You just inherited elevator responsibility for a building you didn't build, with a contract you didn't negotiate, serviced by a company you've never met. The previous property manager left minimal notes, the board is asking questions you can't answer, and invoices keep arriving with no baseline to compare against. Here's how to get up to speed in your first week.
Week 1: Find Your Documents
Your first mission is simple: locate your elevator maintenance contract. This document dictates everything about your relationship with your service company, what's covered, what costs extra, and when you're locked in until.
Where to look:
- Your predecessor's file cabinet or digital drive
- The management company's contract folder
- Your elevator company's account manager (request a copy if you can't find it)
- Building closing documents if this is a new acquisition
Once you have it, extract these dates immediately:
- Contract expiration date
- Auto-renewal notification window (typically 30-90 days before expiration)
- Next annual inspection due date
- Any upcoming modernization milestones
Set calendar reminders for each. Missing the auto-renewal window locks you into another 3-5 year term. This is the most expensive mistake new property managers make.
You also need:
- Last 12 months of invoices (to establish your cost baseline)
- Most recent state inspection report (to verify compliance status)
- Service ticket history (to assess callback frequency)
- Emergency contact list (direct line to account manager, not just dispatch)
If your elevator company can't provide service history within 48 hours, that's a red flag.
Week 1: Know Your People
Your elevator company has three types of people, and knowing who does what prevents wasted calls and faster problem resolution.
Account Manager: Your primary contact for billing questions, contract negotiations, and service complaints. This person has authority to authorize repairs, adjust invoices, and escalate issues. Get their direct phone number and email. Do not rely on the main dispatch number for serious matters.
Dispatcher: Handles day-to-day service requests and schedules mechanic visits. If your elevator is down or needs a routine callback, this is who you call. They cannot negotiate contracts or adjust billing.
Mechanic: The technician who physically services your equipment. Often the most knowledgeable person about your elevator's actual condition. Building a relationship here helps, they often spot problems before they become emergencies.
The escalation path when something goes wrong:
- Call your account manager directly
- If no response in 4 hours, escalate to their manager
- If still no response, contact your state elevator board
Most elevator companies respond immediately to account manager calls. If yours doesn't, you're working with the wrong company.
Week 1: Know Your Numbers
You need four numbers to assess whether your elevator situation is normal or concerning.
Monthly contract cost: What are you paying for full maintenance? Typical range for a standard mid-rise building is $400-$800 per elevator per month depending on equipment age and service scope. Anything significantly outside this range needs explanation.
Callback frequency: How many non-emergency service visits happened in the last 12 months? Industry average is 1-2 callbacks per elevator per year. If you're seeing 4+, either your equipment is aging out or your service quality is poor. Both require action.
Equipment age: When was your elevator installed or last modernized? Equipment over 25 years old has higher maintenance costs and higher callback rates. This is normal physics, not necessarily poor service. But it means you should be budgeting for modernization within 5 years.
Next inspection due date: State inspections are annual. If your elevator company hasn't mentioned your next inspection within 30 days of the due date, they're not managing your compliance calendar. You are responsible for compliance even if your contract says they handle inspections.
If your elevator company won't share callback data or equipment age, request it in writing. Getting insight from elevator companies is often impossible or comes in as a trickle. If they refuse, that's a relationship problem.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Paying invoices without checking your contract. Approximately 40% of elevator service invoices contain charges for work that's already covered under full maintenance contracts. Your contract defines what's included. If an invoice says "callback repair" and your contract includes callbacks, don't pay it. This happens constantly because property managers assume the elevator company wouldn't bill for covered work. They do.
Assuming "full maintenance" means everything. It doesn't. Full maintenance typically covers routine adjustments, lubrication, callbacks, and inspection prep. It usually excludes parts, modernization, code upgrades, and damage from tenant misuse. Read your contract's exclusions section carefully. The surprises live there.
Missing the auto-renewal notification window. If your contract auto-renews and you miss the notification deadline, you're locked in for another full term at whatever price increase they specified. This window is intentionally narrow (30-60 days is common) and the notification requirement is often buried in the contract's fine print. Set a calendar reminder for 90 days before expiration so you have time to review before the window opens.
Not documenting your starting baseline. When you inherit an elevator contract, document everything immediately: current callback rate, pending repairs, equipment condition, outstanding complaints. Six months from now when the board asks why callbacks increased, you need to know whether that's a new problem or an inherited one. Elevator companies will blame the previous property manager. You need data to verify.
Trusting "we've always done it this way." Previous property managers often accept poor service for years because they don't know what good service looks like. High callback rates, slow emergency response, missing inspections, these are not normal. If your elevator company says "this is just how it is with older equipment," get a second opinion.
Your First Action: Upload Your Contract
The fastest way to get up to speed is to understand what you're actually paying for. Upload your elevator maintenance contract to our Contract Scanner. We'll analyze your coverage, identify what's included vs. excluded, flag common overcharge risks, and show you how your contract compares to industry standards.
This gives you:
- Contract clarity in under 60 seconds
- Billing verification for every invoice that comes in
- Red flag detection before problems compound
- Benchmark data to assess if your callback rate is normal
Most new property managers discover their contract covers less than they thought or their billing contains charges for covered work. Both are fixable once you know. The worst position is not knowing.
You didn't negotiate this contract, but you're responsible for managing it. Start with knowing exactly what you inherited. Everything else follows from there.
For more details on your first week with a new contract, see our guide to the first 24 hours after inheriting an elevator contract. If you're preparing for annual contract review, our contract review checklist walks through every section that matters. And if something feels off about your current service company, read our red flags guide to know when concern is justified.