cover the cost of the equipment, but that customers finance it through home equity or construction loans.

Jones hasn't always been in the retail business. He started out by designing the lifts and elevators the couple now sell, while working for Access Industries in Grandview, the company that makes the equipment. He eventually decided to get into the retail sales end of the business, and the Joneses, who are originally from Springfield, moved to Brighton to run a retail branch of the manufacturer from their home office.

Today, Kimberly Jones oversees the office and Craig Jones' job is to visit customers' homes to determine their equipment needs. The couple's customers come from all over southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas and northern Arkansas. Jones said his ability to determine which equipment customers need comes from his 15 years of experience in design and application of the products.

"Sometimes this decision is based solely on how much weight is being lifted onto the ramp or on the customers' preference," Jones said.

He said business is going well. They opened the company in February and business has been steady since then.

"I'm already booked to visit people at their home through the first of the year," Jones said. "I think that's because people are deciding what they are going to do with their life savings, (that) the number of people doing remodeling has increased substantially over the past six months due to lower interest rates and people are having their parents move in with them, who will need a lift or elevator."