If you are an elevator owner, you know you have to comply with local rules and regulations regarding its operation. You also know you have to get it serviced on a regular basis for safety. But have you ever wondered about why preventive maintenance is essential to your elevator? Let’s go over some of the key reasons.
Not only can well-working elevators increase workplace efficiency and improve the marketability of your commercial property, they can also help you retain tenants and increase leasing rates.
Keep Repair Costs Down
Just like regular service and oil changes for your car will help it enjoy a longer life, so too will maintenance keep your elevator going smoothly. Without proper and routine maintenance, costly repairs will keep digging into your budget – costs you never planned for. Routine service also contributes to the long life span of the elevator itself, allowing you to enjoy more sustained performance over the years.
More Inconvenience/Lower Productivity
In addition to those extra costs, your elevator will experience more frequent shutdowns due to service calls, further inconveniencing your tenants and customers. When your elevator is shut down regularly for service, this can spur irritation and dissatisfaction from them, causing you more headaches to deal with. By having a building with a fast elevator that’s always working, you can charge more for leases and rents, enjoying more residual income that way.
But it’s not just inconvenience that’s at stake here. The productivity level of your employees as they are forced to wait for an alternate elevator or take the stairs is a hidden expenditure you probably never anticipated. This certainly isn’t an immediate, short-term effect but its long-term effects will be no less damaging.
Safety Risk
The last thing you want as the owner of an elevator is to put your passengers at risk. When you fail to engage in regular preventive maintenance, you increase the chances of something going wrong. People can get hurt or even die from your inaction. Then, you could have insurance costs and lawsuits on your hand, severely damaging your bottom line and reputation.
Take the doors, for example. These are the most used and mistreated parts of a commercial building. Not only do they open and close every time they reach a floor, people tend to pry them open, kick at them, prop them open when they need to get large objects into the car, and bang against them with luggage.
If you don’t maintain your elevator regularly, you won’t be aware when these issues become a liability. They could fail to open or close properly, or they may misalign as they come together. Or perhaps they line up unevenly with the floor.
For these reasons and more, engage in preventive maintenance for your elevator to keep costs down and safety up. To learn more about how we can help you maintain your equipment, call Mowrey Elevator today.