For condominium boards, an elevator modernization is one of the most expensive and complicated processes and during their time on the board or as decision makers. You could need to modernize due to obsolescence, age or to ensure reliability. How do you know what to do?
Step 1 – Talk to your elevator service provider about how your elevator is doing and where it is in its life cycle. A quick conversation with your salesperson or service supervisor could help you and your building plan better. Get general pricing and information on recommended general scope and what other work, also called “work by others”, is required when you go into the endeavor.
Step 2 – When it is time to get formal proposals, have a general understanding of the proposal and what is being replaced as well as what is being retained. Have a general understanding of costs and trades associated with electrical work, visual monitoring and fire panel work that may need to be completed in conjunction with your elevator modernization.
Step 3 – Obtain proposals from different companies, meet them, talk to them, get their take on your project, what should be completed, and what they can offer. Make sure they answer your calls and/or emails when you have questions. If you’re building is very proactive with communication and likes to ask questions on Saturday, and wants an answer on Saturday, that your sales person is available. Some sales people/companies are 9am-5pm M-F, some sales people/companies are 24/7 with their communication. Get a feeling for what companies fit your building’s needs for communication.
Step 4 – Review the proposals to see how they are different, highlight the areas you do not understand, take notes, and go back to that specific company and ask questions. Communicate with the other companies and ask questions about why their proposal may look different. Unfortunately all 3 of your modernization contracts may look very different, include different items, and have different language. We recommend that if there is someone you feel comfortable with and are leaning towards, work with that person to assist you in understanding the differences. We spend a lot of time walking building owners/managers through differences in proposals; we want a building owner to feel comfortable and understand what we are proposing and why.
Step 5 – Make a decision. When you make a decision make sure you understand future costs of elevator modernization, costs of “work by others”, lead times, cylinder hole potentials, time the elevator will be out of service, what storage requirements your contractor may have while on site and other items that may pop up during the project. We would like to talk about them now versus when we go onsite.
Apples to apples – This is a challenge when reviewing contracts for non-elevator personnel. We have seen some companies become more competitive when quoting, but they leave work out. If there is a reason not to change a part, that is ok, but you should understand and be aware of what is included in company A versus company B & C. If your elevator is 50 years old and company A & B is including all part replacements for car and hatch door equipment and company C is not, company C’s price will look better, but they also are doing a different scope. Above you have two different contracts, one includes door operators and door work[clutch, door rollers, interlock assemblies, door contacts, gibs], one only includes a door operator. Make sure you know what you are getting and that you are OK not getting what you are not getting.
If you have any questions or would like additional information feel free to contact me at CraigZ@colleyelevator.com or 630-766-7230 ext. 107.
Also check us out on Instagram @Colleyelevator see what we have been up to.
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