Address your questions regarding elevators, escalators, accessibility, homelifts and other vertical transportation to elevatorman@elevatorman.net.  Elevatorman will respond as quickly as possible.

SAFETY -

I am scared to death of elevators, are they really safe?  HP in Knoxville -

HP, have no fear.  Elevators are the safest form of tranportation there is including your feet.  Each day elevators carry passengers literally millions of miles safely and efficiently.  Your chances of being stuck in an elevator are very low and your chances of being hurt are astronomically low.

What about elevator hall doors; in the movies they are always comping open and people falling down the shafts.  can this really happen?  PRG, Knoxville

PRG, remember, its a movie.  Elevator doors have devices on the doors at each opening called interlocks.  These electro-mechanical devices prevent the doors from being opened when the elevator is not at the floor.  Electro-mechanical simply means they are hooked up electronically so the elevator will stop if a hall door is opened and are mechanically latched to keep them closed. You have probably noticed the liittle holes in the top corner of the door.  That is where a technician can use a key to open the interlock and hence the door for maintenance or in case of an emergency.  Rest assured,  Properly maintained equipment will not allow the elevator to operate with the doors open.

CONTRACTS -

I have managed many buildings with different brands of elevators and found that price wise, all full service contracts are the same.  Do you agree?  MK, Morristown

At first glance MK, yes but when you get into the details, not at all.  Most contracts amongst the different companies look the same in format and often in content.  Because of the highly competitive nature of elevator service the initial monthly cost can be the same.  But what is being covered under that agreement?  Are you comparing a multinational union company to a non-union local provider?  Then the billing rates for call backs, and you will have call backs at some point, could be $50, a $100 more per man hour for that call back from one company to another.  What time does overtime start?  How many technicians have to come out on a call, one or two?  If you call in with a problem at 8 am and they send out a technician at 5 pm, who pays the overtime then?  What about increases, are they annually or as required?  How much are those increases, 4% or 12%?  On a $150 a month contract with company A you may have only spent $1,800 for maintenance, but you may also have four two hour call backs (8 hours) that the Company A, a union company, charged $250 per man hour or an additional $2,000 that had you gone with company B, a non-union company would only have cost $1,200.  There is a lot more to an elevator service agreement than the yearly price so anytime you are negotiating a contract, remember, its just that; a negotiation.  Be sure you are getting what you need for your tenants.