Property Management: “What’s taking so long with those elevator repairs?!”

Is another elevator down at your condominium / strata? Are you waiting longer just to get up to your home, or down from it? Has property management put up a sign saying it’s “under repair”, but that repair just doesn’t seem to be happening? It’s frustrating, we know… but what you may not know is just how frustrating it is for everyone involved - property management and staff included!

Some residents, in their frustration, may choose to exchange a heated conversation with property management, staff, or the board in hopes of having them “understand” just how much out-of-service elevators are affecting their day-to-day lives. While this may be tempting, we urge residents to read on for a deeper understanding of elevator repairs, and

effective strategies to communicate concerns to the building’s leadership.

Property management, staff, residents, condo board members, everyone is affected!

Unfortunate events such as grounded elevators affect everyone: residents’ abilities to quickly move to/from their homes is impacted, property management and staff must coordinate repairs with condo vendors (and these schedules and estimated timelines are often beyond anyone’s control), and the condo board members (which often includes at least one/some Directors that live on site) are stuck in a middle where they experience inconvenience as residents themselves - but also the frustration of other residents and property management as the two groups often lock horns out of mutual frustration with the same situation. 

First of all, remember that condos are communities, where more is achieved by working together rather than against each other. Starting from a place of understanding that everyone is frustrated by the out-of-service elevator(s) and has the shared interest to resolve the situation helps keep the conversation respectful and productive, which is a tone everyone appreciates.

Now, finally has the elevator arrived. The stairs was about to become a personal inferno - Anders Zorn

Ok, but… why is property management taking so long to finish the repairs?

Fair question, and understanding the complexities of elevator repairs is key to beginning a conversation with your building’s property management professional or condominium board. Elevators, like anything mechanical, can get stuck, malfunction, and break… which is not surprising considering the volume of daily human traffic that they are responsible for moving up and down the building!

Of course, when an elevator goes down, the prudent thing for property management (or the appropriately delegated building staff, which may be security, superintendents, and/or others in different buildings) is to immediately contact the condo’s elevator technicians for service. It is at the staff’s discretion to determine if the downed elevator is an “emergency call” (meaning the technicians should come out asap even during off-hours such as evenings and weekends - often for a significantly increased cost), or if the situation can be dealt with during regular business hours (at the technician’s soonest availability during regular business hours). 

Once the technician attends site and assesses the elevator, they will be able to determine whether it’s a simple fix (which may sometimes be completed at that point or soon after), or something more complex that may require specific parts and more extensive repairs.

Because each building is different, elevators are not “one size fits all”; rather, they are often highly customized to each building and therefore have many unique and proprietary features and parts. Consequently, the parts needed for repairs are generally not “off the shelf” items, and may need to be remade specifically for application in that particular elevator. Sometimes, these parts are not made locally, or even in Canada, so import adds further wait time. For example, one of the largest elevator companies, ThyssenKrupp Elevators, manufactures many of its parts in the USA.

When also considering the supply and labour issues (such as “not enough licensed mechanics to maintain record number of Toronto elevators”) that many industries are still encountering due to the consequences of the pandemic, it’s no surprise that everyone’s often stuck in what seems like a never-ending wait game… and that’s just to make parts available and have technicians to install them!

Lastly, notice the word “proprietary”. Many elevator companies use proprietary parts, meaning that only their licensed employees are allowed to work on it, and if anyone else does, the condo risks losing any and all warranty with their elevator company. Elevators are expensive, and losing warranty would be a huge expense to all of the building’s owners that may result in significant additional maintenance fees. Maintaining the warranties is therefore often of paramount importance

First come, first serve: but not in this case!

A common misconception is that technicians address elevators in a “first come, first serve” manner; however, this is often not the case for many companies. Rather, they use a more complex system that assesses the impact that the downed elevator has on the community. 

For example, if “Building A” has 4 elevators and 1 is down, it will not be triaged with the same priority as “Building B” which may have only 2 elevators of which 1 is down. This is because companies must assess the level of urgency to repair should an emergency happen: for example, what if the other elevator also fails in “Building B” and its residents are down to no elevators?

Because of this system, condos with the (dis)advantage of many elevators may end up waiting longer for parts and/or service as they may get “bumped” down the priority list in order to prioritize other buildings with a more urgent and dire need for elevator service restoration.

Communication is key for good property management

In any community, communication is key. Condo managers that transparently share information with residents often see a drastic decrease in questions asking for more information (as it was already freely shared) and frustrated residents. Sharing significant updates, once available, is even more important as it shows that management is actively working on remedying the situation and proactively sharing updates with residents.

Once the technician assesses the problem and has an idea of the scope of repairs and timelines, they’ll communicate this information to the condo’s property management, who should provide a summary to residents. Should residents still have questions, they should always feel welcome to reach out to property management to engage in a respectful conversation about their concerns - just like property management should always be happy to engage with residents in order to build a positive and informed community. 

Unfortunately, sometimes there may be legitimate concerns with how management has been handling the situation, which may require appropriate escalation procedures. If residents have feedback about the manager’s performance, they may choose to begin escalation to the manager’s

supervisor and/or the Board to share their concerns and perspective.

Is there anything residents can do to prevent elevator issues?

Yes, there is - especially regarding the elevator doors! If someone holds or forces a door open for too long, it can cause the elevator to shut down. Usually, you can wave a hand in-between the door and the wall. When this is done, the sensor indicates to the elevator that there is something in front of it and it will reopen without problems, within reason.

Most elevators, when the door is forced open for too long, will begin to buzz and attempt to force the door closed. At this point, it thinks (sometimes correctly) that there is something obstructing the door or that the sensor is malfunctioning. When the buzzer is sounding after being held open and the elevator has begun to force close its doors, the sensor will no longer respond. If the door is continued to be obstructed or it is forced back open, the car will stop. It assumes that there is something wrong and the car will shut down, requiring management to make a service call to the elevator company to resolve the issue.

Therefore, if residents don’t want to contribute to more broken-down elevators, they should avoid holding, forcing open or obstructing the elevator doors. Of course, no one is saying not to politely use the door open button to help those attempting to board the elevator; that is common courtesy, and everyone can appreciate it. However, excessively holding and forcing the door to remain open, can be unsafe/dangerous to people and can cause damage to the elevators - and this should be avoided whenever possible.

Dealing with the not so worse case scenario: “double whammy”.

When it comes to elevator luck, the worst case scenario is clearly no functional elevator at all. Nonetheless, the rarely, though always possible, residents may encounter the “double whammy”: an elevator down and a move in/out!

When an elevator is already down and a move in/out is scheduled, condos should try to do everything reasonably possible to reschedule or allow for alternate plans that may have less of a negative impact on the condo. However, in many cases, condos may have to allow the person(s) moving out to proceed with their move in cases where a work-around or rescheduling is not possible. After all, the condo must reasonably respect that resident’s time and costs, too. 

Situations such as this may result in even longer wait times for the remaining elevators, but unfortunately, there are times when this simply cannot be avoided and everyone’s cooperation is highly appreciated. If something like this does occur (or any other reason that results in long delays for a short duration), property management should proactively communicate this to the community ahead of time so that residents may plan accordingly.

-Stratsatic Inc.

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