Two limits, and only one of them binds
Every lift has a weight limit and a space limit, and the trip count comes from whichever runs out first. The defaults show the case people get wrong. Two hundred and forty units at 38 pounds is 9,120 pounds, and at 400 pounds a lift that is 22.8 — call it 23 lifts. But only eight units fit on the platform at a time, so the space limit gives 30 lifts, and 30 is the answer.
Those seven extra trips are thirty percent more work than the weight arithmetic predicted, and each of the thirty lifts is carrying 304 pounds against a figure of 400. Nearly a quarter of the rated load is being flown as air. Whenever volume is binding, the useful lever is the container or the stacking, not the hoist.
It flips the other way with dense material. Sand, block and bagged mortar hit the weight limit with the platform half empty, and then the space is what is being wasted instead.
The hoist is idle for most of the cycle
Twenty-six feet at 65 feet per minute is 24 seconds up. Coming back down empty at 90 is 17.3 seconds. So the machine is moving for 41.3 seconds out of a 191.3 second cycle, and the other 150 seconds are loading, unloading and the pause between them — 21.6 percent travel, 78.4 percent handling.
That ratio is the single most useful number on the page, because it tells you where an improvement is worth anything. Doubling the line speed saves 20.7 seconds a cycle. Taking thirty seconds out of the loading, by staging the material where it is picked up instead of fetching it, saves thirty. And the loading time is the one nobody measures, because it does not feel like part of the lift.
Thirty lifts at 191.3 seconds is 5,740 seconds, or 1.59 hours of continuous cycling. Three people tied up for that is 4.78 crew hours, which is most of a morning gone for one pallet of material — and that is with nobody stopping, nothing tangling, and the landing always clear.
Why the load per lift is an input
Because there is nothing general to derive it from. The rated capacity of a hoist belongs to that hoist in that configuration with that mast height and those tie-ins. The capacity of a bucket, a sling, a forklift or a barrow belongs to each of those. Whatever margin you work to inside the rating is a decision made by people who know the job. This page takes the number, divides by it, and forms no opinion about it, which is the only honest thing a page like this can do with a figure it cannot see the context for.
The same goes for everything the count implies. Nothing here says the material may be lifted, that it may be landed where you are landing it, or that thirty lifts is a reasonable plan for the equipment. The equipment instructions and the person planning the lift are where those answers live, and this is regulated work in most places.
Sanity checks on the output
If the rate in units per hour looks high, the loading time is probably optimistic — a good rule is to time one real cycle on the actual job and put that number in rather than an estimate. If the crew hours look small, check whether everyone in the count is genuinely tied up: a bottom hand, a top hand and an operator is three people, and if two of them are standing waiting, that is still three people being paid.
For the tonnage that feeds this, the masonry weight calculator; for where it is going, the scaffold bay calculator.
Questions people ask
How do I work out how many lifts a load of material takes?
Work out both limits and take the larger. Total weight divided by the load per lift gives one number, total count divided by what physically fits per lift gives the other, and each is rounded up. For 240 units at 38 pounds with a 400 pound working load and eight units of space, weight says 23 lifts and space says 30 — so 30, and each lift carries 304 pounds rather than 400.
Why does a faster hoist not speed the job up much?
Because travel is a small part of the cycle. Twenty-six feet up and down at ordinary line speeds is about 41 seconds, inside a cycle of 191 seconds once loading, unloading and signalling are counted. Doubling the speed saves 20.7 seconds a trip. Cutting the same amount out of the loading saves exactly as much and usually costs nothing.
What should I use for loading and unloading time?
Time it on the real job, once, with the real crew and the real material. Estimates for this are consistently optimistic because people time the part that looks like work and leave out fetching, positioning, strapping and the pause where everyone waits for the landing to clear. A single measured cycle is worth more than any table.
Does this tell me whether my hoist can take the load?
No. The load per lift is a number you enter, from the rating plate on the equipment and reduced by whatever margin you are working to, and this page uses it only as a divisor. Rated capacity depends on the specific machine and configuration, and whether a particular lift should be made is a question for the equipment instructions and the person planning it.
How many crew hours does moving material to height actually cost?
More than the elapsed time suggests, because the count includes everyone who cannot be doing anything else. The default here — 240 units to 26 feet — is 1.59 hours of continuous cycling, which is 4.78 crew hours with three people tied up. That is the figure to compare against the alternatives, not the hour and a half.