From Surprise Repairs to Smart Investments: The Value of Elevator Capital Planning
By Natalie Nordstrom
If you’ve ever had an elevator repair pop up out of nowhere, you know how fast it can throw your entire budget off track. At ATIS, we help our clients avoid those “surprise” expenses through thoughtful, long-term capital planning. Whether you're overseeing a large portfolio of buildings or just a single site, the goal is always the same: be prepared, not reactive.
For clients with big portfolios, we start by gathering all the elevator and escalator data across every location. That means documenting the age of the equipment, identifying open maintenance issues, reviewing service history and downtime trends, and checking for any obsolescence concerns or parts that manufacturers no longer support. We pull all of that into a single picture so you can finally see what you're working with across your full portfolio.
From there, we create a forecast that looks ahead over the next 10 years. This gives you a clear roadmap of what capital will be needed, when it will likely be needed, and what level of investment you’ll want to plan for. But we don’t just hand you a report and walk away. We build a prioritized list based on the technical data, and then we sit down with your team to talk through your business realities. For example, you might have a site where the lease is expiring in three years, and you don't want to pour money into something you don’t plan to keep. Or maybe there's a high-profile location where reliability is absolutely essential, and we need to move that modernization up the list. We take all of that into account and reshape the plan based on what matters most to you.
Once we finalize the priorities together, we can stay involved to help you implement. That might include creating bid documents, helping evaluate proposals, or staying on to oversee the work and make sure everything is done right. We’re here for as much or as little of that process as you need.
If you’re managing just one building or a small number of units, the approach is a little simpler but no less important. We still assess the condition of your elevators, identify any immediate risks, and help you build a smart, long-range plan that keeps your equipment running and your budget under control. Sometimes, it’s just about having someone in your corner who knows what a fair modernization quote looks like, or when it’s really time to stop repairing and start planning for replacement. We’re happy to be that resource for you.
We also do a lot of due diligence work for clients who are buying or selling buildings. Elevators are one of those systems that can quietly carry a huge price tag—and most buyers don’t know what to look for. We’ve had cases where our team uncovered over $2 million in upcoming elevator repairs that the seller hadn’t disclosed. That kind of information doesn’t just help buyers negotiate better deals; in some cases, it helps them avoid a bad one altogether.
What makes ATIS different is that we bring real-world experience to the table. Our team is made up of former field techs, engineers, modernization managers, and even people who used to negotiate on behalf of the elevator manufacturers. We’ve been on both sides of the table, and now we use that knowledge to advocate for you. If you want to get ahead of your elevator expenses and build a plan that truly fits your business goals, we’d love to talk. Whether you’re managing two elevators or two hundred, we can help you understand what’s coming, plan for it wisely, and avoid getting caught off guard.