Frequently Asked Questions

Some form of maintenance is essential every year. The type of lift, its application and how many trips it does determine how many times a year a lift should be serviced. Lift maintenance companies can guide lift owners through the process.

Click the following link to learn more about lift maintenance costs.

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Reliable, safe and long lasting lifts are expensive, usually $10-15K more than the cheaper models.

If you are considering purchasing a lift for your home and would like some independent advice, please don't hesitate to contact us. Our team are extremely well informed regarding the various lifts available in the Melbourne market today and are happy to help.

What should I pay for a lift?

My advice is... do not buy based on price. Cheap lifts are generally poor quality, likely to be highly unreliable and will usually prove to be far more costly over time.

Recently, four significant lift companies supplying “cheap lifts” have gone broke and ceased trading. This has left customers unsupported, with lost deposits and half finished lifts! Get to know your prospective lift company!

Feel free to contact Melbourne Elevators for unbiased, independent advice.

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A good lift salesperson will guide you through a range of questions to narrow your choice to a few options. Talk to a range of commercial and home lift companies, do not just be guided by web sites, this can have terrible results! Put price to one side and look at your needs and quality.

Read the following article to learn more about what to consider when purchasing a lift.

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A lift is not a Tardis (refer to Doctor Who)!

Many plans with lift shafts have crossed my desk with a shaft so small you couldn’t put a dumbwaiter in but, the designers want a usable passenger lift installed.

Lifts need space for the cabin dimensions, equipment in the shaft, running clearances, doors and the construction of a shaft. It is the overall dimensions you need, not the “lift dimension”

Again, consult a range of lift companies and, if in doubt, contact a lift consultant.

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The best shafts are manufactured from concrete panels, followed by core filled block work, and then steel towers - engineered in Australia.

My advice is to stay away from aluminium towers and one sided steel ladders. These are a poor chice due to engineering/compliance reasons and the potential for annoying noises as the shaft flexes.

As with most discussions as to what is “better” there are a range of opinions. However, there are a number of trends that appear to be making the choices a little clearer. Which will suit you will depend on your specific requirements.

Contact us for more information or, check out our Blog article on this subject.

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This is a simple one: there are lifts designed for a single home with no “common” or shared
space - this is a “home” lift.

All other lifts are viewed as commercial. Don’t try to bend the rules on this definition as it is there for a reason.

As the Australian Lift Code AS1735 is now defunct, EN81.20 is now the reference Code for lifts.

If you want a compliant lift in your property for insurance or Worksafe requirements then simply follow the code and if in doubt contact a lift consultant as many lift sales people don’t understand it or try to skirt around it!

Click below for more information regarding shallow pit and low headroom commercial lifts:

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Yes.

In Melbourne, Work Safe mandates all lifts shall have an annual safety check. This is to protect lift maintenance mechanics as well as the general public.

Lift Safety Checks

In Australia there has only been one incident of a commercial lift suddenly falling and injuring passengers, that I am aware of. This may change with industry deregulation and the installation of “low cost” lifts.

Lift Safety Checks

Historically, commercial lifts were but to last and ran well for forty years plus. Some are still running 65 years after installation!

These days, most modern commercial lifts have a life span of 20-25 years, some even less.

Quality home lifts can last for thirty or more years but many are likely to have maintenance issues after only ten years.

Safety!

Also, you can save on money by not paying annual maintenance but your lift will become more and more unreliable and require increasingly expensive repairs, just like a car.

Read about the pitfalls of low-cost maintenance contracts:

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For a 45-60 minute lift maintenance visit by an experienced lift technician, fully documented with any further repairs noted and quoted, the going rate around Melbourne is approximately $650 per visit.

For home lift maintenance agreements, which should include an annual safety check, around $1,000 per year.

Commercial lift maintenance costs p.a. range from $1600 to $5,500 for low rise lifts.

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Most products from Germany are of high quality and, if installed correctly, will last the longest and be the most reliable. Some products from Spain and the Scandinavian countries are also good quality.

The cheaper lifts out of Europe and other countries are built to a price point so will range from just OK to terrible and a complete waste of your money!

More about the cost of buying a lift

Apart from the Melbourne specific issues of skills shortages due to government infrastructure, a building downturn, and the long-term effects of industry deregulation - many companies have gone broke because they chased pricing to the bottom of the market. Lift companies mainly go broke because they sell too cheaply.

As the process from sale to lift completion may take two or more years, an ambitious or reckless business owner may unwittingly engage in a form of pyramid selling by spending the significant lift deposits and expanding sales to cover their expenses. It can often take five years or more for a startup lift company to go broke using these practices. The final stage in the process can often be triggered by a general slowdown in the building industry.

So far, in the financial year 2024-2025, there have been six lift companies that have ceased trading in Melbourne. If a lift is in the process of being installed it will be expensive to engage another company to complete it, often costing $20K more than the contract price. Also, the lift installation will usually take many months more. Some lifts can’t be installed by other companies as they are unique or have no product support. In the longer term there will be no warranty. My advice is to buy a lift that is supported by the manufacturer, so if the local supplier goes broke, at least you can get it installed and working!

Lifts are a complex integration of machinery and electronics, designed to always “fail safe”, protecting passengers and the general public. Even the best equipment with quality lift maintenance can stop suddenly with a passenger on board. This can be caused by power supply fluctuations, a bit grit of fluff in the wrong spot or equipment failure. If the lift monitoring system suspects an issue with a door it will shut down with doors closed and in a safe position. Contrary to popular opinion, if a lift has stopped it is usually a good thing, as the lift is protecting its passengers. Remember, if you are trapped in a lift, you are actually in a safe place! Just call the maintenance company on the lift phone…

Phones are in lifts as a mandatory, life-saving safety feature, to provide a direct communication link for trapped passengers to call for help during mechanical failures, power outages, or medical emergencies.

These dedicated emergency phones are legally required and must remain functional even during a power outage. A continuous connection, either through a mobile network or backup power supply, to emergency services and lift maintenance providers is essential.

Lift phones and the NBN