A Home Owner’s Guide to Buying a Home Lift: 8 Key Steps Not to Miss
Buying a home lift is a big decision that takes several steps to get right. That is why Cibes has mapped out all 8 steps, from first preparations to a completed purchase. Whether you are a family with elderly members who want to cut the risk of using the stairs, a home owner adding a lift to an existing house without tearing out the structure, or someone who simply wants to lift the design of their home to a more premium level, this guide will help you understand the whole process before you decide.
The 8 Steps to Buying a Lift, in Brief
- Prepare for your home lift purchase
This is the research stage, where you need to ask yourself the right questions - Book a home lift consultation
Many lift installation providers offer professional advice free of charge. Make the most of it! - Design your home lift
Now it is time to design your home lift. Some lift manufacturers even offer online customisation tools - Request a quotation
Once you have customised your home lift, you can request a quotation to learn the approximate price and delivery time - Measurement and site survey
The lift installation provider visits your home to measure the space - Order your home lift
This is when you approve the home lift specification and place the order to receive the final price and delivery time - Delivery and installation
Your home lift is delivered and installed. The lift installation provider manages the schedule and the entire process for you - Sign a home lift maintenance contract
Maintenance is the best way to make sure your home lift keeps working well and stays safe to use
Step 1: Prepare for Your Home Lift Purchase
A Cibes Air 2 home lift installed in the living room at the heart of the home
To help you define what you need, we have put together a short set of questions that will help you decide which home lift is best for your house:
- How many floors do you want the lift to serve?
- What is the maximum number of people using the lift at one time?
- Does the lift also need to take a wheelchair?
- Where in the house do you want the lift installed?
- How much space do you have for the lift (width x depth)?
- What is the floor-to-ceiling height on the top floor?
- What style and colour do you want your lift to have?
- What is your budget for the lift?
- Is the house a new build or an existing home?
- Do you want the lift installed indoors or outdoors?
Once you have answered these questions, it becomes much easier to start looking for the right provider, such as Cibes, and to ask for further advice at this stage.
Tip: Every Cibes screw-driven home lift is designed to European standards, including the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC and EN 81-41 as well as SIL3 certification, the highest safety level for home lifts. Home owners can be confident that everyone using the lift is safe, including elderly family members and wheelchair users.
Step 2: Book a Home Lift Consultation
Book a home lift consultation to find the lift that fits your needs and your home
You can book a consultation at your home or visit the lift installation provider’s showroom. Both options have their pros and cons. A consultation at home gives the provider the chance to measure the space and gather the other technical details needed to prepare a quotation straight away. A consultation at the showroom gives you the chance to see, try and compare the different home lift models available.
Before the consultation, it helps to prepare some basic information in advance: your floor plan or rough dimensions of the space you want to use, the number of floors, and the design style you want the lift to match, so the specialist can recommend the most suitable model immediately.
Tip: Cibes Lift has trained staff who provide professional consultations to design the best lift for your home, free of charge.
Step 3: Design the Home Lift Exactly the Way You Want It
A great home lift is one that can be designed to match the style of the house
This is the exciting part, where you get to design your home lift your way! You choose the size, the design and the different functions available on each model, along with the colours and materials that suit your interior. You can browse Cibes home lifts here: compact home lifts with no pit excavation, complete with a shaft and Swedish screw-driven technology
Tip: Try the Cibes Lift Configurator — a 3D lift designer where you pick the model and adjust colours, patterns and flooring yourself to design the perfect lift for your home! You can also find plenty of inspiration in the interior design trend articles by Arch Daily
Step 4: Request a Quotation
Contact the team to request a lift quotation
Once you have set the specification for your home lift (model, size, number of floors, preferred colours and materials), you can ask for an approximate price along with the delivery and installation timeline. Nothing is binding at this stage, and you can still change the specification if you want to add or remove features. Take all the time you need with the lift installation provider to make sure you get exactly what you want.
As a rule, your lift quotation is valid for 3 months. If you change the lift specification, the price and delivery time may change as well. If you would like to know more about home lift prices, see our article How much does a home lift cost?
Tip: Check whether other construction work not directly related to the lift installation, such as carpentry or painting, is already included in the price. If it is not, you may need to set aside extra budget for that additional work, or ask your lift provider to revise the quotation. The same goes for the warranty — check that the quotation states the warranty terms clearly.
Step 5: Measurement and Site Survey
Measuring the lift installation space and surveying the site
If the installation provider has not measured the space in an earlier step, now is the time for them to visit your home, take the measurements and take a close look at the installation location. This is the final check to make sure everything is as it should be before you receive the final price and place your order. It is also when the necessary site preparation is planned, such as creating the opening for the lift to pass through the floor, building the lift shaft or excavating the lift pit
Tip: For existing homes, Cibes home lifts can be installed without excavating a deep pit, because they need a shallow pit of only 0-130 mm and come with a ready-made steel or glass shaft. That significantly reduces construction work, since you do not have to build a shaft yourself — unless you already have one prepared.
Step 6: Order Your Home Lift
Decide on the right home lift and place your order
We have now reached step 6 of this guide to buying a home lift without missing the key steps. The lift installation provider will help you review the order, and at the same time we recommend taking a moment to check once more that everything you want and need has been included.
Once you approve the order, the lift installation provider sends it to the lift factory and production begins. Your lift installation provider takes care of everything, so you never have to deal with the factory yourself.
Tip: Once the lift is in production, any change or addition can add cost and extend the delivery time, so please take the time to review your specification once more before approving the order.
Step 7: Delivery and Installation
The Cibes Lift team installing a home lift, which takes 5-7 days (for a 2-storey home lift)
Transport and delivery of your lift are handled by the lift installation provider, so there is nothing for you to worry about. All you need to do is agree on when the lift will be installed in your home. Thanks to its space-saving prefabricated structure, a Cibes screw-driven lift can be fully installed within 5-7 days (for a 2-storey home lift). Once installation is complete, the Cibes technicians test the entire system and demonstrate how to use the lift to everyone in the household, including what to do in an emergency, such as the Emergency Battery Lowering system during a power failure and how to use the emergency button.
Step 8: Sign the Lift Maintenance Contract
Signing the lift maintenance contract
The final step is the one most often overlooked: after-sales service and maintenance. Your lift needs regular inspection and servicing too.
The best way to make sure your lift stays safe to use and keeps working well is to choose a lift brand that offers a maintenance service — ideally a brand with trained, qualified staff for your type of lift and drive system. You can read more about lift maintenance in our article https://configurator.cibeslift.co.id/blog/lift-maintenance-costs/
Tip: Cibes home lifts come with a 5-year warranty on the lift itself and a 15-year warranty on the screw and nut system. Cibes home lifts use a screw drive system (EcoSilent 2.0) designed for low maintenance, and every model includes 5 years of free maintenance (one service per year). After that, Cibes offers an ongoing maintenance contract tailored to how often each household actually uses the lift.
