Five-Step Vendor Evaluation Checklist for Elevator Maintenance Contracts

Who This Is For

If you're a property manager or facility director reviewing elevator maintenance contracts—or if you've got a renewal coming up—this checklist is for you. I've been tracking elevator service costs for our portfolio since 2019, managing about $180,000 in cumulative spending across 6 years. The following steps are what I wish someone had handed me before my first contract negotiation.

There are 5 steps. Do them in order. Skip one at your peril.

Step 1: Define Your Compliance Baseline

Before you even look at pricing, you need to understand what codes apply to your jurisdiction. This is where most buyers trip up—they compare apples to oranges because they don't know what's mandatory.

In my experience, the biggest hidden cost comes from vendors offering a 'basic' package that doesn't meet local code requirements. Then you're stuck paying for upgrades mid-contract.

Here's a concrete example: we were evaluating proposals for a six-building complex in Michigan. Vendor A quoted $38,000 annually for 'full coverage.' Vendor B came in at $31,000. I almost went with B until I realized their basic package excluded annual door inspections—which are mandatory under Michigan's elevator code. That was an extra $4,200 per year we hadn't budgeted for.

Action item: Pull your local elevator code requirements before contacting vendors. Most state codes are based on ASME A17.1, but local amendments vary. I learned this the hard way in 2020 when we got hit with a $2,800 fine for a compliance gap our vendor should have caught.

Step 2: Compare TCO, Not Just Monthly Rates

What most buyers focus on is the monthly or quarterly service fee. What they miss is everything else. The question everyone asks is 'what's your rate per elevator?' The question they should ask is 'what's included in that rate?'

When I audited our 2023 spending, I found that 23% of our 'budget overruns' came from line items that weren't in the base contract: after-hours service calls, overtime rates for inspections, permit filing fees, and—this one surprised me—travel time for technicians covering multiple sites.

A typical elevator maintenance contract has 4 cost layers:

• Base service fee: Routine preventive maintenance, usually monthly or quarterly.
• Included repairs: Some contracts cover parts and labor up to a threshold. Ours covers up to $500 per repair. Above that, we pay.
• Excluded services: Modernization, major component replacement, hydraulic oil changes—these are almost always separate.
• Variable costs: Overtime, emergency call-outs, permit fees, inspection support.

I built a cost calculator after getting burned on hidden fees twice. Here's the template I use:

"Vendor A: $4,200/quarter + $0 included repairs above $250 + $150/hour after-hours = Total estimated annual: $19,800 Vendor B: $4,800/quarter + repairs up to $500 included + $0 after-hours for scheduled maintenance = Total estimated annual: $19,200"

Vendor B's higher base rate was cheaper overall because of the included repairs and no overtime markup on planned work. The higher base quote actually cost us $600 less per year.

Step 3: Evaluate Parts Sourcing and Availability

This is the step most people overlook. I don't have hard data on industry-wide parts availability, but based on our 6 years of experience, my sense is that 30-40% of elevator breakdowns are prolonged by parts delays rather than technician availability.

Here's something vendors won't tell you: some maintenance providers are independent shops that buy parts on the open market. Others are OEM-authorized and have direct access to factory parts. The difference in lead time can be weeks.

For Otis elevators—particularly Gen2 models—parts availability is generally good because the company has been around since 1853 and their parts distribution network is extensive. But I've heard from colleagues in Phoenix and St. Louis that even with Otis-authorized vendors, certain controller boards have had 4-6 week lead times as of 2024.

What to ask: "For the most common failures on our model, what's your typical parts lead time? Can you provide examples from the past 12 months?" The vendor that can give you specific dates—not just 'usually 1-2 weeks'—is the vendor that has actually tracked this.

Step 4: Factor in Modernization Costs—Even If You're Not Planning It

Most buyers focus on maintenance costs and completely miss the fact that every elevator will need modernization eventually. The question isn't if, but when.

What was best practice in 2020 may not apply in 2025. The fundamentals haven't changed—hydraulic elevators still need periodic oil changes, traction elevators still need rope replacements—but the execution has transformed. Modernization now often includes IoT monitoring, regenerative drives, and destination dispatch systems.

In Q2 2024, when we switched vendors for a property with 10-year-old Otis elevators, we negotiated a maintenance contract that included a modernization needs assessment at year 3. That way we could budget for it rather than getting blindsided by a $120,000 capital expense.

I'd argue that the smartest procurement decision you can make is to ask potential vendors: "Based on our equipment age and usage patterns, when will we likely need modernization? And what's your rough cost estimate?" The vendor that answers clearly—with a range, not a fixed number—is the one that understands the uncertainty inherent in elevator lifespan prediction.

Step 5: Verify Test and Inspection Documentation

I wish I had tracked this more carefully from the start. What I can say anecdotally is that in 2021, a routine insurance audit flagged our documentation for three out of eight elevators because maintenance records were incomplete. The vendor had performed the work—I saw the logs—but their documentation system hadn't updated properly. The insurance premium increase cost us about $3,400 over two years.

Most buyers focus on service quality and completely miss the documentation trail. But if you're in a jurisdiction with strict AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) oversight, missing paperwork can result in fines or even shutdown orders.

Action item: Ask for sample inspection reports. Look for:

• Is the technician signature legible and includes their license number?
• Are code references included for any identified deficiencies?
• Are repair recommendations separated from maintenance observations? (Some vendors bury upsells in inspection reports.)
• Is there a clear date stamp for when work was performed vs. when it was documented?

A vendor that has clean, organized documentation is a vendor that takes this seriously. A vendor that shrugs and says 'we'll sort that out later' is a vendor you should be cautious about.

Common Mistakes and Blind Spots

Here are the three things I've seen trip up even experienced facility managers:

1. Overlooking insurance requirements. Most elevator service contracts require the vendor to carry specific liability insurance (usually $1-2 million per occurrence). We had a vendor in 2022 whose policy lapsed for 10 days. If there had been an incident, we would have been on the hook. Now I check certificates of insurance annually.

2. Assuming 'comprehensive' means everything. The question everyone asks is 'does this cover parts and labor?' The question they should ask is 'which parts are excluded?'. I've seen contracts that exclude door operators, controller boards, and—most creatively—'normal wear items like ropes and belts.' Those can cost $5,000-15,000 per replacement.

3. Not benchmarking beyond three vendors. This pricing was accurate as of Q4 2024. The market changes fast, so verify current rates before budgeting. But even a year ago, the difference between three quotes and five quotes in our portfolio was about 12% on average. More vendors = more leverage, but only if you actually do the TCO analysis we talked about in Step 2.

In my opinion, the most important takeaway is this: elevator maintenance contracts are long-term partnerships, not transactions. A vendor that costs a bit more but provides clear documentation, predictable costs, and honest modernization planning is worth the premium. The lowest quoted price almost never delivers the lowest total cost over a 5-year horizon.

Not ideal, but workable. That's how I'd describe our current contract—and after 6 years and $180,000 in spend, I'll take 'workable' with predictable costs over 'cheap' with hidden surprises any day.