Vertical Transportation – 4 Mistakes You Might Be Making

Incorrect or delayed preventive maintenance could shorten the lifespan of your elevator. How much care do you take when using your escalators and elevators? They might function well right now, but if the proper maintenance is not performed by the competent professional, it could negatively affect the equipment's lifespan and lead to more service calls. Incorrect or delayed preventive maintenance could shorten the lifespan of your elevator. Are any of these vertical transportation errors being made by you? Do any of these problems apply to your own facility? 

1) Automatically Accepting the Lowest Bid 

When you get quotes from maintenance experts, make sure you select someone who is skilled with your specific equipment. The lowest price may initially save you money, but in the long run, it could end up costing you more. One of the big issues we see is going with the lowest price and not matching the equipment with the proper mechanic, A lot of facilities managers are very savvy and make all the right decisions, but then the procurement department can force them to take a lower bid: ‘Here’s your budget and here’s who you’re going with.’ That happens a lot. It can help to bring in a consultant to get everyone on the same page. 

2) Boilerplate Language in Contracts 

Contracts must be negotiated; do not accept the default language because the terms and conditions are probably not in your advantage. Make sure the contract you sign provides you with protection and includes specifics about maintenance schedules and maintenance providers' time on site. -4 Biggest Building Maintenance Challenges and Solutions Periodic maintenance contracts are occasionally signed by FMs. When I tell consumers that they should visit their doctor "periodically," I mean once a year. If you don't want your elevators to undergo routine maintenance, no one will be responsible for making an effort to contact the elevator firm besides when anything breaks. The anticipated lifecycle of your elevators is impacted by that. 

3) Unfavorable Response Time Specifications 

Does your contract specify how quickly a service provider has to respond if someone is trapped in an elevator? “Some contracts say you have to pay the vendor to get people out. That’s crazy, but it happens. Response times are very important.” Your specification for response time should be realistic depending on your building’s needs. Typically, this ranges from half an hour to two hours “Some contracts we see allow four to six hours for a response. Why would you accept that? Don’t let the contract be vague on entrapment – we recommend no longer than a half an hour. How long do you want to be stuck in an elevator? Our goal is to get the person out of the elevator before the fire department is called, because the fire department will break the doors to get them out and that adds billable repairs, which are very expensive. However, if your contract specifies a response time of half an hour and you don’t show up on time, and the fire department breaks the door after an hour, the vendor has to pay for that – but it has to be in the contract.

 4) Deferred Maintenance 

Putting off needed maintenance does considerable damage to your elevator, but deferring it is common in the name of saving money in the short term despite higher long-term costs “If you don’t add oil to your car or fix things that are broken until a light comes on instead of doing proactive maintenance, you know you’re shortening the life of your car, with vertical transportation Consultants, proactive tasks are major things that we see not getting done on a regular basis unless the client is willing to, pay for it and have a specification in their contract that requires the vendor to do it.