Give building owners a reason to take care of their elevator system

I was at a building this week that reminded me that it is the responsibility of the building owner to hire good contractors and take responsibility for their building.  There are some building owners who do not want to spend any money on their buildings period, and have a revolving door of contractors.  

We got a call for a building owner on the North Side of Chicago who most likely got written up for a single bulk head cylinder by a City of Chicago Inspector.  It so happened that Colley Elevator installed this elevator in the mid 1960’s.  It so happens that all of the equipment on the elevator system is from the original installation.  For one moment let’s move beyond the fact that this elevator equipment needs to be replaced and is past its life expectancy and consider how amazing it is that the elevator has lasted over 50 years and is still servicing a building.  I do not believe that any of the equipment we are installing today will last close to 50 years.  Back in 1960 the equipment was engineered and installed to operate for 30, 40 or 50 years.   Hats off to everyone involved in the elevator trade when equipment was so robust it would last such a long period of time.  

Back to the building who needs the work.  I first looked in the pit and saw the pit was filled with oil and the solution to the oil filling up the pit was a vacuum.  The pit is so deep and apparently the issue is ongoing so the vacuum is left in the pit.  It appears the oil has gotten a bit out of hand.

I went into the machine room and found out there are no maintenance logs, no testing records, nothing besides a few old tags from companies who did something for the building at some time.   We take care of many older elevator systems that run decent and we give the building owners updates when they should replace the system.  It is up to the building owner to make a good decision for the building on what to do.  This is far from a terrible elevator system but it is an elevator system that has been neglected over the years and needs to be maintained properly.  This building owner most likely is not interested in doing anything besides the minimum that is required by the City of Chicago.

A building owner with a 5 story residential building that has 40-60 units in the building should have a monthly elevator maintenance agreement.  The building that we went to this week does not have any maintenance agreement and most likely calls the lowest price service provider to fix the elevator.  It is up to us as elevator professionals to encourage proactive maintenance and modernization of elevator systems.  There will be times where a building owner will not be interested in spending any money on their building.  We need to give them reasons why they should be spending money on their elevator system. If you are an elevator sales person, inspector or mechanic we need to encourage building owners to be responsible.

Reasons why you should have a maintenance contract

1.    Provide the building with a safe elevator system

2.    Provide the building owner with a reliable elevator system

3.    Provide the building owner with information on modernization of the elevator system

4.    Provide the building owner with information on mandates for their elevator system.

5.    Remove the frustration of having an elevator in a building by giving you long term solutions to the problems you are encountering.

That is a list of only a few reasons why to have a contract for elevator maintenance.  As an industry we need to go to the buildings that do not maintain their elevator system and show the building ownership why hiring an elevator contractor to have an invested interest in their elevator system is a good idea.  One trip and fall, one accident, one entrapment, or one repair expense due to neglect can not only cost the building money but it can also give the building a bad name and occupancy can fall.  Litigation for accidents and repairs are expensive and a good contractor can help you prevent these issues from occurring.

If you are a building owner that needs to find a good elevator contractor get in touch, if we are not a good fit for you building we can give you a recommendation of who can help you out.  As I have mentioned in previous posts not all elevator contractors are good at working with every elevator system.  Find a good company to take care of your elevator system. 

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.