A self-storage customer arrives after hours with a trolley, a lock-up unit on level three and nobody at the front desk. At that point, can tenants operate goods lifts is not a question about a button panel. It is a decision about whether people are expected to travel with their goods, and whether the equipment has been selected for that operating model.
The same question comes up in warehouses, trade supply buildings and retail back-of-house areas. A building may have a practical shaft location and enough floor space for a lifting solution, but the operating model is still unresolved. If the answer is left until late in the project, the lift selection, staffing plan and building works can end up working against each other.
The operating question comes before lift selection
Tenants may be able to call a lift, open doors and load goods without travelling in the car. That is different from a tenant taking a trolley into the car and travelling with it. It is also different again from a staff member operating equipment under a defined internal procedure.
Those distinctions determine the appropriate equipment. A permanent goods hoist can be a sensible, lower-complexity answer where goods move between floors and people do not travel with the load. It can suit a warehouse with controlled operations, or a building where an attendant is already present for the work being done.
That approach has a clear advantage. The initial equipment and associated building interface may be simpler than a passenger-carrying goods lift. The trade-off is operational. Someone has to manage the transfer of goods at each level, or the building has to be arranged so that users do not enter the car.
Where tenants or customers are expected to take their own goods between levels, the project should be based on a goods lift designed and certified to carry people as well as goods. That is usually the practical direction for an unattended or lightly staffed multi-level self-storage facility. The lift is then part of the customer journey, not back-of-house equipment managed by an operator.
Can tenants operate goods lifts?
They can, where the lift has been selected for tenant operation and for people travelling with the load. The answer depends less on who holds the access card than on what the car is designed and certified to do.
A goods-only arrangement can still have user controls. But access to controls does not change the intended use of the equipment. If the operating reality is that a tenant will wheel a cage trolley into the car, close the door and travel to another level, that expectation needs to be reflected in the lift specification from the start.
This is where projects can become confused by terminology. A construction hoist is temporary equipment for the construction phase. It may be useful while the building is being built, but it is not the permanent answer for a completed facility.
A permanent goods hoist is intended for moving goods through a building. It may suit stock transfer where trained staff or an attendant control the operation. A goods lift that carries people and goods is the appropriate category when the operating model includes staff, customers or tenants travelling with their loads.
The cheaper option is not automatically the wrong one. If a warehouse has defined hours, trained operators and a predictable stock flow, a goods-only solution may suit the job well. If the business model relies on customers serving themselves across several floors, the apparent saving can be outweighed by the cost of staffing around the equipment or restricting access when staff are absent.
Why self-storage changes the comparison
Self-storage is often the point where the operating model becomes decisive. Tenants do not arrive in a set pattern. They may use the facility early, late or on weekends. Their loads vary from archive boxes to furniture, trade stock and long items on trolleys.
An attendant-operated goods hoist can work if the facility intends to roster a person whenever upper-level units are accessible. That decision carries an ongoing cost line: roster coverage, breaks, leave, relief staff, training and the reduced flexibility that comes with fixed operating hours.
A tenant-operated goods lift moves more of the cost into the capital project. The car, entrances, controls, access arrangement and safety systems are selected for people travelling with goods. It also changes the surrounding design. Door locations need to work with trolley movement, waiting space needs to be useful rather than residual, and access control needs to match the building’s tenancy model.
Neither option is universally better. A small facility with a staffed counter may be well served by a controlled goods hoist. A larger multi-level operation that sells independent access will usually need a different answer. The right recommendation comes from the operating model, not a catalogue comparison.
Design the lift around actual use
Decide who travels first
The first documented decision should be simple: will any person travel in the car with the load? That includes tenants, customers, contractors, cleaners, delivery drivers and staff.
The next question is who can call the lift and when. Some facilities allow access only through a tenant credential. Others separate public and back-of-house access, or restrict particular levels. These are not minor control-panel choices. They affect landing layouts, door arrangements and how the building is managed after handover.
Load type matters as well. A lift used for pallets handled by staff has different daily demands from one used by customers with trolleys. The car size, entrance configuration and landing circulation should reflect the largest routine movement, not the occasional easy load.
Resolve the builder’s-work interface early
A lift is only as good as the space built around it. On a new build, the shaft structure, landing openings, thresholds, headroom, pit and controller location need to be coordinated with the architectural and structural documentation. The rails have to stay parallel over the full travel, so shaft accuracy is not something to leave for site adjustment.
In an existing commercial building, the work is more exposed. Slab edges may not align as expected. Existing walls can conceal structure and services. A proposed controller location may conflict with an electrical board, a corridor or required service access. Bulkheads and new framing need to meet old construction cleanly, while still leaving the clearances the lift installation requires.
These issues are often manageable. They are simply cheaper to identify before openings are cut and finishes are ordered. A lift contractor should review the proposed arrangement and explain the consequences of each option, rather than asking the builder to choose technical details without the information to do so.
Plan for service access, not just opening day
Tenant-operated equipment needs a clear plan for access during faults, servicing and out-of-hours events. That does not mean designing around unlikely scenarios. It means locating the controller where technicians can reach it, preserving access to components and making sure building management understands who can isolate or release the lift under the agreed procedures.
For projects in Victoria, equipment selection and installation should be considered against the relevant project requirements, including equipment manufactured to EN 81-20:2020, EN 81-50:2020 and the 2014/33/EU Lifts Directive, with installation to AS 1735.1.1:2022 and AS 1735.1.2:2020 and WorkSafe registration. The project documentation should set out the intended use clearly, rather than relying on assumptions made after commissioning.
Questions worth settling before documentation
Before a lift is specified, the project team should be able to answer a few operational questions in plain terms:
- Will tenants, customers or contractors travel with their goods?
- Is the building staffed whenever upper floors are available for use?
- What are the largest routine loads, trolleys or stock movements?
- How will users gain access to the lift and to individual levels?
- Where will the controller sit, and who is responsible for the shaft, openings, thresholds and finishes?
- How will service personnel access the equipment without disrupting the building?
If these answers are uncertain, that is the time to pause. It is far easier to change the operating model on a plan than after the shaft, doors and tenant access system are in place.
A lift recommendation should therefore state more than capacity and travel. It should say who operates it, who travels in it, what happens when the building is unattended and what work the builder needs to provide. That gives the owner a basis for comparing the capital cost against the staffing model they would otherwise need to carry for the life of the building.
