Start with the product, not the company
Installers sell products; the product is what will carry your family or your customers. Before you compare quotations, ask each installer for the lift's EN 81-41 certification and its CE (or UKCA) declaration of conformity under the Machinery Directive. Ask which platform sizes are available against Part M and BS 8300:2018, what the pit and headroom requirements are, and whether the structure is self-supporting or needs a builder's shaft — those two answers decide most of the building cost and disruption. Our what is a platform lift guide explains the terms. The OnLevel answer: EN 81-41, CE marked, self-supporting bolted structure, 150mm recess, platforms from 850 × 850mm to 1400 × 1600mm.
The installer checklist
| Ask | Why it matters | A complete answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Which accreditations do you hold? | Independent audit of health & safety, insurance and competence | SafeContractor, CHAS, Constructionline or equivalent, with the certificate number (ours: SafeContractor CN8516) |
| Who will install my lift? | Subcontracted installs split responsibility and dilute knowledge of the product | The installer's own engineers, trained on this product, named on the quotation |
| Who holds the warranty? | Lift, installation and building work can sit with three different parties | One company answerable for the lot; manufacturer warranty confirmed in writing |
| What happens on handover? | A lift carrying people needs commissioning and a thorough examination regime | Commissioning, demonstration, documentation and LOLER handover on the final day |
| What is the lead time and time on site? | Tells you whether the product is stocked, made to order, and how disruptive the install is | Stated in weeks (OnLevel: around 9 weeks) and days on site (3–5) |
| What does the building need from me? | Hidden building work is the usual cause of budget overrun | Pit or recess depth, aperture sizes, power supply and who does each item — in writing |
| Who services the lift afterwards? | A lift needs annual servicing and, in a workplace, six-monthly LOLER examinations | A named service route and response promise, not a third-party referral |
| Can I speak to a recent customer? | Verifies the story behind the reviews | Yes, or a public review that names the town and lift type |
| How long is the warranty, in writing? | "Warranty" without a term or a scope is not a commitment | The term and what it covers — lift, installation and labour — stated in the quotation |
| Which approvals do you handle? | Building Regulations, landlord or listed-building consent can all land back on you | A named list of what the installer applies for and what you must obtain |
| Is the lift rated for outdoor use? | An indoor unit fitted outside corrodes and can void the warranty | The IP rating and written confirmation it is certified for external use (only if the lift is going outside) |
Reading reviews properly
Star ratings are easy to accumulate and easy to inflate. Read the text. A useful review names the type of lift, the kind of building and something about the process — communication, tidiness, whether the dates held, whether the goods-and-passenger question was answered honestly. Look for reviews from businesses as well as homeowners, because commercial customers tend to describe the LOLER and warranty position. Our own Google reviews are shown verbatim on our homepage; they are the standard we would ask you to apply to anyone.
What a proper quotation contains
A single figure on a page is a price, not a quotation. A specified quotation lets you compare like with like and protects you when the work starts. It should state:
- Platform size, rated load, travel, number of stops and door positions
- Pit or recess depth and who forms it; floor apertures and who cuts and trims them
- Power supply required (a single-phase household supply for an OnLevel lift) and any electrical work
- The standard the lift is certified to and the CE / UKCA route
- Lead time, days on site, working hours and how the lift is brought into the building
- Warranty terms for the lift and the installation, and the servicing arrangement afterwards
- What is excluded: decoration, flooring, structural surveys, listed building or landlord consents
If a quotation cannot tell you these things, the installer has not surveyed properly or is leaving room to add them later. Our installation guide describes how the survey feeds the quotation.
Red flags
- "Fully compliant" with no standard named. Ask which one; the answer should be EN 81-41 for a platform lift.
- Price before survey. A lift priced without seeing the building will be re-priced once the building is seen.
- Warranty that excludes the installation. The most common failure point is the interface between lift and building; make sure someone owns it.
- No LOLER mention. An installer who does not raise the thorough-examination regime does not expect to see the lift again.
- Passenger lift used for goods, or vice versa, without a licence to do so. Mixed use needs a lift certified and warranted for it — the OnLevel combination lift is the only UK platform lift licensed for passengers and light goods under a single unit and warranty.
- Pressure to sign for a "this month only" price. Lifts are not sold that way by companies that expect to service them for twenty years.
Specialist installer or general lift company?
General lift companies install and service everything from goods hoists to high-rise passenger lifts; specialist platform lift installers do one product family and usually one or two manufacturers. Neither is automatically better. A generalist may be right if you already have a service contract with them and the building is complex. A specialist is usually right when the product matters — when the pit depth, footprint or shaft-free structure is what makes the installation possible at all — because the engineers install that product every week. We are a specialist: the UK's exclusive installer of the OnLevel range, with our own SafeContractor-accredited engineers (CN8516). Our platform lift vs passenger lift guide helps you decide which product you need first.
How Base OnLevel answers this checklist
EN 81-41 and CE certified product; SafeContractor accredited (CN8516); our own engineers on every installation; one company responsible for lift, installation and warranty, with the manufacturer warranty confirmed in your written quotation; LOLER commissioning handover on the final day; around nine weeks' lead time and 3–5 days on site; annual servicing through the front-access panel; and 5.0-rated Google reviews that name the towns and lift types. Put the same questions to anyone else you are considering. Ask us for a specified quotation or call 01245 968541.
Find a platform lift installer in your area
We install and service OnLevel platform lifts across England, with dedicated local pages for hundreds of towns. Explore the areas we cover — including London, Surrey, Kent, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Essex — or browse the full list of locations across the UK.
Popular towns we cover include Milton Keynes, Coventry, Watford, Bromley, Marylebone, Sutton, Rochdale, Cheshunt, Welwyn Garden City, Sevenoaks, Wellingborough, Beverley and Pontefract.
Request a no-obligation quotation
Every property is different, so the surest way to a firm figure is to tell us about your project — the property, the floors you need to serve and what you want to achieve. Send us those details and our SafeContractor-accredited team will prepare a written, no-obligation quotation. Request your quotation on our contact form, or see the areas we cover across the UK.