LIFT KING AUSTRALIA

Be Wise – Advertise In The “SPEC”

It’s entirely possible to double the storage capacity of a garage – and you won’t have to apply for a building permit, dig into your floor or spend thousands of dollars constructing a new one.

Local Croydon company Lift King Australia offers a variety of automotive lifts, or hoists <http://www.liftkingaustralia.com.au/>. Once seen only in mechanic’s bays, two and four-post automotive lifts are now available to the average consumer. Essentially, a lift allows one car – or any variety of other equipment such as ATVs, motorcycles, lawn equipment or even a boat – to be stored above another vehicle.

Lift King Australia’s parent company’s owner, Ross Cameron relates this experience “I was at a friend’s house and we were talking and he was showing me the lift he had in his garage,” Cameron says. “He had a car up in the air and I leaned on the lift and the unit started to waver.”

Cameron wasn’t impressed. First, he felt his friend had overpaid for the lift, and second, the unit was of poor quality. “Safety is a big issue for me,” Cameron says. “If you have a toy up there, and if it ever hurt somebody…that wouldn’t be good.” So Cameron – who also owns Calgary’s Floor King – used his extensive import and export contacts to track down a better-made, higher quality automotive lift at a reasonable price. He visited every Asian factory he could where lifts were being produced. After inspecting each maker and satisfying himself about the quality of the product, Cameron placed an order with one manufacturer for a container of lifts.

“There are 24 units in each container,” Cameron says. “At first, the lifts sold to friends, and to friends of friends. It was a hobby in the beginning, but (Lift King) has evolved into something I really enjoy.” In fact, he’s expanded his Lift King range of garage equipment to include tyre changing machines, stainless steel cabinets and a tough PVC snaptogether floor tile.

While Lift King Australia isn’t the first to market lifts in Australia, they might be the first to take the units mainstream. Lifts have gone from being used by enthusiasts and hobbyists – for routine maintenance or storing a car – to the general homeowner to help free up garage space.

For example, Cameron says he frequently hears from customers who have two cars, and a two-car garage. “Your average two car garage is full of equipment, either lawn gear or bikes and sports gear,” he says. “And that really only leaves room for one car at a time in the garage.”

With a lift, Cameron says the bulk of the gear can be placed on the lift deck and raised above the floor. The second car – the one that often sat in the driveway – will fit underneath the equipment and inside the garage.

The most popular is the Lift King 8. The unit operates on a standard household outlet of 240 volts (no special household wiring is required). The unit is electric over hydraulic, and the push of a button raises the car or other equipment. Colours available are black, red or dark blue. The Lift King 8 is a four-post lift – which means there is a steel column at each corner of the rig. There is 236 cm of space between side columns at front and rear, which allows the average sedan to slot in quite nicely. It has a lifting capacity of 3,629 kgs, and in its top locked position offers 180 cm of space underneath. The lift deck locks at 10 different heights, including the top position. The Lift King 8 retails for $4495 including GST.

The lift comes pre-assembled in large pieces requiring final assembly.

Lift King is also available to install their units in Sydney.

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