If you’re a weekend restorer in West Des Moines trying to figure out how to sequence a garage build-out around automotive two post lifts, you’re asking the right question before you spend a dollar. We get calls every week from hobbyists who bought a lift first and then discovered their concrete, ceiling height, or electrical wasn’t ready for it. Auto Lift Services is an Iowa-based installer and parts supplier, and we’d rather walk you through the order of operations now than show up to a garage where the columns don’t fit or the slab can’t hold the load. Get the sequence right and your restoration bay will actually work the way you pictured it.
Shop 2-Post Lifts →Browse Rotary and Challenger two post models sized for home and small-shop restoration bays before you finalize your garage layout.
Start With the Slab, Not the Lift
Every consultation we do for automotive two post lifts starts with the same question: what’s under the floor. Most residential garages in West Des Moines were poured for parking cars, not anchoring a 9,000-12,000 lb lift with concentrated column loads. We generally want to see at least 4 inches of solid, uncracked concrete rated at a reasonable psi, and that number changes depending on lift capacity and column footprint. If you’re mid-project on a build-out and the slab was poured last year, ask your contractor what mix and thickness they used before you order anything.
This matters more for restoration work than daily-driver shops because you’ll often have the vehicle up on the lift for days or weeks at a time doing metal work, not a quick oil change. Sustained load plus the vibration from grinding and welding puts more stress on anchor points than most hobbyists expect. If your slab is thin, cracked, or you’re not sure, we can talk through options including reinforced pads under the columns. Don’t let a lift sit in your garage for a month while you figure this out after the fact — get the concrete question answered first.
Ceiling Height and Column Spacing for Metal Work
Restoration and metal work bays have a quirk most lift buyers don’t think about: you need headroom not just for the vehicle at full lift height, but for you standing under it with a cart, a welder, or a body panel. We’ve laid out automotive two post lifts in garages where the lift technically fit on paper but the owner couldn’t comfortably work standing up once the car was at chest height. Measure your actual ceiling clearance, subtract for any garage door tracks or lighting, and give yourself margin.
Column spacing is the other piece people get wrong. Wider spacing gives you more room to swing doors and maneuver a long-wheelbase project car, but it also demands more floor width. We regularly lay out lifts in person for buyers who aren’t sure how a specific footprint will actually sit in their space — it’s worth the visit before you commit. Iowa garages built in different decades vary a lot on width, and a two post that fits a modern three-car bay might crowd a narrower vintage garage. Get exact dimensions on the model you’re considering, then walk your garage with tape and chalk before the lift ever ships.
Automotive two post lifts need dedicated power, and if you’re doing a full garage build-out, the electrical should go in before the lift arrives, not after. Most 220v-240v power units require a dedicated circuit, and depending on your panel’s existing load, that might mean upgrading service or adding a subpanel. We’ve seen restoration hobbyists get a lift delivered, then realize the outlet is 20 feet from where the power unit needs to sit.
Plan your electrical drop based on where the columns will actually land, not where you assume they’ll go. If you’re also running welding equipment, compressed air, or shop lighting off the same panel, have an electrician size the service for everything at once rather than piecemeal. This is the kind of sequencing mistake that costs real money to fix after drywall and flooring go in, so nail it down during the planning phase while changes are still cheap.
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