Quoted from takochef

Here's an solution that not only meets building and (pin) safety codes but will make the wife happy.

http://www.daytonaelevator.com/Pneumatic%20Vacuum%20Elevator%20Main%20Page.htm

The part I love the most: Please contact us for a price request...

I'd have to have a pretty nasty set of stairs that can't be relocated or rebuilt before I'd waste the space necessary for that contraption.  I can think of so many things wrong with that setup - many mentioned already.

Having said that, an elevator/dumbwaiter setup in a closet or something would make easy work loading pins up and down...

Quoted from necro_nemesis

If you fall into your own hole... I believe it's called natural selection.

Thank you for that, made my day!  

Quoted from Sparky

The part I love the most: Please contact us for a price request...

i called a few months ago.. the price is decent...  When you have no alternatives (ie to make it possible for an old person loosing mobility where climbing 25-50 stairs a day in the house is becoming torture), 30K is not unreasonable.
and the reason why i say "no alternatives".. if you notice in the photos, they specifically show homes with  round staircases.. the reason is round stair cases are impossible to retrofit with motorized chair assists (and those cost 15K), so this pneumatic vacum system isn't  bad.

of course, the cheaper solution would be convincing said old person to move to a romanian or nigerian old folks home but that is proving to be problematic

When looking for my first house I too thought about an elevator system in case my basement layout made it near impossible to bring pins down.  In my mind I decided I would like a pneumatic lift from the floor.  Similar to a car lift at the auto body shop. The base would be level with the basement floor and would rise to the main floor where there would be a manual trap door contraption.  With obvious safeguards to prevent people falling through a giant hole in my floor.    I have no idea what the cost of something like that would be.

In the end I settled on a basement with direct access from the garage and save myself a whole bunch of $$$ and headache.

For this guys lift, as unsafe as it looks and probably is.  Its still a cool contraption.