Most people buy this equipment once, from a company they found last week, under time pressure. These are the questions that sort a good supplier from a bad one, and they work on us as well as on anybody else.
About the equipment
1. What is the exact model, and what is its rated capacity? A quote naming a category rather than a model is not a quote.
2. Is this suitable for how this person actually transfers? The best example of why this matters: Bruno does not recommend the Elan for somebody who scoot-pivot transfers without weight through their legs, and names the Elite instead. A supplier who does not ask about the transfer is not specifying, they are selling.
3. What is the lead time, honestly? A straight stairlift is hours from stock. A curved rail is three to five weeks of manufacturing. Anybody promising a curved lift next week is describing something else.
About the price
4. What exactly is included? Equipment, installation, permit, first service, removal at end of life.
5. Is the price fixed? Ask whether the number changes if something is found on the day, and get the answer in writing.
About the company
6. Are the installers your own people or subcontractors? This matters most on the second visit, when somebody who saw the job the first time recognizes what has changed.
7. What licensing do you hold where I live, and who pulls the permit? Requirements vary sharply by state. Some regulate stairlifts, platform lifts and elevators alike; others exclude private residences entirely. Our state pages set out which is which.
8. Are you an authorized dealer for this manufacturer? Bruno and Harmar both require installation by authorized dealers, and it affects your warranty.
About afterward
9. Who services it, and what does a service visit cost?
10. What does the warranty cover, for how long, and who honors it? Structural components are often covered for years; batteries are consumables and covered briefly. Read which is which.
11. What happens when we no longer need it? Removal is a real cost and it belongs in the conversation at the start.
The answer that tells you most
Ask what they would do if this were their own parent. A supplier worth buying from will sometimes answer that the equipment you asked about is not what you need.
We have told people to buy a two hundred dollar grab bar instead of a twelve thousand dollar lift and left. Sometimes the honest answer is that you do not need us.
Before you book any visit
Work out what the actual difficulty is rather than what product you think solves it. Going up on hands and knees, avoiding the bathroom, rooms that have quietly stopped being used, a caregiver struggling with transfers. Describe that, and let the supplier specify.
All consultations, estimates and scopes of work are free of charge, with no pressure or obligation. And plenty of what helps can simply be bought: rollators, transport chairs, shower seating, grab bars and threshold ramps ship free from our online shop.
Two questions for yourself
How long is this for? If it is for years, buy with headroom rather than to the limit.
Who else has to live with it? A stairlift folds away and the stairs stay usable. A platform lift takes a footprint. An elevator takes floor area out of two stories permanently. Those are household decisions rather than individual ones.
What a good supplier will ask you
Notice whether they ask any of this. It is the clearest signal there is.
- What has actually become difficult, rather than what product you want.
- How the person transfers, and whether their knees hold.
- Their weight, which is an awkward question asked for a real reason.
- Who else uses the stairs or the room.
- How long you expect to need it.
A company that asks none of those and quotes anyway is selling from a price list.
Take the list with you
Print it. Ask the same twelve questions of every company quoting, including us, and write the answers down. Where answers differ sharply between suppliers on something factual, like lead time or licensing, that is worth a second look.
Getting quotes you can actually compare
Ask every supplier for the same things in writing: model, capacity, rail type, lead time, what installation includes, warranty terms and who honors them, service cost, and removal.
Quotes that arrive as a single number cannot be compared to anything, and that is frequently the point of them. A company confident in its price is willing to itemize it.
And ask each one what they would not sell you. The answers are revealing. Our consultation page is where ours starts, and plenty of what helps ships free from our online shop without a visit at all.