Poor and dangerous elevator work

This positing is intended to remind building owners to hire reputable companies to perform elevator work and make sure in the decision making process that price is not the only consideration.  I have included pictures of items a typical building owner/manager would not see after the installation is completed as they are in areas where only elevator personnel should be going. 

Over the last month or so I have been to a few buildings that have had inferior work completed.  Some of this work is due to building owners and some of the work was completed by elevator contractors.  In our area all elevator contractors are incredibly busy so we are seeing more nonunion work which are the contractors on 2 of the 3 buildings I went to.  I have no information on the 3rd building as the owner "did not know anything" about the elevator system.

1^st elevator – This was a condominium that had a non-union elevator contractor install a new power unit on an elevator that was installed in the 1960’s.  While the elevator passed inspection the installation was completed poorly.  3 hours after inspection the elevator shut down and the contractor was difficult to get back to the building to remedy the shutdown.  The contractor would not come until they got paid for the entire installation.  If the contractor is demanding payment prior to remedying your issues that they most likely caused you should ask yourself if this is a company you should have been doing business with.

This elevator took 10-20 seconds to move from the floor in the up direction. By the time we arrived the building had been dealing with this for a month and remedy for them will be expensive as the power unit had to be adjusted and wired properly.  Existing motor starter wiring was loose which also caused the buildings vault to short so the elevator service had been intermittent until it fell completely out.

2^nd elevator – This is a building who had been dealing with two reputable companies prior to making a modernization decision on their very old elevator equipment.  The building hired a non-union company with an association with one of the buildings residents.  There is a laundry list of items that need to be addressed at this building but the one below is indicative of the care they took during the installation.

3^rd elevator – Of all three elevator systems I had seen this is the one that is most concerning to me.  This elevator is at a nursing/rehab facility and was not only very old but had electrical wiring run outside of conduit.  There was a report of an incident that had an investigation initiated.  This elevator should have been shut off long before this event occurred.  When I asked the building owner who did this work he “did not know anything”.

It is our responsibility as elevator contractors, mechanics, consultants and inspectors to guide good decisions and make good decisions on what is work that should be put back into service. Price is one consideration decision makers should look at while choosing a contractor.  The additional cost to hire a reputable contractor is very small compared the cost to hire someone to redo the work or have an incident that may becoming a law suit.

As a contractor we have shorter and shorter windows to complete installations as the competitive market forces never appear to allow us to allow for more time for installations, modernizations, repair, etc on our bids.  With this said, if another few hours or few days are what it takes for a safe and reliable installation that is what we need to do.  With that said from start to finish on projects we need to be effective and efficient in our work, from the initial sales visit to the final testing of the elevator system.

Take away – Hire a good company to do your elevator work, meet them, talk to them and understand what they are doing.  All elevator contractors are not the same. A responsible union elevator contractor has the training and experience to complete a good installation for your building.

If you have any questions or would like information from Colley Elevator you can go to www.colleyelevator.com, email Craigz@colleyelevator.com or call 630-766-7230.