Parking garages require smooth and consistent operations to serve customers effectively. One critical, but often overlooked, component is the elevator system, which serves as a crucial link between the parking levels and the ground floor. A malfunctioning or unreliable elevator, particularly automobile lifts, can create significant disruptions to a garage’s operations. If an elevator is unusable or goes out of service entirely, that can potentially affect some, if not all, cars – and drivers – going in and out of the facility, inconveniencing customers, damaging customer relationships, and ultimately leading to financial losses for the facility.
Fostering trusting relationships through transparency and open communication is foundational for successful collaborations among parking facility operators and their elevator service partners.
Addressing the unique challenges of parking facility elevators requires close collaboration among stakeholders, including facility managers, building owners, contractors, and elevator service providers. By fostering strong partnerships, these parties can work together to ensure elevators are up-to-code during the design and construction phases or during any upgrades or modifications to an existing facility. Moreover, periodic quality inspections, regular maintenance, and discussion of the garage’s needs and challenges greatly reduce the possibility of outages and contribute to providing customers with excellent service. Communication and collaboration are key to creating a seamless, efficient experience for users of parking facilities.
Upholding Safety Standards and Regulations
Reliable elevator service companies will stay on top of the evolution of building codes and safety standards related to elevators, making it easier for customers to do the same. For example, a tragic incident relating to the collapse of a Florida parking garage last year prompted elevator code changes, highlighting the need for more stringent structural inspections and remedial work. Cities such as New York have subsequently adopted stricter regulations.
The Florida incident makes it clear that elevator service providers must work closely with facility owners and managers to thoroughly assess structural integrity of a building and implement any necessary upgrades or retrofits upon completion of that assessment. Although a challenging process, this collaborative approach ensures parking facilities remain compliant and, most importantly, operating safely for users.
The Essentials: Proactive Maintenance and Timely Service
Regular, periodic maintenance is essential for elevators in high-traffic parking garages. Automobile lifts are oversized, bear extreme amounts of weight, and have large, complex door systems that can require specialized parts. Garage customers trust the facility with their cars, without which they often have no means of transportation, potentially affecting one’s immediate and ongoing travel, even if only temporarily. Those using parking garage elevators expect to access their vehicles without delay, and any elevator malfunction can cause significant inconvenience. This is especially true in facilities with only one elevator serving multiple levels, with cars potentially becoming trapped wherever they are parked.
To prevent such disruptions, close collaboration among facility managers and their designated elevator company is crucial for proactive maintenance tailored to each facility's needs. Managers should work together with elevator service providers to account for specific factors such as usage patterns, equipment age, and environmental conditions. This allows for regular, routine inspections with minimal customer disruptions, such as during night-time off-hours. A customized preventive maintenance plan that determines and addresses potential issues before they arise can also help curb overall downtime and keep elevators operating optimally.
In the event of a service outage, ideally an elevator service company will have a rapid-response service with open lines of communication to parking facility teams, which is particularly important for garages that operate during night hours or 24 hours a day for 5 or 7 days a week. Collaborative measures such as a pre-established emergency plan, including chain of communication and a guaranteed 30-minute emergency response time, ensure technicians can arrive quickly, diagnose problems, and resolve them promptly. Another effective tactic is for elevator service providers to keep frequently needed inventory onsite, which can greatly reduce wait time and help ensure a fast turnaround on urgent repairs.
Transparency and Open Communication Build Trust
Fostering trusting relationships through transparency and open communication is foundational for successful collaborations among parking facility operators and their elevator service partners. A strong elevator service partner will be fully transparent regarding the condition of elevators, required repairs or upgrades, and the associated costs. Honest and forthright dialogue is essential. Elevator service providers should be clear about what is necessary for optimum operations and safety, while customers should educate themselves about maintenance needs and costs, particularly those associated with automobile lifts as they differ from standard elevators.
Parking facility owners and managers can expect detailed reports and cost estimates that empower them to make fully informed decisions affecting their operations. They should also look for service providers that have licensed, highly qualified technicians with specific expertise in automobile lifts. A good service provider will also be highly knowledgeable about current codes and regulations at the federal, state, and local levels, and be able to advise on how to meet current codes and take proactive measures in anticipation of future code changes.
By working together through open communication channels, facility managers, contractors, and elevator companies can jointly provide parking facilities that are efficient, compliant, safe, reliable, and primed to provide optimal user experiences. Timely, coordinated service and a dedication to diagnosing and remedying an urgent shutdown situation can effectively minimize disruptions, enabling parking facilities to provide the most seamless experience possible, even under difficult circumstances such as unexpected outages.
Transparency unlocks collaboration, which unlocks success.
JACK O’SHEA is president of Start Elevator. He can be reached at joshea@startelevator.com.
