Commercial Vertical Platform Lifts

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Commercial Vertical Platform Lifts from ACCESS Elevator serving Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, and Surrounding Areas of Milwaukee, and Madison, WI, Roselle, and Chicago, IL

We are a leading ADA contractor dedicated to quality construction and installation of the best accessibility products available. If your business does any kind of transactions whether for services, rental, products or otherwise, you must be ADA compliant. ACCESS Elevator can help you reach compliancy with many different options to suit all budgets and needs.

The option you choose for your building will most likely be chosen on a combination of things – usually space and budget. And above all, you want your location to be welcoming and accommodating to customers and guests. When looking for your commercial platform lift for your existing building, we recommend considering some of the following aspects that will help you decide which is the right option for you.

So many variables go into choosing the right lift for your location. When looking to make an investment of this size, it helps to talk to an experienced seller and installer such as ACCESS Elevator to make sure you are making the right investment for your situation. Contact ACCESS Elevator get started on your free, no-obligation estimate throughout the Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana area.

Savaria V1504 Enclosure
  • Location of vertical platform lift – will the platform lift be vertical or used on an incline?
  • Users – will this only accommodate wheelchair users? Or will you need more options such as scooters and mobility impaired users with walkers or canes?
  • Vertical lift – how many flights of stairs or feet does the platform need to rise?
  • Code adherence – federal and local codes can differ. For example, some ramps or lifts may be ADA compliant, but your local municipality does not allow them.
  • Lift weight – will the lift just be used for passengers or also for moving inventory?
  • Longevity – is a lift being purchased for a just a couple of years until you move or build a new location? Or are you looking for a long-lasting application?
  • Indoor vs Outdoor – options are available for all forms of commercial platform lifts including those that can withstand outdoor elements.

Savaria V1504 Commercial Platform Lift

VERTICAL PLATFORM LIFTS are exactly what they sound like – a platform with a vertical motion up and down. ADA compliant with a variety of different options, vertical platform lifts can be very user friendly and offer the most options in size, features and capabilities. 

No hoist/shaftway is needed so they can be easily installed anywhere without the need for traditional large pit or overhead space as with an elevator.

ENCLOSED – Enclosed vertical platform lift are self-contained. Aesthetically-pleasing with options for different features, finishes and doors, including Plexiglass which might be a benefit for those nervous in enclosed spaces.

UNENCLOSED – Unenclosed vertical platform lifts are affordable and space saving. Usually found in the application of short distances, these lifts do have limitations on who can use them as most are wheelchair or scooter only. Some may not be allowed under local code. 

Platform Lifts in Milwaukee and Appleton

INCLINE WHEELCHAIR LIFTS are like a stair lift but for a wheelchair. These are used when space for traditional vertical platform lifts, elevators or ramps are not available. Most fold up when not in use so they will not block stairs but this will make them harder for visitors to use. Wheelchair lifts are made only for wheelchairs and may not be as accessibly friendly.

ACCESS Elevator is proud to be a dealer for Savaria, the most well-known and trusted commercial platform lift manufacturer. The Savaria V-1504 vertical platform lift is built to carry a wheelchair and passenger safely up and down one or more levels. Suitable for installations in public and commercial buildings, as well as private homes, this Savaria lift features an extremely versatile design that can be configured and customized to suit virtually any project requirements and aesthetic needs. From the rugged outdoors, to the most luxurious office tower lobbies, the Savaria V-1504 lift is ready to serve with its reliable performance, ease of use and range of finish options.

Wheelchair lift styles include four effective solutions for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance in churches, schools or businesses:

  • Enclosed
  • Unenclosed
  • 3-Gate (Toe guard)
  • Shaftway/Hoistway

Savaria VPLs are designed in accordance with ASME A18.1, section 2 and can be used in some applications to meet ANSI A117.1 National Accessibility Guideline. Contact ACCESS Elevator get started on your free, no-obligation estimate throughout the Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana area. ACCESS Elevator will find you the right commercial platform lift for your location through our trusted supplier, Savaria.

 

Download the Savaria VPL brochure

The Savaria V-1504 vertical platform lift is built to carry a wheelchair and passenger safely up and down one or more levels.

Suitable for installations in public and commercial buildings, as well as private homes, this Savaria lift features an extremely versatile design that can be configured and customized to suit virtually any project requirements and aesthetic needs. From the rugged outdoors, to the most luxurious office tower lobbies, the Savaria V-1504 lift is ready to serve with its reliable performance, ease of use and range of finish options.

wheelchair ramp in milwaukee

Ramps vs. Lifts Revisited

By Doug Boydston

 

If you were a building owner, what accessibility solution would you choose for your facility? Perhaps the least expensive option would be most appealing. Which would you choose if you were an end user and unable to take the stairs? You most likely would prefer the most reliable and easy to use solution. Choosing the most appropriate accessibility solution is a decision that should be made by the building owner and their architect based on the application and the needs of the end users. Unfortunately this decision is often negatively influenced by the public perception of Platform (Wheelchair) Lifts.

Platform Lifts are used by a diverse and numerous group of end users. They are often used by wheelchair users, which is why they are commonly called Wheelchair Lifts. As of a 2002 study, the University of California San Francisco Disability Statistics Center says just over 6.8 million Americans living independently use assistive devices to help them with mobility. This group comprises 1.7 million wheelchair or scooter riders (0.6 percent of the population).

However, Platform Lifts are not only utilized by wheelchair users. The UCSF study says there are 6.1 million (2.4 percent of the population) users of other mobility devices, such as canes, crutches, and walkers in the US. These numbers do not include all those for whom stairs are challenge due to some other conditions that limit mobility, such as arthritis, emphysema, and hearts conditions. It is safe to say that wheelchair users are a small portion of the population for whom stairs limit access to buildings.

This false perception that only folks using wheelchairs need the platform lift leads to a perception that lifts are not needed and won’t get used. We at Handi-Lift hear this excuse all the time. “The lift will never be used, we are just putting it in to meet the letter of the law.” Of course this leads to buying the cheapest products available put in by the lowest priced contractors. This leads to lifts that no one wants to ride and which won’t be maintained. These lifts won’t be working when they actually are needed.

We have not done ourselves any favors in the accessibility equipment industry making poor quality equipment and installing it poorly just to meet the letter of the law over the years since the inception of the ADA. So much bad work has been done (and continues to be done) that now a platform lift is chosen as a last resort. Rather than letting the building owner and their architect develop the best solution, ramps are forced into applications as a first choice where they do not provide accessibility with dignity.

This ramp took up a lot of exterior real estate which in Manhattan is quite expensive: So ramps are not necessarily the low cost solution and they definitely take up a lot of room and they do require maintenance but the one big advantage ramps have over standard platform lifts is they can be used by anyone from someone pushing a handcart with freight to those pushing baby carriages. A lift however is not to be used by freight and is for mobility impaired persons only, right? Wrong!

This is what needs to change! There is no reason a Platform Lift cannot be used by everyone and anyone as often as needed per day. The only problem is the industry is not promoting these high performance solutions because they fear the marketplace won’t pay for them. We have seen many old lift installations replaced with full commercial elevators and very expensive ramps so we do not believe that cost is the determining factor. If a heavy duty platform lift is properly designed and installed it will also last and add value to the building where as a low cost standard lift may in fact be throwing money away as it will not last or even be useful to those for whom it was installed.