Before you buy a two-post lift

Four things settle almost every two-post purchase. Two are about your building, one is about how you use the bay, and one is about paperwork nobody reads until it matters.

• Will it fit your ceiling? — More two-post orders get cancelled over this than over price. Measure to the lowest obstruction, which is almost never the ceiling itself.
• Symmetric or asymmetric arms — The geometry choice that decides whether you can walk past a raised vehicle, and why most catalogue volume is still symmetric.
• Concrete requirements for a two-post lift — The slab is a structural part of the lift, and it is the one the manufacturer did not supply.
• ALI certification — What the directory listing actually covers, why it attaches to a model rather than a brand, and how to check a claim yourself.