Short answer: after a few floors, the stairs become the most expensive "equipment" on site: every climb comes out of paid working time and crews start work tired. A personnel and material hoist cuts that time and fatigue and carries materials on the same trip. Decide with a simple calculation of floors, crew size and daily trips.
ALPMAKSAN, an İstanbul-based manufacturer of mast climbing work platforms and construction hoists, builds the H1500 and H2000 personnel and material hoists. This guide shows how to put a number on the time lost on the stairs so the hoist decision rests on your own site data rather than on habit.
How much time do workers lose climbing stairs?
More than most programmes assume, because the loss repeats for every worker, every trip and every day. A widely quoted SAIA cost study assumed about 20 seconds per floor for each one-way trip on a stair tower.
Use this formula with your own values:
Worker-hours lost per day = workers × round trips per day × 2 × floors × seconds per floor ÷ 3,600
Count every trip a worker makes between grade and the work floor: shift start, lunch, breaks, fetching tools and materials, and the end of the shift. Measure the seconds per floor on your own stairs if you can; the 20-second figure is a starting assumption, not a rule, and it rises when workers carry tools.
What does a worked example look like?
Here is our example for a building at its top-floor phase. All inputs are assumptions you should replace with your own.
| Input or result | Stairs | Hoist |
|---|---|---|
| Floors to the work level | 20 | 20 |
| Height to the work level (3 m per floor) | 60 m | 60 m |
| Workers using the route | 40 | 40 |
| Round trips per worker per day | 4 | 4 |
| One-way travel time | 20 floors × 20 s ≈ 6.7 min | H1500 at 16 m/min: 3.75 min · H2000 at 30 m/min: 2 min |
| Travel time per worker per day | ≈ 53 min | H1500: 30 min · H2000: 16 min |
| Crew travel time per day | ≈ 35.6 worker-hours | H1500: 20 worker-hours · H2000: ≈ 10.7 worker-hours |
The hoist figures are pure travel time at rated speed. Loading, landing stops and waiting at the base are not included, so plan the shift start carefully: with 40 workers, the H1500 needs at least three trips and the H2000 at least two. Even so, the gap grows with every floor, and the stairs leave the crew tired before work starts.
When does a construction hoist make sense instead of stairs?
When the lost hours, the fatigue and the materials carried by hand cost more than the hoist package. That point arrives earlier than many expect, because the hoist also moves materials and frees the crane.
In the SAIA example for an eight-storey building with 30 workers making five round trips a day for eight months, the total cost was $143,666 with a stair tower and $76,785 with a construction elevator. That is an industry example with its own wage, speed and trip assumptions, not a guarantee. Recalculate it with your crew size, floors and trips, and compare the result with a hoist quote that lists every item.
What else changes when workers ride instead of climb?
Productivity, safety and supervision improve along with the travel time. The same SAIA study lists these benefits of a site elevator:
- Workers reach the work floor faster and without recovery time after a climb.
- Less wear and tear on the body from climbing stairs with heavy tools.
- Supervisors can inspect upper floors more often.
- Less crane time is tied up, because trades move their own materials in the cage.
- Floors are stocked more efficiently.
The stairs do not disappear. They remain the route for short trips on the lower floors and part of the site's emergency plan. The hoist takes the routine trips.
Which ALPMAKSAN hoist fits the crew?
Match the cage to the peak number of people at shift start and the heaviest routine load, then check the travel time at your height.
| ALPMAKSAN hoist | H1500 | H2000 |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity | 1,500 kg | 2,000 kg |
| Speed | 16 m/min | 30 m/min |
| Maximum height | 150 m | 150 m |
| Cage (W × D × H) | 1300 × 2200 × 2100 mm | 1450 × 2400 × 2100 mm |
| People per trip (our estimate) | 18 | 25 |
The people row is our calculation from rated capacity at 80 kg per person, rounded down; the permitted number is the one on the machine's data plate and in the manual. For large crews on tall buildings, the H2000's speed and larger cage shorten the shift-start queue. Both models are compared on the construction hoists page, and the wider site plan is in our guide on moving workers and materials on a high-rise site.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take a worker to climb one floor of stairs?
The SAIA study assumed about 20 seconds per floor for a one-way trip. Measure it on your own stairs, as tools, stair layout and fatigue change the figure.
Do I need a construction hoist for a mid-rise building?
Often yes. Calculate the worker-hours lost on the stairs with your floors, crew size and daily trips, and compare them with a hoist quote; the SAIA example already showed a lower total cost at eight storeys.
Does a hoist replace the stairs on site?
No. The hoist takes routine trips for people and materials, while the stairs remain for short trips and the site's emergency plan.
How many people does an ALPMAKSAN hoist carry per trip?
By our estimate of 80 kg per person, 18 for the H1500 and 25 for the H2000. The data plate and manual set the permitted number.
Is a mast climber an alternative to a construction hoist?
No. A mast climber is a work platform for facade access, while a hoist moves people and materials between floors. See what a mast climber is.
Calculate it for your site
Send us your floors, crew size and daily trips or write to info@alpmaksan.com, and we will help you size an H1500 or H2000 hoist for rental or purchase.
Sources
- SAIA - Construction Elevators: No Longer a Luxury (PDF)
- SAIA - Construction Hoist Council
- ALPMAKSAN - Construction hoists (H1500 and H2000)
Updated: 2026-11-11
This guide provides general planning information. The example figures are assumptions for illustration. It does not replace the machine manual, a project-specific engineering assessment or a safe working procedure.