A heavy-duty truck shop owner in the Des Moines metro called us about a 2 post car lift because his crew was doing wheel bearing service on class-5 chassis-cabs and his existing single-post pit was booked solid. He needed a second dedicated bay for wheel-off work, and he needed to know exactly what to prep before our install truck rolled in. Install prep is the difference between a one-day install and a three-day headache. This article walks through the site survey we ran at his shop, the prep checklist we handed him, and the cost breakdown from the survey through the finished install.
Filter by 10K or 15K, arm style, and column spacing to see what fits your bay before the site-survey call.
The Site Survey: What We Look for on the First Visit
A site survey for a 2 post car lift takes about 45 minutes when the shop already has a bay open. Our surveyor arrives with a laser measure, a concrete testing hammer, an amp meter, and a checklist. The first pass is a walk-through — we look at the overall bay geometry, the door swings, the workbench and toolbox placement, and any overhead obstruction in the proposed lift zone. We photograph everything. Every photo gets attached to the quote so the office team back in Ames can see what the surveyor saw.
The second pass is the measurements. We tape from the door threshold to the proposed column line, from column line to column line, and from the floor to every fixed obstruction overhead. We check the concrete with a Schmidt-style test hammer at three points in the proposed column footprint. We identify the electrical panel and note the available spare breaker slots. And we ask the owner about vehicle traffic patterns — where does a customer’s truck enter, where does it park after service, how do customers pick up. All of that information flows into the recommendation. A survey that skips the traffic pattern conversation ends up with a lift installed sideways to the workflow.
Concrete Testing: Depth, PSI, and When You Need a Core
Concrete is the one variable that can stop a 2 post car lift install cold. The Des Moines metro shop we surveyed had two suspected pours in one bay — the front third from the original 1987 build and the back two-thirds from a 2009 renovation. The Schmidt hammer read fine on the newer section, showing 3,800 to 4,100 PSI. The older section read 2,900 to 3,200 PSI with visible surface cracking. We ruled out installing the columns on the older section.
When a hammer test is inconclusive, we recommend a core sample. A core is a two-inch diameter cylinder pulled from the slab with a diamond core drill, sent to a materials lab for compression testing. It costs a few hundred dollars per core, and the results come back in about a week. We do not do this on every install — most Iowa shops have easily-verifiable concrete. But if there is any doubt, or if the shop is planning a 15,000-pound lift, we pull the core. If the results come in below the 3,000 PSI minimum, we quote a fresh 6-inch pour in the lift footprint. Skipping this step is how a lift ends up loose in the slab six months in. Slab work adds two to four weeks of cure time before the anchors can be set, so we always price it in early.
Electrical Prep: 220 Single-Phase vs Three-Phase Realities
Every commercial 2 post car lift runs on 220-volt power. The question is single-phase or three-phase. Single-phase is what most Iowa small shops have — it comes from a residential-style service and powers the lift motor slightly less efficiently but with no wiring surprises. Three-phase is more common in industrial shops with heavy machinery elsewhere in the building; it runs the motor cooler and slightly more efficiently but requires the correct motor spec on the lift.
Our Des Moines metro shop had 220-single-phase, which is what we defaulted to on the quote. The panel had one spare double-pole breaker slot and enough capacity to add a 30-amp circuit without upgrading the service. Total electrical prep — new dedicated circuit, 30 feet of conduit, a J-box near the lift column base — ran in the mid-hundreds with a licensed electrician the shop had used before. We always insist the shop hire the electrician; we do not pull our own permits or connect the mains, because that crosses licensing lines. If your shop is three-phase, tell us before we quote — we spec a different motor and the wiring is different. If you are unsure which you have, we can check on the survey visit with the amp meter and label at the panel.
Overhead Obstructions and Bay-Length Measurements
The Des Moines shop’s bay was 42 feet deep by 22 feet wide with a nominal 14-foot ceiling. Sounds generous. In practice, the ceiling was 14 feet at the peak of the roof, dropping to 12 feet 6 inches where the columns would land. A steel beam ran east-to-west across the bay at 11 feet 8 inches, and a run of HVAC ductwork dropped to 11 feet 2 inches at one point. Those numbers eliminated a standard overhead 15K lift, which needs 12 feet 4 inches minimum clearance to the crossbeam.
We ended up spec’ing a baseplate 15,000-pound model, which lives entirely below the beam and duct. The bay-length measurement matters as much as the height. A 2 post car lift needs about 25 feet of clear length end-to-end — 15 feet for the vehicle and lift, plus five feet of walk-around on each end. The Des Moines bay had 42 feet, so plenty of room. The trickier constraint was that the shop wanted room for a rolling floor jack and a parts cart in the bay simultaneously with a truck on the lift. We sketched the layout and confirmed the working footprint. Owners are surprised how much floor space a lift plus its walk-around actually needs until we tape it out on-site.
The 2 Post Car Lift Prep Checklist We Send Every Shop
After the site survey, we send the shop a written prep checklist for their 2 post car lift install. It is a one-page document with about a dozen items. First: concrete verified or slab work scheduled. Second: 220-volt circuit installed and terminated at a labeled J-box within ten feet of the target column position. Third: bay cleared of all rolling equipment, tool carts, workbench sections, and vehicles for the install day. Fourth: overhead lighting relocated if any fixture is within the lift’s motion path.
Fifth: anchor bolt kit inventoried on arrival. Sixth: freight received and columns staged flat in the bay, not stood on end. Seventh: a licensed electrician on-call for the mains connection. Eighth: shop owner or designated foreman on-site all day of install to answer layout questions. Ninth: parking cleared for our install truck and trailer. Tenth: fire extinguisher accessible in the bay. Eleventh: safety glasses and hearing protection for anyone entering the install zone. Twelfth: a plan for the first test vehicle — usually an employee’s pickup that fits within capacity — ready to drive in at the end of install day. Every item is checked off before we pour anchors. Missing one item can add half a day. Missing three can add two days. See our full installation guide for the extended checklist.
Permits, Insurance Notifications, and Compliance Steps
Most Iowa cities do not require a permit specifically for installing a 2 post car lift, but almost every city does require a permit for the electrical circuit installation. That is on the electrician, not us. If a shop is in a jurisdiction that classifies a lift as fixed industrial equipment — Des Moines metro sometimes does for larger installs — we help the owner file the equipment installation notice with the local building department. The notice is usually a two-page form and costs a small permit fee.
Insurance notification is a separate step. Every commercial property policy we have seen requires the owner to notify the carrier when major fixed equipment is added, because the carrier may increase the covered value of the shop’s contents. We remind every commercial customer to make that call within a week of install. The other compliance step is the ALI safety certificate, which comes with every ALI-certified lift we sell. That certificate lives in the shop’s compliance binder alongside OSHA logs and fire marshal paperwork. When the annual inspection is done a year later, the inspection certificate goes in the same binder. This paper trail is what protects the shop if a lift-related incident ever occurs. We handle the ALI certificate at install and set the reminder for year-one inspection.
Cost Breakdown: Prep, Install, and Total Landed Number
For the Des Moines metro shop, the total landed cost broke down as follows. Site survey: bundled into the sales process at no charge. Lift purchase: mid-four-figures for a baseplate 15,000-pound Rotary with wide column spacing and stack pads. Freight to the shop: modest given the short haul. Concrete verification: no charge, hammer test on newer slab was sufficient. Electrical prep by the shop’s electrician: several hundred dollars. Install labor by our crew: low-four-figures. City permit for the circuit: nominal. Total landed: around $9,000 to $9,500.
The shop financed the lift portion through First Business Bank at 0% APR for 12 months with the 90-day deferral. Prep costs, install, and the permit came out of the shop’s operating budget in the month of install. Total monthly out-of-pocket for the first three months post-install: $0. Payments started in month four and continued for nine months. A year and a day after install, the lift was paid off in full. The owner told us the lift had already paid for itself in labor savings by month five. The prep-and-install cost breakdown for a 2 post car lift is the number that scares shops away from buying; the labor-savings math is what should draw them in. Call 800-674-9302 and we can run the same site survey and cost breakdown for your bay.
Our Clients Include: