NAEC Spring Conference – 4/16/23-4/19/23 – Waikoloa Beach, Hawaii

 

The National Association of Elevator Contractors is having their spring educational conference April 16^th – 19^th, 2023 in beautiful Waikoloa Beach, Hawaii.  The NAEC offers a robust agenda of education, business development, and professional introductions that make the event a celebrated annual institution for the NAEC membership.

From invaluable educational content and exceptional networking opportunities to well-deserved relaxation time, Spring Conference provides attendees an engaging venue for furthering their professional knowledge and connections while enjoying the moment.

Agenda

Sunday, April 16

2023-04-16

11:00am - 4:00pm

Registration & Hospitality

2023-04-16

1:15pm - 2:45pm

Accessibility and Residential Committee Meeting

2023-04-16

3:00pm - 4:00pm

Associate Member Session

2023-04-16

3:00pm - 4:00pm

Contractor Member Session

2023-04-16

3:00pm - 4:00pm

Supplier Member Session

2023-04-16

7:00pm - 9:00pm

Welcome Reception

 

Monday, April 17

2023-04-17

6:00am - 12:00pm

Registration

2023-04-17

7:00am - 8:15am

Opening Breakfast

2023-04-17

8:30am - 12:00pm

Education Sessions

2023-04-17

12:00pm - 6:30pm

Official Golf Tournament

 

Tuesday, April 18

2023-04-18

7:30am - 12:00pm

Registration

2023-04-18

8:30am - 12:30pm

Education Sessions

2023-04-18

5:30pm - 6:30pm

Cocktail Reception

 

Wednesday, April 19

2023-04-19

7:30am - 12:00pm

Registration

2023-04-19

8:30am - 12:30pm

Education Sessions

2023-04-19

7:00pm - 9:00pm

Dregs Party (Luau Edition!)

To register, follow the link below to register online.  The deadline for registering for the conference at the discounted rate is Friday, February 17^th, 2023.  Registration fees increase after this date.

https://www.naec.org/conference/registration.html

Contact Danielle Miller at Danielle@naec.org for any questions.

 

Bloggers personal experience – I have met so many people through the NAEC and their events that have helped me professionally.  This event is a more laid back experience then the convention where you get to talk to people on a more one on one basis.  If I didn’t have 3 little ones at home I would be booking my ticket to Hawaii.

 

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.

Colley Cares – Colley Elevator gives back – 4th Quarter 2022

As we wrap up our year end and move on to a new year we are donating money to 5 great groups that are suggested by Colley Elevator employees.  This has become such a cool program that allows Colley Elevator employees to help the philanthropic organizations they feel strongly about.  We will be sending our donations out shortly.  Thank you team Colley and thank you to these great groups that do great things every day!

History on Colley Cares - Colley Elevator has had a history of making donations to our customer’s causes, foundations, fundraisers, etc. During the last 2.5 years Colley Elevator has done several additional philanthropic initiatives to give back to our communities amid the Covid 19 pandemic.  During one of our sales meetings we came up with a new way to give back; we will be making an additional donation when we book each one of our projects to one of five different organizations. 

4th Quarter group

 

Christmas without Cancer – https://christmaswithoutcancer.org/ - Christmas Without Cancer is a non-profit organization that provides holiday gifts, as well as basic necessities to local families that are stricken with cancer. The organization was started, in 2003, by an oncology nurse, working in Oak Lawn, Illinois.  This was suggested by our elevator mechanic Justin L.

 

McHenry Cancer Center - https://www.nm.org/conditions-and-care-areas/cancer-care/cancer-support-services/-  This is a group that offers services for cancer patients in the McHenry, IL area.  This was a suggestion from elevator mechanic Kent E.

 

Howard Brown - https://howardbrown.org/ - I knew this group as a HIV/AIDs service provider from my time in the City.  They do so much more!  Great group!  Happy we get to the their service provider at a few locations.  This suggestion was a Colley choice to work with one of our great customers.

 

Take a vet fishing  - https://www.takeavetfishing.org/ - I know some vets, I know some vets that really like fishing.  I know some vets who love fishing but can’t get out by themselves anymore.  This is a great thing!  This was a suggestion elevator mechanic Jim B.

 

Care for breast cancer – Care4BreastCancer.org -
The Care4 Breast Cancer 5K is in its 22nd year and raises funds for uninsured individuals who are in need of breast cancer preventative service, screenings and education.  This suggestion was from our office Cathy H.

 3rd Quarter group – We sent all of our 3^rd quarter Colley Cares funds to Victims of Highland Park shooting.

Other groups we previously supported through Colley Cares

4Ocean

American Cancer Society

Elmhurst York Food Pantry

Greater Chicago Food Depository

Haymarket Center

Maryville Academy

NEDSRA

One Tail at a Time

Pillars Community Health

Ray Graham Association

Boy Scouts of America

Boys & Girls Club Impact Center

Red Cross – Ukraine Support

Gateway Green

Toy Box Connection

Bensenville Food Pantry

Howard Brown

Luries Childrens Hospital

Ronald Mc Donald House

MADD

Save a Pet

McHenry County Cancer & Adult Developmental

Locks of Love

Red Cross - Hurricane

If you are reading this and have a group that we haven’t covered in this, send over your suggestions!  We are always looking for new groups to support.

Hey! Sign up for our mailing list!  Top right corner of the blog.

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.

Elevator Pit Water Damage – Hydraulic Elevator

 

In the Chicagoland area we have water challenges on a regular basis.  The more buildings that go up, the less places we have for the water to go.  Pave the World!  One of the unintended consequences of developing so much land and building facilities in places that probably aren’t the best for them, at least building a basement or a lower landing, is that we will have water coming in the lowest part of the building, which is typically the elevator pit. High water tables and lower landings are not a good mix.

We recently were doing work at one of our newer customer’s buildings that was in dire need of a refresh of their pit equipment.  Here is what happens, water comes in, water goes out, water comes in, sump pump stops working, water stays, and when the water is evacuated the pipes begin to deteriorate, like a cavity in your mouth, the rusting/deterioration process does not stop.   Over time we have a safety issue with the integrity of the pipe.

Here are some before and after pictures

 

[Water damaged pit with rusty piping]

[Pit after victaulic and pipe replacement]

[Close up of pipe damage - I bet if you saw this you wouldn't ride this elevator]

Take away – Make sure you have an elevator contractor visiting your building on a regular basis.  Make sure your elevator contractor looks in the pit and makes sure your sump is working.  Make sure your elevator contractor lets you know if your sump is not working and make an appointment for your elevator contractor to open the hoistway door for the plumber to fix the sump.  NOTE!  Elevator contractors do not fix sumps, but we can give the building safe access to the elevator pit.

[This is from years of water exposure in the elevator pit - The building sumps cannot keep up with the water table]

Extra Note – If you know your building takes water and your sumps are working on the regular, have an extra sump around, it comes in handy on the weekend when your sump fails and your elevator does a big splash into the water filled pit.

 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.

New Construction – Hydraulic Elevators – Chicago Public Schools

 

In 2022 we had the opportunity to complete a few new construction projects.  We do a handful of new construction projects a year, typically for people who do not want to work with proprietary elevator systems or have a bad taste in their mouth from other experiences from OEMs.  As an independent elevator company in a major market our OEMs[Otis, Schindler, TK, Kone] have very competitive pricing on new construction elevators.  The rub on the good price is different customer support, construction support, domain knowledge and the biggest one is what you are going to pay when the elevator is completed and you have to hire an elevator maintenance provider for ongoing maintenance and annual testing.

Some of our new construction projects this year were with the Chicago Public Schools [CPS], the largest school system in the state of Illinois and one of the largest school systems in the nation.

Unique needs – The Chicago Public School system is working on making some of their very old buildings more accessible. The Chicago Public Schools has a great elevator consultant, Joe Donnelly, who crafted a CPS standard elevator, so the same elevator is installed at all CPS locations.  This makes it very easy for the owner[CPS], GCs and installers because every elevator more or less is the same as the last one. This standard does not allow for borehole jacks for environmental concerns and requires non-proprietary equipment so any elevator company can maintain the elevators after they are turned over. 

Elevator Equipment used – At this specific CPS site we used a Minnesota Elevator package with the following equipment

            Elevator controller - Motion Control Engineering

            Cylinders – ITI Hyraulik

            Door equipment – GAL

            CAB/Sling/Platform – MEI

            Power unit – MEI w/Maxton valve

            Fixtures - Innovation Industries

Before the start of the project – Long before we step foot onsite for installation, there is a lot of work with the elevator company office and the GC.  Many visits to the building during construction to make sure the pit is the right size, inserts are in the walls in the right places, sump pit is in the right spot, machine room is the right size. In this specific event we had a great GC to work with from day one to completion; George Sollitt – Wood Dale, IL.

[Walking the steel with the GC] 

[New elevator pit needs to be verified] 

When the building is up – When the building is up, we needed to work with the GC on hoistway measurements and where are attachments are.

[Hoistway is built per our specs] 

[Inserts are in per our specs] 

[Pit is in with the sump per our specs] 

Mobilization – When we mobilize on a construction it is sometimes challenging to work among the other trades because the buildings have a lot going on.  In this event they are building classrooms, gymnasiums, parking lots, roofs, walls, installing lockers, lighting, fire system, building power, stages, stair wells, floor finishes, bathrooms, etc.  A lot of people, a lot of coordination.  We have to work with the GC and other trades to make sure we get everything we need to complete a portion of the project.

Specific challenges – During 2022 we had an issue getting our local utility to get us power and if it wasn’t getting power, it was getting switch gears, transformers and other larger power equipment.  It is hard to build a building if you do not have any power to power it.

[Main landing/main egress after building is completed] 

[Car top with telescoping pistons & GAL door equipment] 

[Elevator pit when everything is completed] 

Thank you – I would like to thank the Colley Team for doing an incredible job from our truck drivers who navigated deliveries through the gnarly load in and load out areas to our field team who did a great installation.  This project had 12 different Colley Elevator Company people work on it from contract signing, permitting, engineering, deliveries, field assistance, installation, certified payroll, close out docs, close out meetings and final billing.  We had an exceptional GC who was great to work with onsite, thank you George Sollit.  We had a great equipment partner at MEI, thank you MEI.

Take away – The Chicago Public Schools in my opinion are doing a great job of insulating themselves from having elevator equipment that may cause headaches and be difficult to economically maintain in the future.  The main item is having nonproprietary equipment that allows any elevator contractor to be able to have access to technical support and replacement parts.  When pricing out new elevator systems you need to look at the 20 year cost for the equipment, not just the installation cost.

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.

Year in reflection - Colley Elevator Blog - 2022 review

 

Welcome 2023!  We had a great 2022 at Colley Elevator.  Last year at this time we were hiding under our tables because covid came back strong.  This year we have a lot of covid but are carrying on.  In the last year we had the opportunity to do some great things and work with some great people.  The greatest experience I have personally have is to work with our great Colley team, I’m lucky to have such great people around as we enter our 115^th year of being an independent elevator contractor.

Annual reflection – This year we saw our maintenance portfolio grow from 2020 to 2200 elevators under contract. Mid-year we adopted a new purchase order system so I cannot report exactly how many controllers we ordered but we kept Smartrise and MCE busy, we also ordered our first Alpha Elevator controller.  We probably ordered over 100 door operators, 75+ fixtures packages, 50+ power units, a few elevator packages[MEI and Canton], a whole lot of cylinders from EECO along with Custom and ITI.  Colley Cares, our philanthropic outreach, gave out over $12,000 to philanthropic organizations ranging from substance abuse to food depositories.  The Colley team came together to help out Toys for Tots and a Food Depository this fall/winter with a truck load of gifts and food to help out those in need.  We work with incredible people who made this all happen and our average employment is about 11 years. I’m proud to work side by side with everyone here and that we have a culture of openness at Colley that helps get everyone done at a high level! Thank you to our coworkers, customers & suppliers for being great!  In 2022 the Elevator World Ellie came back to Colley Elevator winning our 3^rd “Best Contractor of the North” from our friends at Midwest Elevator who won last year.

Post reflection – Take a look at the great catalog of blog posts in 2022, go back and read some.

1/9/22 – Cold Weather Elevator – How does Cold Weather Affect my Elevator

1/15/22 – Hydraulic Freight Elevator Modernization – Evanston, IL

1/23/22 – Colley Cares – Chicago Land Elevator Company Gives Back!

1/30/22 – 3D Door scans – New Elevator code A17.1 2019 – State of Illinois

2/6/22 – Elevator picture Hall of Fame 2022 – Superbowl of Elevators

2/12/22 – Two Way visual Communication ASME A17.1 2019 IBC 2018 Code requirement

2/20/22 – When is it time to modernize an elevator

3/6/22 – Consumer Product Safety Commission [CPSC] and Three Leading Residential Lift Manufacturers Announce Recall 

3/20/22 - Pressure Sensitive Pit Ladders – Elevator Safety That Will Save Lives

3/27/22 - End Of Life/Obsolete Elevator Equipment – Dover DMC Elevator Update 3/27/22

4/2/22 – Giant Passenger elevator modernization – Chicago, IL

4/10/22 – Westinghouse Elevator Fast Track Hydraulic Elevator

4/19/22 – City of Chicago AIC Elevator Inspections

4/24/22 - NAESA Central Region Spring Work Shop – Des Plaines, IL - April 22-23, 2022

5/2/22 – Traction Elevator Modernization – Evanston, IL

5/15/22 - Community Associations Institute [CAI] – Condo-HOA conference & Expo

5/22/22 - Elevator Education - Educating our Customers and Facility Managers

5/30/22 – Colley Cares – Colley Elevator Gives Back – 1^st Quarter

6/5/22 – Hydraulic elevator control modernization – Skokie, IL

6/12/22 - Hydraulic Elevator Oil Filtration – Tank Cleaning – New Hydraulic Fluid – Hydraulic Elevator Valve - 2022 Version

6/19/22 - Hot Weather & Elevator Machine Rooms Will Affect Your Elevator's Ability to Service the Building - Summertime! HOT! TOO HOT!

6/26/22 – Traction Elevator modernization – Wilmette, IL

7/10/22 – Elevator picture hall of fame – Volume 2

7/17/22 – Highland Park, IL Shooting Victims Fund

7/24/22 – Elevator maintenance wanted – a dream deferred

8/1/22 - Vote Colley Elevator for Elevator Worlds 2022 Best Contractor – North Ellie

8/7/22 - Vote Colley Elevator for Elevator Worlds 2022  “Best Contractor – North” Ellie

8/14/22 - You Don’t Need to See the Whole Stair Case, Just the First Step – Traction Elevator MOD - Chicago, IL

8/21/22 - Proactive Elevator Cylinder Replacement – What You Don’t See - Chicago, IL

9/3/22 – Otis Elevator Black Belt door operator – Obsolete

9/11/22 – NAEC Elevator convention & exposition

9/18/22 – Hydraulic elevator modernization – Oak Park, IL

9/25/22 - 2022 Elevator World Ellie winner – Best Contractor of the North – Colley Elevator

10/9/22 – Elevator modernization planning – Evanston, IL

10/16/22 - Colley Elevator's 10th Annual QEI Education Training – Always Keep Learning

10/23/22 - Making elevators great again – Traction Elevator - Chicago, IL

10/30/22 – Hydraulic elevator modernization – Forest Park, IL

11/5/22 – Chicago Elevator Association – November Meeting

11/20/22 – Elevator cylinder hole clause – Elevator cylinder replacement

11/27/22 – Hydraulic elevator modernization – Forest Park Library – Forest Park, IL

12/4/22 - NAEC – National Association of Elevator Contractors Membership drive

12/10/22 – Freight Elevator – What does a building do with the old work horse

12/18/22 - Cold Weather Elevator – How does Cold Weather Affect my Elevator – Repost

Blog reflection – 43 posts in 2022[that is a lot of words, pictures and time], over 35,000 views, over 205,063 views in the blog’s history.  

Elevator resolution – I would like to get back out and attend a conference or two next year and go to more continuing education.  We had our 3^rd child last year so I didn’t do much traveling, this year I would like to be in the class room more as well as read more technical documents.

2022 Challenges – Covid went away but early 2022 we saw significant supply chain issues with our control manufacturers.  One company had starters and not boards, one company had boards and no starters.  One company didn't have motor drives.  Lets hope 2023 sees the end of these shortages.

2022 projects/relationships – We are doing a lot of work with Presbyterian Homes and that has been a great relationship along with their CM, Skender Construction.  We got to know a few different GC’s doing CPS work, most notably George Sollit who was great to work with.  We are starting to book some work with Q Center – St. Charles, IL who we are excited to get to know better.  One of the best GC’s we worked with was at the Forest Park Library and SMC Construction Services, thanks Jason.  Over the last year we worked with so many great GC’s, consultants and buildings, thank you all.

Thank you for everyone who took the time to read the blog.  My challenge for you in 2023 is to find something new to do.  Pick up a new hobby, go to a new place on vacation, make a new friend.  If you don’t go and look, you might never know what you are missing.  I have 3 kids and get to meet new people, do new things and go new places on the regular and while I am a creature of habit and apprehensive of some the new things I’m thrown into, after I am done doing them, I’m glad I did.

Hey! Sign up for our mailing list! 

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.