Introduction: Why Do I Need to Know the Difference?
A lift is a lift, until you try to buy one. Then you discover that a lift for a family home and a lift for an office, shop or block of flats are built to different standards, sized for different loads, installed in different ways and priced in different leagues.
Choosing the wrong type is expensive in both directions. Put a commercial lift in a house and you pay for a shaft, pit, three-phase supply and capacity you will never use. Put a domestic lift where the public or staff rely on it every day and it may not meet the regulations, the accessibility guidance or the workload.
This guide explains the difference between commercial lifts and domestic lifts in plain terms: what each one is, how their sizes, speeds, regulations, installation, costs and maintenance compare, and when the line between them blurs, as it does with platform lifts in small shops and offices.
TL;DR
Domestic lift |
Commercial lift |
|
| Where it goes | Private homes | Offices, shops, hotels, hospitals, blocks of flats |
| Typical type | Platform lift (EN 81-41) or through-floor lift (BS 5900) | Passenger lift (BS EN 81-20 and 81-50) |
| UK law | Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 | Lifts Regulations 2016 |
| Speed | Up to 0.15 m/s | Commonly around 1 m/s, faster in tall buildings |
| Capacity | 2 to 5 people, 250 to 400 kg | 6 to 17+ people, 450 kg to 1275 kg and above |
| Building work | Floor openings; little or no pit; no machine room | Built shaft, pit, headroom, often a machine room |
| Power | Single-phase household supply | Usually three-phase |
| Typical cost | £15,000 to £40,000 installed | Often around £90,000 to £100,000 per lift to replace |
| Thorough examination | Not legally required in a private home unless used at work | At least every 6 months under LOLER |
In short, a domestic lift is built for a few users in a home and a commercial lift for heavy use by the public or staff. Platform lifts sit between the two and can serve short rises in commercial buildings where a passenger lift is not practical.
What Is a Domestic Lift?
A domestic lift, also called a home lift or residential lift, is a lift installed in a private home for the people who live there and their visitors. It is designed for a small number of users, light daily traffic and the limited space of a house.
In the UK, most domestic lifts are platform lifts built to EN 81-41. They travel at no more than 0.15 m/s and fall under the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008 rather than the Lifts Regulations. Through-floor lifts, which usually serve just 2 floors, follow BS 5900.
Their defining features are:
- Compact size: typically 2 to 5 people, or one wheelchair user with or without a companion
- Low speed: up to 0.15 m/s, which makes them safe and quiet in a home
- Minimal building work: often no shaft, no deep pit and no machine room
- Household power: usually a standard single-phase supply
A SWIFT domestic lift, for example, serves 2 to 6 floors in its own glass-and-steel shaft. It carries 250 kg or 400 kg depending on cabin size, sits on the floor or in a 50 mm recess, and runs from an on-board battery that keeps it working in a power cut.
What Is a Commercial Lift?
A commercial lift is a passenger or goods lift installed in a building used by the public or by staff at work, such as an office, shop, hotel, hospital, school or the common parts of a block of flats. It is designed for heavy, continuous use by people who may not know how to use it.
Most commercial passenger lifts are built to BS EN 81-20 and BS EN 81-50, and must comply with the Lifts Regulations 2016. They usually run in a dedicated shaft and are driven by:
- Traction: steel ropes or belts and a counterweight, often with the machine in the shaft (machine-room-less) or in a motor room above
- Hydraulic: an oil-filled ram, common for low-rise buildings, with a pump unit in a nearby machine room
Their defining features are:
- Larger cars: typically 8 people (630 kg) and upwards, including sizes for stretchers, beds and goods
- Higher speeds: commonly around 1 m/s and faster in tall buildings
- Automatic controls: call buttons, automatic doors and group control for several lifts
- Building infrastructure: a constructed shaft, a pit, headroom above the top floor and often a three-phase supply
A commercial building can also contain platform lifts, for example to bridge a few steps at an entrance. That is where the line between the two types begins to blur.
How Do Their Sizes and Capacities Compare?
Domestic lifts carry 2 to 5 people; commercial passenger lifts usually start at 6 to 8 people and go up from there. The gap reflects how many people need to move at once.
Lift |
Car size (W × D) |
Rated load |
People |
| SWIFT XXS (domestic) | 830 × 600 mm | 250 kg | 2 |
| SWIFT S (domestic) | 830 × 1000 mm | 250 kg | 3 |
| SWIFT L (domestic) | 1200 × 1000 mm | 400 kg | 5 |
| SWIFT XL (domestic) | 1400 × 1100 mm | 400 kg | 5 |
| BS EN 81-70 type 1 (commercial) | 1000 × 1250 mm | 450 kg | 6 |
| BS EN 81-70 type 2 (commercial) | 1100 × 1400 mm | 630 kg | 8 |
| BS EN 81-70 type 3 (commercial) | 2000 × 1400 mm | 1275 kg | 17 |
A domestic lift’s footprint is also much smaller. The smallest SWIFT cabin needs a floor opening of just 940 × 1025 mm, because the lift brings its own slim shaft. A commercial lift needs a built shaft considerably larger than the car to house the guide rails, counterweight, doors and, in many cases, the machine.
The largest domestic cabins overlap with the smallest commercial ones. SWIFT’s XL size, for example, gives a wheelchair user room to travel with a companion, which is the purpose of the commercial type 2 car.
How Do Their Speeds and Usage Levels Compare?
Domestic lifts travel at up to 0.15 m/s; commercial passenger lifts commonly travel at around 1 m/s, and faster still in tall buildings. That means a domestic lift takes about 20 seconds to rise 3 metres, a typical floor-to-floor height, while a commercial lift takes a few seconds.
The slower speed is deliberate. It is what allows platform lifts to run safely without a fully built shaft, a deep pit or a large overrun at the top, and it keeps the ride gentle and quiet in a home.
Usage is the bigger difference:
Domestic lift |
Commercial lift |
|
| Users | The household and visitors, who learn how it works | Staff, customers and the public, many using it for the first time |
| Traffic | A few trips an hour at most | Constant use at peak times, often several lifts working as a group |
| Controls | Simple buttons or a touch display; on many platform lifts, hold-to-run | Single-press call buttons, automatic doors, group dispatch |
| Design life | Built for light, intermittent use | Built for heavy, continuous duty |
| Traffic planning | Not needed | Sized using traffic analysis, such as British Council for Offices guidance |
This is why a domestic lift is not a cheaper substitute for a commercial one. In a busy building, the low speed and capacity would create queues, and hold-to-run controls can be tiring for some users.
Which Regulations Apply to Each Lift Type?
The dividing line in UK law is speed. Lifts travelling faster than 0.15 m/s fall under the Lifts Regulations 2016; slower platform and home lifts fall under the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008. Building use then adds further duties.
Area |
Domestic lift |
Commercial lift |
| Product law | Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations 2008; CE or UKCA mark | Lifts Regulations 2016; CE or UKCA mark with conformity assessment |
| Main design standard | EN 81-41 (platform lifts); BS 5900 (through-floor homelifts) | BS EN 81-20 and BS EN 81-50 |
| Accessibility | Good practice, often to EN 81-41 sizes | BS EN 81-70; Approved Document M; Equality Act 2010 |
| Emergency alarm | Recommended; SWIFT Pro includes one | BS EN 81-28 two-way alarm |
| Fire | Building Regulations for the floor opening and escape routes | Approved Document B; firefighting lifts (BS EN 81-72) and evacuation lifts where required |
| In-service inspection | LOLER does not apply in a private home unless the lift is used at work | LOLER thorough examination at least every 6 months |
| Duty holder | The homeowner | The building owner, employer or person in control of the premises |
For commercial buildings, the duties do not stop at installation. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires whoever controls the premises to keep the lift safe for staff and the public. LOLER and PUWER require regular maintenance and thorough examinations, and the Fire Safety Order requires the lift to be covered in the fire risk assessment.
How Do Their Installation Requirements Differ?
A domestic lift is designed to fit into an existing home with a few days of work on site. A commercial lift is designed into the building, with a structural shaft, pit and power supply planned months in advance.
Requirement |
Domestic lift (e.g. SWIFT) |
Commercial passenger lift |
| Shaft | Self-supporting glass-and-steel enclosure supplied with the lift | Built shaft of masonry, concrete or steel |
| Pit | None, or a 50 mm recess for a level entrance | A pit below the lowest floor, sized by the lift maker |
| Headroom | 2,275 to 3,500 mm above the top landing | An overrun above the top floor, often taller than a standard storey |
| Machine space | None; drive and battery are built in | Machine room, or machine-room-less with equipment in the shaft |
| Power | Single-phase 220–240 V, 8 A fuse | Usually three-phase, plus lighting and alarm circuits |
| Approvals | Building Regulations for the floor openings | Planning, Building Regulations, fire strategy, and conformity assessment under the Lifts Regulations |
| Time on site | Usually 2 to 5 working days, once the openings are ready | Several weeks per lift, after a long manufacturing lead time |
Lead times show the gap clearly. In one London council lift programme, the equipment took 20 weeks to manufacture off site before 26 weeks of work on site (Haringey Council). A domestic lift can usually be surveyed, made and installed in a fraction of that time.
How Do Their Costs Compare?
A domestic lift typically costs £15,000 to £40,000 installed (MyBuilder). A commercial passenger lift usually costs several times more, before you add the cost of building its shaft.
Lift |
Example UK cost |
Source |
| SWIFT Lite, 2 floors (domestic) | From around £18,100 | SWIFT UK list price |
| SWIFT Pro, 2 floors (domestic) | From around £19,050 | SWIFT UK list price |
| Open platform lift for a short rise | £13,000 to £20,000 | Morgan Ellis |
| Replacement 4-floor traction passenger lift | About £100,000 | Flat Living |
| 5 replacement machine-room-less passenger lifts | About £438,000 in total, roughly £88,000 each | BidSonar contract record |
For a new commercial lift, the shaft, pit, machine room and electrical supply add substantially to the lift price. The drive choice matters over the lift’s life too: one whole-life cost study of a low-rise office found a machine-room-less traction lift 15% cheaper than hydraulic and 30% cheaper than a traditional traction lift with a machine room (Building).
VAT also differs. A domestic lift installed for a disabled person in their own home can be zero-rated. Most commercial lifts carry VAT at 20%, with narrow exceptions such as certain charity buildings.
How Does Maintenance Differ Between Them?
A domestic lift needs regular servicing to stay safe and keep its warranty valid. A commercial lift needs that and a legal inspection regime, a 24-hour call-out service and full records, because members of the public and staff depend on it.
Domestic lift |
Commercial lift |
|
| Routine servicing | Typically once a year, to the manufacturer’s schedule | Typically monthly or every 2 months under a maintenance contract |
| Thorough examination | Not legally required in a private home unless the lift is used at work | At least every 6 months by an independent competent person (LOLER) |
| Emergency response | Battery backup and an alarm or phone; call-out by the installer | 24-hour monitored alarm, call-out and trapped-passenger release |
| Fire checks | Covered by home fire safety | In the fire risk assessment; monthly checks of firefighting and evacuation lifts in high-rise residential blocks in England |
| Records | Service history, kept for warranty | Maintenance logs, examination reports and defect records, available to inspectors |
| Typical cost | A modest annual service contract | A larger annual contract, plus insurer inspections and repairs |
For a SWIFT domestic lift, the first year of servicing is included. After that, an annual service contract keeps the 5-year lift warranty and 10-year drive warranty valid. The screw-and-nut drive needs no oil changes, and optional SWIFT Remote lets technicians check the lift without a visit.
Commercial lifts also face deadlines that home lifts rarely do. For example, analogue emergency phone lines must be replaced before the UK’s analogue network closes on 31 January 2027.
Can I Use a Domestic Lift in a Commercial Building?
Not as a general-use passenger lift. In a building used by the public or staff, Approved Document M Volume 2 treats a passenger lift as the preferred solution. A platform lift is acceptable only where a passenger lift cannot reasonably be fitted, mostly in existing buildings (Designing Buildings).
Where a platform lift is used in a commercial building, the guidance is that it should:
- be intended for wheelchair users, people with impaired mobility and their companions, not for general traffic
- travel at no more than 0.15 m/s
- have a liftway enclosure if it travels more than 2 metres
- meet minimum sizes: 800 × 1250 mm for an unenclosed platform used by an unaccompanied wheelchair user, 900 × 1400 mm if enclosed, and 1100 × 1400 mm for an enclosed platform with doors at 90° or an accompanied wheelchair user
- have controls that are easy to reach, contrasting and well lit
It must also be maintained and examined like any other lift used at work, under LOLER and PUWER.
The lift itself should be a platform lift designed for public use. Home lifts such as SWIFT are designed for residential use, so for a shop, office or other public building, choose a platform lift rated for commercial duty, or a passenger lift where traffic is heavier.
Conclusion: Which Lift Is Right for My Building?
The right lift follows from who will use it and how often. Start from your building type:
Building |
Usually the right lift |
| A private house, townhouse or bungalow with a loft room | Domestic lift: an enclosed platform lift or through-floor lift |
| A duplex, maisonette or penthouse flat | Domestic lift inside the flat, with freeholder consent |
| The common parts of a block of flats | Commercial passenger lift (type 2, 1100 × 1400 mm, for new accessible blocks) |
| A small shop, café or office with a short rise | Commercial-grade platform lift, if a passenger lift is not practicable |
| A busy office, hotel, school or hospital | Commercial passenger lifts, sized by traffic analysis |
If your project is a home, a domestic lift will give you everything you need: step-free access to every floor, a footprint that fits a hallway and a fraction of the cost and disruption of a commercial lift.
SWIFT’s battery-driven home lifts serve 2 to 6 floors, need no pit or machine room and run from an ordinary single-phase supply. Build your lift online or contact the SWIFT UK team to book a free home survey.
FAQs
1. Can I install a commercial lift in my home?
Yes, and some large houses have one, but it is rarely the best choice. A commercial-style passenger lift needs a built shaft, a pit, extra headroom above the top floor and often a three-phase supply. Shaft-based home lifts typically cost £25,000 to £50,000 before that building work (Morgan Ellis). For most homes, a domestic platform lift gives the same step-free access with far less disruption.
2. Is a platform lift classed as domestic or commercial?
It can be either. “Platform lift” describes the type of machine: a lift travelling at up to 0.15 m/s, built to EN 81-41 and covered by the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations. Platform lifts are used in private homes and in public buildings. What differs is the duty the lift is designed for and the rules that apply where it is installed.
3. Does my domestic lift need LOLER inspections?
Not in a private home where you, your family and visitors are the only users, because LOLER applies to equipment used at work. It can apply if the lift is used at work, for example by paid carers, and many social landlords apply 6-monthly examinations to lifts in their tenants’ homes. Either way, regular servicing is essential, and a SWIFT lift needs an active service contract to keep its warranty valid.
4. Which lift suits a small office or shop?
If you only need to bridge a few steps or one storey, and a passenger lift is not practicable, a platform lift designed for public use can meet Approved Document M. If staff and customers will use the lift regularly between several floors, a passenger lift is the better choice. A machine-room-less traction lift often has the lowest whole-life cost in low-rise offices. An access consultant can confirm what your building needs.
5. Which lift type suits a block of flats?
The common parts need a commercial passenger lift. In new blocks built to the M4(2) or M4(3) standards, that means at least a type 2 lift with an 1100 × 1400 mm car. Taller blocks also need a firefighting lift, and new London developments need an evacuation lift in each core. Inside a duplex or penthouse flat, a domestic lift can link the flat’s own floors. See our guide to lift requirements for flats in the UK for the details.
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