How to Choose the Best Elevator Company for your Project

The first reaction we hear from customers looking for a home lift is often: “what is the best elevator company?”

Multiple technologies, multiple brands within each technology… home lift companies with worldwide presence but that they had never heard of before they started to look… Let’s face it, choosing a home lift provider is not an easy task.

However, there are a few points to check that will guarantee you make the right choice. We’re here to help!

How Long Has the Elevator Company Existed in the Market?

Suppliers come and go. On average, in Asian countries, two new lift distributors pop up per year (and two go out of business!). You definitely don’t want to order a lift and pay a high deposit to launch production, only for the supplier to disappear. Or worse, install the lift, and then have no one available to do the maintenance any more.

Longevity is a key asset when choosing a supplier, and no where is that more true than in the home lift market.

Rule of thumb: 5 years is the minimum recommended when choosing a home lift supplier.

How Long Has this Best Elevator Company Offered This Brand?

One of the bigger problems that crop up in the market is the constant switching between brands to improve margin. Unfortunately, while this switching may offer a better up-front price for the customer, it is very costly on the long-term.

Suppliers who regularly switch brands tend to do poorly on installations, being unfamiliar with new products. This leads to longer installations and lower installation quality, which in turn reduces the lifetime of your home lift and increases the risk of high-cost repairs.

Worse yet, a supplier who regularly switches might no longer be able to do those repairs a few years later, as they no longer have qualified technicians able to service your particular brand. Loyalty to a brand is absolutely key to good installations.

Rule of thumb: make sure your supplier has been selling and installing your chosen brand for at least three years.

Are Installers In-house or Outsourced?

This is an obvious one, but you’d be surprised how often clients forget to ask! If a supplier outsources the installation, we recommend to run away as fast as you can. With lower control on the quality and less experience, these installations tend to have a lower life time and a high risk of repairs.

Rule of thumb: make sure your lift is being installed by trained professionals directly employed by your Supplier.

Is Your Best Elevator Company a Dealer or Factory Direct?

Not all suppliers are created equal, and this has a big impact on your lift.

When in doubt, always prefer to buy from direct subsidiaries of the manufacturer. Brands like OTIS, KONE, Cibes and Kalea are often factory-direct. This ensures that:

• Extremely low risk of leaving the market
• Zero risk of switching brands
• Extremely high product expertise from in-house technicians
• Better aftersales service on the long run – 5, 10, 20 years.

Rule of thumb: Always prefer factory direct to dealers.

Which supplier did you choose for your project? Let us know!