Lift Contractor or Independent Lift Consultant ?

We often get asked by potential clients:

Q. "Why employ a lift consultant?"

Q. "Can I not ask my Lift contractor for advice?"

By definition an independent lift consultancy is an entity with no ties to any lift manufacturer, and therefore it is not in their financial interest to promote any one particular brand or product. Additionally, as a truly independent consultant does not by definition also manufacture, install, maintain or repair any equipment, there is no potential conflict of interest.

This enables an independent lift consultant to provide:

· Unbiased advice on best fit solutions for your application regardless of manufacturer.

Since an independent consultant has no vested interest in the sales or installation of any particular product or parts or service from any Manufacturer, supplier or contractor, advice from a truly independent consultant will be based on technical knowledge and experience.

· Specifications based on compliance with regulations and standards.

An independent consultant will create a specification of works not solely from the point of view of reliability or aesthetics, but also include within this specification all you require to be compliant with regulations and standards at the time of the specification. Thus, you can be sure that a properly created specification of works from an independent lift consultancy will not be based solely on works which may “desirable” to your lift contractor from the point of a quick turn-around financially.

· The ability to objectively assess the performance of your lift contractor in comparison with other contractors and ensure you are getting best service and best value.

Since an independent consultant engages with a broad range of manufacturers, suppliers and lift contractors in the course of carrying out various projects, this enables the lift consultant to objectively assess the performance of your lift contractor/their services against not only expected performance/industry standards, but also actual real-world data from a variety of providers.

· The ability to advise in an unbiased manner on repairs versus refurbishment versus replacement in terms of lifecycle costs.

Dependent on the level of cover your existing maintenance contract provides, some contractors may look at the benefits of running repairs and repetitive breakdowns as a source of income on a basic contract or conversely recommend an early replacement on a contract where the responsibility for repairs rests with the contractor rather than the client in order to maximise their income and/or reduce their outlay respectively. Having the services and advice of an independent consultant will assist you in making sure this is not a factor and reduce your lifecycle costs.

There is a fine balance between timing of repairs or partial modernisation and indeed sometimes a case for what may seem to the “layperson” a “premature” replacement of major components or indeed entire installations. This depends on various considerations ranging from the age of the equipment, whether it is still manufactured or obsolete, the site traffic and type of occupancy, criticality of the lift/s to the business, number of lifts available, callout/failure rate, type of maintenance contract, whether the cost of a succession of repeated small repairs will, when grouped together outweigh the cost of replacement and if so, by how much…. etc.

Since a consultant has no vested interest in increasing the cost of the repairs/refurbishment/replacement works they will not inflate the scope of works beyond what is required for reliability, longevity, compliance and client aesthetic requirements. They have no conflict of interest.

· Benefit versus Cost – Many lift owners/duty holders see the employment of a consultant as simply an additional cost and question at the outset why this service is required. It is our experience that the vast majority of our customers make savings through employing our services that outweigh our fees.

One of our clients was able, through a two-year engagement with us as their maintenance portfolio consultant to recover not only our fees, but to make savings which equated to the major refurbishment of one of their lifts, funded by the savings left after our fees were accounted for.

While no two projects/situations are identical and results will vary we find that in general our fees are more than recovered by virtue of the savings and peace of mind our services deliver.

To find out how we can assist you with inspection, condition surveys, design, maintenance management and all other aspects of lift and Escalator consultancy services please contact us via our office or website at www.consultalift.co.uk