Outdoor lifts for homes: putting the lift outside the house.

Why put a home lift outside?

• It saves your floor space. The lift sits against the outside of the house, so no room gives up a corner and no hole is cut through a suspended floor.
• Less building work, often. An outdoor lift is craned in and bolted to a slab, which is often less work than opening up floors inside.
• Easy access at every level. The lift lands on a deck or verandah with a door into the house at each level, so a wheelchair user can get between floors without changing a single room.
• It suits hillside and multi-level homes. On a steep block, an outdoor lift can link levels that stairs make hard work.

Built for Australian weather

Our external lifts use a modular aluminium shaft, engineered and certified for cyclonic wind conditions up to C3. That makes them suitable for coastal and high-wind sites. Aluminium also resists corrosion well, so the shaft stays reliable with minimal maintenance.

At the design stage, we talk through the environmental factors for your site, including wind engineering for an external lift and corrosion protection for a coastal install.

The shaft arrives ready for your builder to clad, so the lift can match the house. External lifts are most often clad in weatherboard, fibre cement planks or COLORBOND® steel sheeting. Fibre cement or polystyrene sheet with a rendered and painted finish works well too. Some models come with steel cladding fitted at the factory, and your quote will say so.

Outdoor access for a few steps

If you only need to get past a few steps, a landing or a verandah rather than a whole storey, a platform lift is usually the simpler answer. The Discovery Residential is rated for internal and external installation. It covers up to 2 m of travel, carries 400 kg, and needs a 50 mm pit for flush entry, or a ramp instead. It suits entry stairs, verandahs and split levels. See all our platform lifts, and our wheelchair platform lift costs guide.

What your site needs

Most of the outdoor work sits with your builder. Your customer-specific drawings set out the numbers.

• A slab designed for the lift. Your builder's engineer designs and certifies the slab, using the site's soil test. Some sites need footings or piers. The slab must be at least 50 mm longer and wider than the lift footprint.
• A set-down for a flush entrance. The slab is set down from the surrounding path or ground so the car floor finishes flush at the entrance.
• A drain. Fit a drain to any external lift slab to carry water away. It protects the lift for the long term.
• Flashing and weatherproofing. Where the lift meets your cladding, roof or walls, flashing is builder's work unless your quote says otherwise. It's a common gap on external lifts, so check your quote early.
• The machine cabinet. On our Brisbane-built lifts, the lockable steel cabinet can be mounted inside or outside, with its top no more than 2000 mm above the ground.
• Power. A licensed electrician installs a dedicated supply and a lockable isolator beside the cabinet.
• Mobile signal. The emergency phone runs on a mobile connection, so check the signal at the cabinet position before the slab is poured.

How an outdoor lift goes in

We confirm the install method at the site measure.

• Carried in and stood by hand. Our most economical method, and it suits externally mounted lifts. The lift arrives on a trailer, is walked to the slab and stood upright.
• Craned in. For positions that are hard to reach, a crane lifts the shaft into place, either complete or in segments.
• Dismantled and re-assembled. For tight sites, the shaft is built and tested at our factory, then taken apart for delivery and re-assembled in position.

Once the lift is in, your builder clads the shaft when we give the go-ahead. We then commission the lift and hand it over.

Outdoor lifts we've installed

• Mt Tamborine, Queensland. A Phoenix with a cream corrugated external shaft on a two-storey Queenslander, landing on the upper veranda. The photos run from the concrete pad under the balcony to the finished landings.
• Orient Court, Buderim. A custom Phoenix in a free-standing aluminium shaft on a steep hillside, engineered and certified to Wind Category C2 and craned over the house. It was later showcased on Grand Designs Australia.
• Macquarie Park, Sydney. A Phoenix with a modular shaft built at our Brisbane factory and craned into place.

What does an outdoor lift cost?

Our outdoor-capable home lifts start from $45,000 for the Gemini and $48,000 for the Phoenix, ex GST, installed. The Orion Residential is priced on request.

Whether the lift goes inside or outside the house is one of the things that moves the price. An external lift needs a shaft built for the weather. Building works, such as the slab, drainage and cladding, are done by your builder and are separate from the lift price. A lift supplied for a qualifying medical need can be GST-free. Our home lift cost guide explains the rest.

The lifts we build in Brisbane are supplied and installed from 10 weeks.

Approvals for an outdoor lift

Approval rules vary by council and state, so ask your certifier or council early. Any relaxation for encroachment onto a property boundary is handled by your builder, architect or you. Our free engineering drawings give your certifier the lift's dimensions, pit, headroom and electrical needs. Every home lift we supply is AS1735 compliant.

Why Aussie Lifts

We've been making lifts since 1995 and have installed more than 7,000. We build the Phoenix, Gemini and Orion in Brisbane. The Swift range is Swedish-engineered, Aussie Lifts installed, from 8 weeks. The people who quote your lift are the people who install it and service it. Spare parts are held in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and South Australia.

Talk to us about an outdoor lift

We install across QLD, NSW, the ACT and the NT. Free on-site assessments are available in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and Sydney/NSW. You can ride a lift at our Sydney showroom in Banksmeadow, see one at our Brisbane showroom and factory in Acacia Ridge, or visit our Melbourne partner showroom at Southern Lifts in Braeside. See where we install.

Book a free consultation or call 1800 287 543.