The Barcelona Board of Directors spent over a year researching the options available for the elevator modernization.  Elevator modernization is the updating of an elevator’s equipment to make it more reliable, bring it up code compliance, reduce repair expenses and increase the safety of the elevator system.  Board members and our building manager, Gregg Rithmiller, met with six different elevator companies to obtain bids for this project.  In the end the proposal from Colley Elevator Company, the building's elevator service provider since 2017, was chosen.

 

Colley not only offered the most competitive price but their proposal included all non-propietary equipment with onboard diagnostic systems. That means service technicians do not need special tools to program or troubleshoot the systems. Simply put, this means any contractor can work on it. When a contractor installs proprietary systems, if we ever want another company to service our elevator, they either cannot, or it will be expensive or challenging.  Many of the bids we received included proprietary systems and the future service contracts would be conditioned on only working with the company that installed the equipment.  Bottom line: by choosing Colley's equipment, our long-term maintenance pricing will be less because we will have more options to go out into the market for future maintenance and repair vendor options.

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Colley Elevator Company was founded in 1908 and is the oldest independent elevator company in the Chicago area.  They have been awarded the Best Contractor Award by the Elevator World, Inc. for two years and are recognized for their exceptional customer service team, service technicians and installation teams.  Craig Zomchek and TJ Milici, our account representatives, patiently answered the countless questions the Board asked them as we obtained and reviewed all the bids for the project.  Our service technician, Kevin, maintained our old equipment over the past several years and faced many challenging repairs to keep the elevators running while we planned the modernization.  The highly experienced and professional installation team, Jim and Ryley, worked efficiently and completed the project ahead of schedule and with minimal disruption to our residents.

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The residents may not see or understand all the work involved in the modernization process but there is one thing they will definitely understand;  they don't have to worry about feeling unsafe taking the elevators!  No more 'jumpy' elevator rides, no more random stops on route to a floor, no more fear of getting stuck.  This project was a major investment and upgrade to the Barcelona 3 building that will be appreciated by everyone.