Case Studies

Independent advice is only worth what it saves or protects. These are recent projects where our team specified, tendered, audited or assessed lift and escalator work for owners, hotel operators, body corporates and insurers. Every figure comes from the project’s tender, contract or report.

250+projects since 2023
6 + NZAustralian states and territories, plus New Zealand
$0commissions from lift contractors
4major lift manufacturers tendered against each other on a single project
We help write the standards we audit against. Our Managing Director, Sidney Bastos, sits on Standards Australia’s Vertical Transportation committee, which develops the Australian standards for lifts, escalators and moving walks.

Featured projects

Insurance claim assessment · Broadbeach QLD · 2025

Oracle Tower Two

The building: four high-rise passenger lifts serving 42 levels at 3.5 m/s.

The problem: a sprinkler leak on Level 41 ran water into all four lift shafts. The repair quote came to $370,220.

Our role: engaged by loss adjuster McLarens. We inspected every shaft with the maintainer and separated the parts the water actually reached from the ones it didn’t.

55% lowerWe assessed a fair and reasonable repair cost of $168,012, against the $370,220 quoted.

Status: final report issued.

Insurance, repair design and contract administration · Brisbane QLD · 2025–26

The Star Treasury car park

The building: three car park lifts, including a duplex pair with a bottom machine room.

The problem: water from a burst water main in February 2025 damaged the lifts. Two of them lost their controllers, gearboxes and motors. Full replacement of all three lifts was first proposed at $1,335,000.

Our role: insurance assessment, then a targeted repair specification, a tender to six contractors and contract administration for The Star Entertainment QLD.

Half the costRepairs contracted at $667,430, around half the full-replacement figure first proposed.

Status: works in progress.

Audit, modernisation and superintendent · Southport QLD · 2024–26

Rivage Royale

The building: a residential complex with six passenger lifts.

The problem: our 2024 condition audit found ageing motors, controllers and drives that needed a staged modernisation.

Our role: specification, tender, tender review, an AS 2124 contract, and Superintendent for the body corporate during the works.

$28,051 a year savedOngoing maintenance after the defects period secured at $51,560 a year, against $79,611 from the next tenderer. The modernisation itself was contracted at $1,981,658 including options.

Status: modernisation under way.

Modernisation design and tender · Sydney NSW · 2025–26

Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park

The building: a city hotel with eight passenger lifts, up to 25 stops.

The problem: early-1990s controls and drives, now over 30 years old, kept running on salvaged parts.

Our role: one specification covering all eight lifts plus a maintenance agreement, tendered to all four major manufacturers, then tender review.

$651,500 spreadFour tenders came back between $4.75M and $5.40M. We also confirmed the existing safety gear could be refurbished rather than replaced, taking costly options out of the scope.

Status: recommendation issued to the owners.

Maintenance tender and annual audits · Perth WA · 2023–26

The Towers, Elizabeth Quay

The building: a residential strata tower with six lifts (three high-rise, two machine-room-less and a platform lift), installed around 2018.

The problem: the owners needed a maintenance contract with teeth, and someone independent to check it was being met.

Our role: we wrote a fully comprehensive maintenance agreement with KPIs, tendered it to three contractors and negotiated down the after-hours call-out fee. We have audited the contractor every year since.

9 KPI breaches foundOur 2025 audit identified nine response-time breaches the owners can abate, on a fleet averaging just 3.16 call-outs per lift a year. We also set a 15-year capital reserve of $118,000 a year.

Status: ongoing annual audits.

Maintenance tender · Brisbane QLD · 2026

Sofitel Brisbane Central

The building: nine high-speed lifts (3.5 m/s, up to 26 levels) and eight escalators.

The problem: the hotel needed a new comprehensive maintenance contract on terms that protect the owner.

Our role: site inspection, our own maintenance agreement, the tender and post-tender negotiation.

$137,592 a yearThe difference between the highest and lowest annual tender ($306,996 vs $169,404). The recommended contractor held its price and accepted our wording on every departure.

Status: recommendation issued.

More recent projects

  • Novotel Darwin Airport, NT (Accor): condition audit of three lifts that logged 146 call-outs in 12 months. We showed the $184,612 mid-life proposal wouldn’t reset their life, and budgeted the real options.
  • Peppers Waymouth, Adelaide SA (Accor): audit of four 55-year-old lifts. We recommended a $1.4M–$1.8M modernisation rather than full replacement.
  • Novotel Perth Langley, WA (Accor): audit of four lifts and a dumbwaiter. Our targeted upgrade scope came to $1.53M, against a $2.46M full-scope budget.
  • Peppers Beacon, Queenstown NZ (Accor): workmanship audit of four new lifts. 22 of 29 defects closed by the installer so far.
  • The Ritz-Carlton Perth, WA: annual independent audits of seven lifts, including a line-by-line review of the maintainer’s chargeable invoices.
  • North Lakes Town Centre, QLD (Comiskey Group): vertical transport design and procurement for 7 lifts, 4 escalators and 4 travelators, including a hotel traffic study.
  • Peppers Soul and Soul Boardwalk, Surfers Paradise QLD: modernisation design and tender for 8 tower lifts, plus 4 escalators and 4 lifts in the retail podium.
  • Novotel Melbourne on Collins, VIC (Accor): brought in to get a stalled eight-lift modernisation contract moving again.
  • Sofitel Gold Coast and Sofitel Sydney Wentworth: upgrade specification, tender schedules and ongoing consultancy.

Who we work with

We are engaged by the people who own, manage and insure the buildings — body corporates and committees, hotel operators and asset managers, government and transport authorities, loss adjusters and insurers. We are not owned by, and do not sell for, any lift company, so the advice you get is ours alone.

Since 2023 we have worked across more than 250 projects in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory and New Zealand. The brands below operate in buildings we have audited, tendered, modernised or managed.

Hotels and resorts

  • Sofitel
  • Novotel
  • Pullman
  • ibis and ibis Styles
  • Mantra
  • Peppers
  • Art Series
  • JW Marriott
  • Sheraton Grand
  • The Ritz-Carlton
  • Hilton
  • Holiday Inn
  • Radisson
  • Wyndham
  • Mondrian
  • QT
  • Fraser Suites
  • Ultiqa

Property and asset management

  • CBRE
  • JLL
  • Savills
  • Colliers
  • Cygnet West
  • First Asset Management
  • Dexus
  • Goodman
  • Investa
  • Network Pacific
  • Care Park
  • Destination Gold Coast
  • Pacific Fair
  • Smith Collective
  • Gold Coast Turf Club
  • Treasury Brisbane
  • Paradise Centre and Circle on Cavill
  • Caboolture Square, Hinkler Central and Drayton Shopping Centre

Developers, builders and investors

  • Hutchinson Builders (Hutchies)
  • Formplus
  • Huayu Group
  • Far East Consortium
  • Salter Brothers
  • YTL
  • Kokoda Property
  • Holm Developments
  • Mosaic Property Group
  • Comiskey Group
  • Mayd Group

Government, transport and education

  • Australian Federal Police
  • Queensland Rail
  • Keolis Downer (G:link)
  • City of Gold Coast
  • Tweed Shire Council
  • Queensland state schools
  • Redeemer Lutheran College
  • Suncoast Christian College
  • Blayney High School

Community, care and insurance

  • Ozcare
  • RFBI
  • Ballina RSL Club
  • Hervey Bay RSL
  • Chubb
  • Sedgwick
  • McLarens
  • Residential body corporates across the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth

Logos and brand names are the property of their respective owners and are shown to identify buildings and portfolios The Lift Consultancy has worked on. Their use does not imply any endorsement or partnership.

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