what's in your elevator maintenance contract?
TRANSCRIPT
PRESENTS
What’s in yourELEVATOR SERVICE
CONTRACT?
At many buildings, the
elevator service provider also provides the
elevator service contract.
Once upon a time, differences in coverage between service contracts
were minimal and most of them were fairly comprehensive.
Over the years, however, these agreements have evolved and
coverage has been downgraded.
For example, some full service maintenance contracts no longer
include safety testing.
This might go unnoticed, until you receive that unexpected (and
unbudgeted!) invoice for performance of elevator safety
tests.
What are the things you
should look for when comparing elevator service
contracts?
Here are my top five…
1. Maintenance Control Program (MCP) Requirements as administered
by the State of Washington.
Maintenance Control Program, or MCP, is a program or plan to ensure that an elevator
or escalator is maintained correctly throughout its life.
It is mandatory in any jurisdiction that has adopted the ASME 17.1 2000. The State of Washington, City of Seattle and City of Spokane are among these jurisdictions.
The MCP as administered in the State of Washington as been around since 2012, so most Agreements should include language to this effect. However, MCP requirements
differ depending upon within which jurisdiction the equipment is located.
Equipment within the state of Washington has stricter MCP requirements than equipment located within the City of
Seattle.
Hydraulic elevators require less time to meet MCP than traction elevators.
Make sure you understand how many hours have been factored into your pricing
to meet the MCP requirements for your jurisdiction, and that it meets, but does
not exceed what those are.
2. Safety testing for 1 and 5-year code required tests.
As mentioned earlier, safety testing, at least for traction elevators, used to be
standard in any “full service” maintenance contract.
If you consider a service contract without testing included, try to
negotiate the testing price up front so that you are not held hostage when the
testing is due.
3. Bonus Time Only for overtime callbacks.
Bonus Time Only (or BTO) refers to the amount the customer is billed when
callbacks outside the regular hours of the service contract are requested. It’s advised that your contract include BTO, then you pay
only the difference between the regular time rate and the overtime rate for the
time when the mechanic is on the job, and if you’re a really good negotiator, for
the travel time as well.
4. Required maintenance time per unit.
Most elevator service contracts use the term “periodic” to describe the frequency of visits. If you include frequency of service and length of visits in the service contract, the monthly price may be higher, but your contract will have the teeth you need to hold the provider to a certain standard. After all, who will get to define the term
“periodic” if a concern about the quality and frequency of maintenance visits occurs?
5. Cancellation for cause with time to cure.
A good elevator service provider will invest time
and money into your elevator system over the
life of the service contract. To that end, it is
understandable that an option to cancel the
service contract “at will” can cause the provider heartburn. However, a clause to cancel with cause that includes a
provision for time to cure, should be acceptable to any service provider who has confidence in their
ability to deliver.
Questions?
Call or write.
We’ll be happy to help.
CALIFORNIA23211 South Pointe DriveLaguna Hills, [email protected]
NEVADA3765 E. Sunset Rd., Ste. B-5Las Vegas, [email protected]
WASHINGTON15811 32nd Ave. NELake Forest Park, WA206-954-1821 [email protected]