Case Study
A Phoenix Amenity Floor, Lifted Past the Stairs
A Prefab Staircase Could Not Carry the Equipment Load, So a Powered Lift Took It Up and Over a Second-Floor Glass Railing Instead
This is a real Fit Supply project for an apartment community in Phoenix, Arizona — proof of what real delivery and installation planning looks like when the easy path is not the safe one, told here at full length.
The video below is Fit Supply’s own real footage of this installation, captured on site.
The brief
A two-story apartment amenity floor in Phoenix needed a real cardio-and-strength build split across both levels — StairMaster stepmills, treadmills and cross trainers downstairs, more cardio upstairs, reached by an open, glass-railed mezzanine rather than a second room. The equipment itself was the easy part. Getting it to the second floor was not.
A staircase that could not carry the load
The only way up to the mezzanine was a prefab metal staircase — the kind of architectural stair a lot of newer multifamily buildings use, and one that looks capable of carrying anything a person can carry up it. This one was not. Its real, engineered weight rating was lower than commercial cardio equipment loaded onto it by hand could safely stay under, which is a detail that is easy to miss until someone is standing at the bottom of the stairs with a boxed treadmill and has to decide what to do about it.
The lift, not the stairs
Fit Supply brought a powered material lift instead of risking the staircase — raising each boxed piece straight up the open stairwell and over the mezzanine’s glass railing to the second floor, rather than testing a load limit nobody wanted to find the real number for. It is a slower way to move equipment than a hand cart up a flight of stairs. It is also the way that does not end with a cracked stair tread, a scratched glass panel or a machine dropped on the way up.
Zero damage, and an audience
The equipment went up clean — no damage to the machines, the glass railing or the property’s own finishes. The property’s residents noticed too: people came down to the gym just to watch the lift work, because raising a wrapped treadmill past a glass railing two stories up is genuinely a little bit fun to watch, even if it is also just the crew doing the job the way it is supposed to be done.
What went into the floor
The finished build runs real StairMaster 8-Series stepmills, three Star Trac treadmills, Star Trac cross trainers and a Star Trac upright bike, plus a TKO AirRaid cardio piece — split across both floors rather than stacked into one room, which is the whole reason the staircase question mattered in the first place.
The standard, not the exception
Nothing about this install was unusual for Fit Supply—a site survey ahead of delivery is how a staircase’s real weight rating gets found before a crew is standing on it with a treadmill, not after. Having the right equipment on hand, including a lift when the stairs are not a safe option, is what keeps a property’s finishes intact on delivery day. See our delivery and installation page for how that planning works on every project, not just the ones with an audience.
In short
A two-story apartment amenity floor in Phoenix, Arizona split its cardio and strength equipment — including 3 Star Trac treadmills — across both levels, but the second floor’s only access was a prefab metal staircase whose real weight rating could not safely carry commercial equipment by hand. Rather than risk it, Fit Supply brought a powered material lift, raised the equipment up and over the second floor’s glass railing instead, and finished with zero damage to the equipment, the railing or the property’s finishes.
Part of what we do on fitness facility design and layout.
Common questions about this project
Was this project designed and installed by Fit Supply, or is it a reference example?
This is a real Fit Supply project — the video above is the company’s own real footage of the actual installation, not a demonstration or a stock clip. The property and its management company are not named, consistent with how every project on this site is described.
Why couldn’t the equipment just be carried up the stairs?
The staircase’s own engineered weight rating was lower than what carrying commercial cardio equipment up it by hand would safely stay under. Prefab metal stairs can look sturdy enough for anything and still carry a real, specific load limit that a delivery crew has no way to know just by looking at them — which is exactly why it is worth checking before anyone tries to carry equipment up one.
What happens if my own property has a similar access challenge?
It gets found during the site survey that happens before delivery, not on delivery day itself — stairs, elevator access, doorway widths and load ratings are all part of that walkthrough. Where the normal path will not safely carry the equipment, Fit Supply brings the right tool for the job, a powered lift included, rather than forcing a workaround that risks damaging the equipment or the property.
What equipment went into this two-floor build?
A real StairMaster and Star Trac cardio lineup — StairMaster 8-Series stepmills, three Star Trac treadmills, Star Trac cross trainers and a Star Trac upright bike — plus a TKO AirRaid piece, split across both floors of the amenity space rather than concentrated into a single room.