In this video I talk through the design, operation, and lessons learned from designing and building a storage platform lift or dumbwaiter to safely bring things up and down from the elevated storage platform in our shop/garage. This allows us to store heavier items than we could safely carry up and down a ladder or folding stair set. This ended up being a cheap and effective solution with a relatively little time investment. Total time spent was 10-15 hours, but the basic lift operation was available after the first 5-8 hours of work. The remaining time was improving the capacity, safety, and operation of the system.
While I did have a welder and lathe available to help fabricate some parts for this, it could be done without these by spending a bit more time planning out the hardware to use for various parts.
The video discusses things in-depth. If you are looking for a step-by-step instructional, this is probably not the video you are looking for. However even in that case, I hope this helps you brainstorm the lift and/or storage project you might be considering.