Start with the house itself. Burnaby's older homes near Burnaby Heights and Vancouver Heights tend to be full two- or three-storey builds with usable footprints, while the split-levels around Deer Lake and Buckingham Heights sometimes need creative planning for where a shaft can go. Condos and townhomes in Metrotown or Brentwood come with their own rules, so involve your strata early. A good installer will walk the home, look at framing and floor structure, and tell you honestly whether a compact cable or hydraulic unit fits, or whether a pneumatic (vacuum) elevator makes more sense in a tight space.
Prioritize three things. First, real experience with seniors and accessibility, not just new-construction luxury installs. Ask how they handle grab rails, low-effort controls, and turning space for a walker or wheelchair. Second, licensing and insurance that meet BC standards, plus proper permits and code compliance, since elevators are regulated equipment and inspections matter here. Third, the maintenance plan and warranty. Coastal humidity and our wet winters are hard on mechanical parts, so ask about service response times and whether a technician is based nearby rather than driving in from far away.
Our recommendation: for most Burnaby families, a professionally installed hydraulic or cable elevator with a strong local service contract is the safest long-term choice. It costs more up front than a bare-bones package, and the trade-off is real. But when a parent depends on it every day, quick service and dependable parts matter more than the lowest price. If space or budget is very tight, a pneumatic unit is a reasonable smaller-footprint option, just confirm it can carry a mobility device comfortably. Get at least two quotes, ask each installer to explain drive type, floors served, and footprint in plain language, and make sure everything, including the maintenance plan and warranty terms, is written down before you sign.