Before Your Hoist Arrives: The Site Checklist That Prevents Install Delays

The hoist is ordered. The delivery date is locked in. And then the install stops halfway through a Tuesday morning because the slab is the wrong spec, the power isn’t where the column needs it, or the truck can’t get close enough to unload 400 kg of steel.

None of that is a hoist problem. It’s a site readiness problem, and every one of these is avoidable with a walk around the bay a few weeks before delivery. Here’s the checklist we’d run through with you.

1. The slab is the whole foundation — literally

A two-post hoist transfers the entire weight of a vehicle into a handful of anchor bolts in your floor. The concrete has to be able to take that.

Four things to establish before anything is ordered:

• Thickness and strength. Every hoist model specifies a minimum concrete thickness and compressive strength for its anchors. These figures are model-specific — do not assume the requirement for one hoist carries across to another, and don’t rely on a rule of thumb you heard on a job. The number that matters is the one in your model’s installation manual.
• Age and cure. New concrete needs to be fully cured before anchors go in. If you’re pouring a slab for this hoist, build the cure time into your schedule rather than discovering it the week of delivery.
• Condition. Cracks, spalling, previous patching, or a thin topping screed over an older slab all affect anchor holding. So does what’s underneath — a slab over fill behaves differently to one on solid ground.
• Where the anchors land. Anchors need minimum distance from slab edges, expansion joints, saw cuts and existing penetrations. A column position that works on paper can fail because it puts a bolt 80 mm from a control joint. Check for in-slab services too — hydronic heating, conduit and drainage all live in workshop floors.

If you’re not certain what’s under your floor, a core sample is cheap compared to relocating a hoist after the fact.

Where to find your numbers: the installation manual for each model is published on its product page under Resources. The MaxJax M7K page, for example, links its full installation manual. Download yours and read the site requirements section before you commit to a position on the floor.

2. Slope: measure it, don’t eyeball it

Most workshop floors have some fall in them, usually deliberate, for drainage. A floor that looks flat can still be out enough to matter once a hoist’s arms reach out to the sides.

The critical direction is side to side, across the hoist, because that’s the direction the arms extend. Get a long straightedge and a level across the proposed column positions before delivery day, not on it.

Modest fall is correctable with shims during installation. Significant pitch is not — and there’s a limit past which shimming becomes the wrong answer and the floor needs attention first. We’ve covered exactly where that line sits, and why level contact pads matter more than perfectly plumb columns, in our guide to levelling a two-post hoist.

3. Height — including the thing you forgot to measure

Measure to the lowest obstruction, not to the roof sheeting. Trusses, purlins, beams, lighting, ducting, sprinkler heads and the garage door track when it’s open are all part of your real ceiling height.

Then add the vehicle. A hoist that fits your shed doesn’t automatically give you full rise on a 4WD.

If you’re working out whether your building suits a full-size clearfloor two-post, we’ve put the measurements that actually matter — and the options if you come up short — in how much ceiling height you need for a 2-post hoist.

4. Power: the one that most often causes the delay

Two questions, and workshops routinely get caught on both.

What supply does the model need? It varies across the range. Portable and mid-rise units typically run on single phase — the QuickJack 6000TL, for instance, runs on 208–240 V AC single phase, 5 A minimum. Larger workshop hoists and heavy-vehicle equipment may require three phase. Confirm the requirement for your specific model, and confirm what you actually have available in the building — not what you think you have.

Where does it terminate? A supply that exists on the other side of the workshop is not a supply at the hoist. The power unit sits at a particular column, and the cable needs to reach it without crossing a walkway or a drive-through path.

Electrical connection must be carried out by a licensed electrician. Book them for the day after the mechanical install, not the same morning — installers and sparkies working around each other in one bay slows both down.

5. Access and unloading

Hoist components are heavy and awkward. Individual columns on a portable MaxJax M7K weigh 136 kg each, and the standard model ships at 444 kg all up. Full-size workshop hoists are considerably heavier again.

Before delivery, confirm:

• The delivery vehicle can physically get to the roller door — check overhead clearance, gate widths, and turning space.
• You have the means to unload and move components into position: forklift, engine crane, pallet jack, or enough people.
• The path from the door to the install position is clear, and doorways are wide enough.
• The bay itself is empty. Cars, benches, drums and stored stock all need to be somewhere else that morning.

6. Commissioning, records and the first inspection

The job isn’t finished when the hoist goes up and down. Before it carries its first customer vehicle:

• Commissioning check. Anchor torque, safety lock engagement on both columns, arm restraints, hydraulic operation and emergency lowering all verified and signed off.
• Operator familiarisation. Everyone who will use it needs to know the lifting points, the load rating and the lock positions — not just whoever happened to be standing there on install day.
• Documentation. Keep the manual, the commissioning record and the anchor torque figures together and accessible. You will want them at inspection time.
• Inspection schedule. Vehicle hoists are subject to periodic inspection, and safe use and inspection of vehicle hoists is addressed under AS/NZS 2550.9. Obligations and enforcement sit with your state WHS regulator, so check the current requirements that apply to you and diarise the first inspection at install, while you’re thinking about it.

The short version

Slab, slope, height, power, access, commissioning. Six things, and every one of them can be confirmed weeks ahead of the truck arriving.

The workshops whose installs run to schedule aren’t lucky — they had the conversation early. If you’re planning a new bay or replacing an existing hoist, get in touch before you order. We ship, plan and install Australia-wide, and a ten-minute conversation about your floor and your power is the cheapest part of the whole project.