A new business, built on proper trade experience.
S.T.A.K Installations & Servicing Limited is an independent vehicle lift installation and servicing business based in Northampton, covering England and Wales. We're new as a company. The people behind it aren't new to the trade.
How S.T.A.K started.
The big national equipment companies do good work. They're set up for scale — call centres, service controllers, regional engineers assigned to jobs at random. That model works for some customers. For a lot of garages, bodyshops, lift suppliers and private workshops, it doesn't.
S.T.A.K was started because we believe there's a clear gap between the national outfits and what most workshop owners actually want: a properly experienced engineer who picks up the phone, gives an honest answer, and turns up when they say they will.
We're two people. The person who quotes the job is the engineer who turns up to do it. The same person who installed your lift is the person you ring when it needs servicing six months later. That's the entire premise of the business.
Over fifteen years' hands-on, between us.
Between the two of us, we have over fifteen years' hands-on experience installing, servicing and repairing vehicle lifts. That work has taken us across franchised dealerships, independent garages, MOT bays, bodyshops, fleet workshops and private home installs.
We work on every major lift type — two-post, four-post, scissor, mobile column, in-ground. Mechanically and hydraulically, they share more in common than they differ. What matters is doing the install properly, servicing it on schedule, and being straight with the customer when a part needs replacing rather than nursing it along.
We're not authorised agents for any manufacturer, and we're not trying to be. The work is fundamentally the same whether the lift is a Bradbury, a Stertil, a Werther or anything else — and an experienced engineer is an experienced engineer.
Four things we'll always do.
These aren't marketing lines. They're the four operating principles that make a one-engineer-to-the-job business different from a national outfit.
One engineer, end to end.
The person who quotes the work is the person who books it in and does it. No handoffs to a service controller. No different engineer turning up on the day.
Written quotes, broken down.
Every job above a quick visit gets a written quote with scope, parts and labour broken out. Travel is built in. No surprises at the bottom of the invoice.
Manufacturer spec, every install.
We work to manufacturer specification and to BS 7980:2024 — the British Standard for vehicle lift installation, maintenance, thorough examination and safe use. No shortcuts on anchoring, no skipping the load test.
Straight talk on what's needed.
If something on your lift can be repaired, we'll repair it. If it needs replacing, we'll say so and tell you what your options are. We don't sell lifts ourselves, so the recommendation is based on the job — not a sales target.
On the record.
The boring-but-important details. Lift suppliers and trade buyers tend to look for these before booking a sub-contractor. Here they are up front.
What we don't claim.
We're a new business. We'd rather be straight with people from day one than over-claim and disappoint. So:
-
We're not GEA accredited.
The Garage Equipment Association runs an accreditation scheme for engineers. We may pursue it in future, but we're not going to claim it before we have it.
-
We don't do LOLER thorough examinations.
HSE rules are clear: the same person who maintains a lift can't carry out its statutory thorough examination. We work alongside a partner inspector who's fully independent of us. Or alongside whichever inspector you already use.
-
We're not a national company.
We're two engineers based in Northampton, covering England and Wales. That's not a limitation we hide — it's the point of the business. The engineer you ring is the engineer who turns up.
-
We don't quote big jobs on the phone.
Single-bay servicing and minor repairs, yes. A multi-bay install or a lift relocation needs a site survey first. Anyone giving you a number for that kind of work without a survey is skipping a step.
-
We don't list specific lift brands we “specialise” in.
Two-post, four-post, scissor and mobile column lifts are mechanically and hydraulically similar. What matters is engineering competence — not whether someone happens to have stocked one particular brand's parts for ten years.
If the way we describe it sounds like what you want, ring us.
Quotes back within one working day. Honest answer on whether your job is a fit, or whether you'd be better off elsewhere.