Quality elevator work/“making it work”

Over the years an elevator system can have many different service providers and many “make it work” moments.  I always say it is at 4:00pm on Friday or 2am on a Sunday morning when a building needs their elevator back in service and there was a power outage or other significant issue and the elevator mechanic “makes it work”.

Making the elevator system work is very important for the building owner.  But as an elevator company we need to make sure we go back to the building and make the work we completed to get the elevator back up and running look presentable and orderly so when the next person comes they will be able to service the elevator properly.  We also need to project the lingering issues that could cause future issues and provide proposals to the building owner for remedy.

We ran into an issue where a building got a bad ground on an elevator system and damaged the wiring.  It was no short order to make it work properly and give the building owner back their elevator system. We gave them a quote for a permanent repair to the elevator system, which they completed.  There were a quite a few issues lurking here after it was back up and running we found when we went to rewire the elevator system.  From start to finish everyone involved did a great job.

[Repair of the elevator system after grounding issue occurred]

[Control system after rewiring occurred]

[Junction box probably from installation and years of "making it work"]

[After rewiring was completed]

How to prevent short term repairs from becoming a long term liability – If you have a significant issue on your elevator system and the elevator technician makes a repair on the system and gets the elevator back up and running, talk to the technician as well as talk to the elevator company office so you can have a permanent solution.  “Bob, the elevator tech, was just out at our building and did a great job at returning the elevator back to service but said we need to do X, Y, Z.”.  We on the office side should be watching this too and communicate with the building management.  We often see that some of the stop gap items get completed to get the elevator back to service never get 100% resolved and they create other issues down the road.

Hire a responsible contractor – We are a Union contractor and do promote hiring trained and competent elevator contractors[which have trained and competent personnel].  The class room training all union apprentices receive is very impressive and help them when they become mechanics.  On the job training [OJT] is very important and should complement the class room training.  If you hire and elevator contractor off the street you may not get what you think you are getting, make sure they have competent people who have been trained.  If someone was Arborist[cutting trees down] six weeks ago and this week they are a "elevator mechanic" you may want to hire someone else. 

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