How do you choose the best home lift company?
Pick the one that measures your house before it gives you a price, writes down what's in and out of that price, and will still be around to service your lift in ten years. Ask every lift company in Melbourne the same 15 questions, and only shortlist the ones that answer all of them straight.
Every company says it's the one to trust, and you shouldn't take anyone's word for it, ours included. Whether it's sold as a home lift, a house lift, a residential lift or a home elevator, the test is the same. Here it is in full, with what a good answer sounds like, and then our own answers to every question.
By Liam, founder of Rise Lifts, who has installed 142+ home lifts around Melbourne for other brands. Updated 1 November 2026. Victoria.
What 15 questions should you ask a lift company?
Ask every company the same fifteen, including us. Under each one is what a good answer sounds like. A company that answers all fifteen straight goes on your shortlist, and the rest go in the bin.
- 1
Have you measured my home, or is this a phone price?
A good answer: "Measured, and here's your drawing." A firm quote before a visit is a red flag.
- 2
What exactly is in the price, and what isn't?
A good answer: A written list of what they do, and a separate list for your builder, electrician and surveyor.
- 3
Who services it after the first year, and what does that cost?
A good answer: The installing company, with the yearly price and what a visit includes, in writing now.
- 4
When it stops at 7 pm on a Sunday, who comes, and how fast?
A good answer: A response time in writing. A "24-hour line" can mean an answering service and a technician the next day.
- 5
Which part of AS 1735 is it designed to?
A good answer: AS/NZS 1735.18 for a home lift, or AS 1735.14 or 15 for a platform lift. The design is also registered with the regulator, which means an engineer verified it. That isn't an inspection of your install.
- 6
If your company closes or sells, what happens to my warranty, parts and servicing?
A good answer: Straight answers on whether other technicians can service it, whether the parts are generic, and who holds the drawings.
- 7
What happens in a power cut?
A good answer: The cabin lowers on battery to a floor and the door releases. The light, alarm and phone run on the battery, and they can tell you how long it holds.
- 8
How deep a pit and how much headroom, on your drawing?
A good answer: Numbers from their drawing for your home, and what changes if your floor can't give them.
- 9
What voids the warranty?
A good answer: The written terms: missed services, "operator error", who decides, and what a disputed call-out costs.
- 10
Where are the spare parts, and how long do they take?
A good answer: A place and a number of days. One owner waited 12 months for parts that never came.
- 11
How long will you be in my house, and what protects my floors?
A good answer: Days on site, dust barriers, daily clean-up, and their list of what the builder must finish first.
- 12
How do the payments work, and what protects my deposit?
A good answer: Stages tied to milestones, the last payment when the lift works, and what the contract says about delay.
- 13
Can I see one working, and phone someone you've installed for?
A good answer: A lift you can see working, in person or on video, and an owner you can phone.
- 14
What if I don't like it, or it doesn't do what you said?
A good answer: A written remedy with a time limit: what it covers, what it doesn't, and how long you have.
- 15
What will it cost me over ten years?
A good answer: A number for the lift, the building work and ten years of servicing. If they can't give you one, work it out on our cost page.
For question 15, the cost page has the ten-year sum, and the quote checklist puts three quotes on the same 20 lines.
What are the red flags with a home lift company?
Walk away from any residential lift or home elevator company if you hear one of these.
- A firm price before anyone has measured your home
- "Today only" pricing, or pressure to sign at the kitchen table
- Nobody can say what servicing costs after the first year
- "Lifetime" anything, with no written terms behind it
- A big deposit before there are drawings
- "GST-free" promised, but not written on the quote
- Vague answers about what your builder has to do
Lift companies go broke too
Two Australian home lift companies went into liquidation in the last quarter of 2025. The loudest complaints we read were about companies that didn't come when a lift stopped, and parts that never arrived. A lift lasts decades, so pick a company that will still be around to look after it.
Watch whether they ask about the people who'll use the lift, or only about the stairs. The good ones ask about the people first.
What is the best type of home lift?
Every type has good installs and unhappy owners. In the owner reviews we read, what separated them was the installer: whether the drawings were right, the lift matched the contract, someone came when it stopped and the parts arrived. So check the company first, then compare the drives.
Every comparison we found was written by someone selling one of them. This one puts all five kinds of house lift on the same lines, from the published specs of 12 home lifts sold in Australia, checked October 2026. "Not published" means we found no figure, so ask for one.
Hydraulic
- Housed
- In a builder's shaft or a tower; the pump sits in a cupboard nearby
- Pit
- About 100 to 180 mm; some 50 mm with a ramp, some up to 300 mm
- Headroom
- About 2,225 to 2,600 mm above the top floor, by product
- Power cut
- Lowers on battery to a floor; the door releases
- What wears
- Ropes, seals, hoses, oil, the lowering battery
- Suits
- 2 to 6 levels, to about 12 m; 300 to 500 kg; wheelchairs with a carer
Traction
- Housed
- A builder's shaft; the machine sits in the shaft, a control cabinet beside it
- Pit
- 100 to 200 mm
- Headroom
- Check the drawing
- Power cut
- A rescue device lowers it; standard or optional, so ask
- What wears
- Ropes, brakes, the rescue battery
- Suits
- Up to 6 levels on the product checked; 400 to 630 kg; new builds
Screw and nut
- Housed
- Comes with its own shaft structure
- Pit
- 37 to 50 mm, or none with a ramp
- Headroom
- Not published
- Power cut
- Lowers on battery
- What wears
- One maker warrants the screw and nut for 10 years
- Suits
- 2 to 6 levels; 250 to 500 kg; shallow floors, retrofits
Vacuum
- Housed
- A free-standing tube, 0.75 to 0.93 m across, through a floor hole
- Pit
- None
- Headroom
- Not published
- Power cut
- Comes down without power
- What wears
- A main seal about every five years
- Suits
- 2 to 5 stops; 160 to 205 kg, the smallest here
Cable, shaftless
- Housed
- Rails on their own, no shaft; a floor opening with a safety lid
- Pit
- None
- Headroom
- Not published
- Power cut
- Lowers on battery
- What wears
- Cables about every five years, per one maker
- Suits
- Two levels; two people; fitted in 1 to 3 days
Ours
The RISE 300 is an oil hydraulic home lift. A pump in a cupboard nearby lifts the cabin on a ram and ropes, so there's no counterweight in the shaft and no machinery above the ceiling. The pump runs on the way up only, and in a blackout the cabin lowers on battery to the lowest landing.
How do you protect your money in Victoria?
The building work around a lift is domestic building work. In Victoria, work over $10,000 needs a written major domestic building contract with a builder registered with the Building and Plumbing Commission, and contracts from 1 July 2026 need Home Warranty insurance when the work is over $20,000.
That insurance sits on the builder's contract. It doesn't cover a lift you buy direct, so ask what protects that deposit, and keep deposits small until drawings exist. Tie every payment to something you can see: drawings, a measured shaft, a lift on site, a lift that works.
Buying direct from the lift company
You hold the lift contract. A late lift is your delay on the building job, and the lift sits outside the builder's insurance and defects period.
Buying through your builder
As a provisional sum, the lift sits inside the builder's program, insurance and defects period, with the builder's margin on it. Find the clause in your contract.
Get these before the final payment
- The lift's commissioning record
- A Certificate of Electrical Safety
- The building permit, and the certificate of final inspection or occupancy permit
- The manual, service schedule, warranty terms, the emergency number on the wall, the door release key and the log book
- The drawings as built
How does Rise Lifts answer the 15 questions?
We handed you the test, so we'll sit it in front of you. Rise Lifts is a Melbourne home lift company run by an installer. Our founder has installed 142+ home lifts for other brands, and the RISE 300 is our first.
- 1
Measured, or a phone price?
Measured. The free assessment is one visit by an installer, not a salesperson, and you get your drawing and a written lift plan to keep.
- 2
What's in the price?
A fixed price for everything we do, and a list of what your builder and electrician do. The first 12 months of servicing are included. The price itself is on the RISE 300 Series page.
- 3
Servicing after year one?
We do it, at least every 12 months under RiseCare, and the first year is included. After that, the price is in writing at your assessment.
- 4
At 7 pm on a Sunday?
The cabin phone gets you help straight away, and most entrapments are sorted on the phone. Otherwise a local technician comes out.
- 5
Which standard?
The design is verified to AS/NZS 1735.18:2002.
- 6
If you close?
Any experienced, qualified lift technician can service it. Before you sign, we put in writing which parts are generic and who holds the drawings.
- 7
In a power cut?
The cabin lowers on battery to the lowest landing and you step out.
- 8
Pit and headroom?
The pit is 150 mm, or 50 mm with a 400 mm ramp into the cabin. Headroom is set on your drawings. It takes 400 kg, or 5 people, over 2 to 5 levels.
- 9
What voids the warranty?
3 years on parts and labour while the lift is serviced every 12 months, and 10 years on the structure while we service it under RiseCare. The full terms are in your contract, and we go through them before you sign. The Australian Consumer Law applies too.
- 10
Spare parts?
We hold spare parts locally.
- 11
How long in my house?
About a week on site for most RISE 300 installs, though your shaft and access can change that. It's usually 10 to 12 weeks from assessment to first ride (October 2026).
- 12
Payments and my deposit?
A deposit starts the drawings, then the payments are staged through production, delivery, install and handover, the last when the lift works. The deposit size and what protects it go in writing before you sign.
- 13
See one, phone an owner?
The RISE 300 is our first lift, and we don't have a showroom. At your assessment we'll tell you in writing how many are in.
- 14
Don't like it?
Under our Love It Guarantee you have 90 days from handover: we take the lift out and refund what you paid us. Building work, other trades and making good aren't included. Full terms are on the Love It Guarantee page.
- 15
Ten-year cost?
We answer every line of the quote comparison in writing before you sign, and give you our ten-year figures.
Our price is on the RISE 300 Series page, and the guarantee's full terms are on the Love It Guarantee page.
Free 24-page Straight-Up Guide
Will it fit? What will it cost? Who can you trust?
Everyone asks me these three things about home lifts. This guide has my answers, and worksheets to work them out for your own house. Use it on any lift company, including us.
- Where a lift fits, and the eight numbers that decide it
- The all-in cost worksheet, and ten years of owning one
- 15 questions to ask any lift company, including us
- Who can help pay, and when a lift isn't the answer
It's yours.
Print it, grab a tape measure and work through it at the kitchen table. We've emailed you the link too.
Download the Straight-Up GuidePDF, 24 pages, 4 MB. Ready to talk? Book my free assessment
Want a figure first? Get my instant price
Noted. The next emails will fit your situation.
Choosing a lift company: questions
What is the best home lift company in Melbourne?
The one that measures your house before it prices, puts what's in and out of the price in writing, gives you the servicing price after year one and a call-out response time, holds parts locally, and will still be around in ten years. Ask every lift company the same 15 questions and shortlist the ones that answer all of them straight.
What is the best type of home lift?
There isn't one for every house. Hydraulic lifts suit 2 to 6 levels and wheelchairs, screw lifts suit shallow floors, vacuum lifts are the smallest, and shaftless lifts suit two levels and two people. In the owner reviews we read, what separated good installs from unhappy owners was the installer, so check the company before you compare drives.
Is a hydraulic home lift a good choice?
It suits 2 to 6 levels and wheelchairs. The pump sits in a cupboard near the shaft and runs on the way up only, there's no counterweight, and in a power cut the cabin lowers on battery to a floor. Ropes, seals, hoses, oil and the lowering battery are the parts that wear. The RISE 300 is a hydraulic home lift.
What should I ask a home lift company before I sign?
Whether they've measured your home, what's in and out of the price, who services it after year one and for how much, who comes when it stops and how fast, which standard the design meets, what happens if they close, what voids the warranty, where the parts are, how the payments work, and what it will cost over ten years.
What are the red flags with a lift company?
A firm price before anyone has measured your home, today-only pricing or pressure to sign, nobody able to say what servicing costs after the first year, lifetime promises with no written terms, a big deposit before there are drawings, GST-free promised but not written down, and vague answers about your builder's part.
What happens if my home lift company goes out of business?
Two Australian home lift companies went into liquidation in the last quarter of 2025. Before you sign, ask whether another technician can service the lift, whether the parts are generic, whether you'll hold the drawings and manuals, and whether the maker's warranty is separate from the installer's.
How do I protect my deposit on a home lift in Victoria?
Keep it small until drawings exist, and tie every payment to something you can see. Home Warranty insurance sits on your builder's contract for domestic building work over $20,000 (contracts from 1 July 2026), and it doesn't cover a lift you buy direct, so ask the lift company what protects your deposit.
Does Rise Lifts answer the 15 questions?
Yes, all of them, on this page and in writing before you sign. Book a free assessment and hold us to it.
More straight answers
- The Straight-Up Guide Every answer in one place, the readiness scorecard and the glossary.
- How much does a home lift cost in Melbourne? Every line of the job, the ten-year cost, GST and funding.
- How is a home lift installed? Every step, who does it, how long it usually takes, and the sign-offs.
- Platform lift or home lift? The difference, the standards, the cost, and which one you need.
- How much space does a home lift need? Shaft sizes, the smallest lifts, pit, headroom and the eight measurements.
- What does a home lift quote leave out? The missing lines, what each costs, and the checklist for every quote.
- What does a home lift cost to run each year? Servicing, call-outs, parts that wear, and ten years of running costs.
- Is there funding for a home lift in Victoria? Support at Home, DVA, the NDIS and SWEP: what each covers and how to start.
- Do you need a permit for a home lift in Victoria? The building permit, planning permit, certificates and contracts.
- Can you put a lift in an existing house? Where it goes, what to check, and the eight measurements.
- Home lift, stairlift or moving? Six options side by side, and when a lift is the wrong answer.
- The RISE 300 Series Our lift, our price, and what's in it.
General information for Victorian homeowners. It isn't a quote, or engineering, legal, tax or financial advice. Every lift has to be measured for its own site.