- Building owners are paying for services that they are not receiving.
Firstly, today it is very common for buildings to have an elevator preventative maintenance contract and not to receive said preventative maintenance.
- Elevators are being neglected.
Secondly, elevators have been commonly referred to as the “black hole” within a building. The building relies on the elevator service provider for all the information about its equipment.
- Elevator contract Terms & Conditions dupe owners.
Lastly, buildings will sign an elevator preventative maintenance contract which is written by the elevator service contractor, which is referred to as being written on their “paper”. Also, all terms are in favor of the service provider, relinquishing the building any control of the equipment they own.
In addition, all buildings containing an elevator or escalator are required by code to have a maintenance contract from an elevator service provider (ESP). The question commonly is asked, how can the ESP’s service be verified? Since there is no oversight, ESPs have the ability to circumvent accountability and avoid carrying out the maintenance they are contractually obliged to perform. Meanwhile, building owners are still being charged full price for the maintenance that is being ignored.
This lack of maintenance ultimately shortens the lifespan of the equipment. However, this leads to repairs and increases risk, all the while driving up costs exponentially for the building owner. Therefore, building owners, have the ability to draft their own maintenance contracts, including their own terms and conditions. Ownership can empower itself by forcing the ESP to abide by its terms of service and holding it accountable. The benefits owners will receive ultimately are: decreased cost, elimination of pre-mature modernization and unnecessary repairs, decreased RSF, reduced entrapments & or callbacks, decreased CAM, no hassles when buying or selling the property, mitigating risk and tenant satisfaction from properly working equipment, among many others.
For more information, read THREE ELEVATOR TIPS FOR BUILDING OWNERS.