A broken elevator in a flat or senior citizen complex that takes a long time to repair: it currently occurs in several places in our region. On Monday, NH Nieuws visited the Zaanse gallery flat De Helling, whose elevator has not been working for weeks, so that older residents can no longer go outside. According to Maarten Kat of Qlift in Uitgeest, several parties have their share in the elevator problem.
“Sometimes something breaks in an elevator and it is possible that this part has a slightly longer delivery time,” explains Kat to NH Nieuws. An elevator is often custom made. “If a control unit breaks, also known as the beating heart of the elevator. Then you must be really lucky if it can be replaced quickly.”
At Qlift they work together with suppliers. It happens that a supplier already has a part that they need ready, but it can just as well be that a part has to be ordered again and sometimes even made. “And then it sometimes takes weeks before an elevator can be repaired.”
Fortunately, at Trust Liftservice in Heerhugowaard, they only had to deal with a lift once this year, which was only repaired after two weeks. “The fact that it took longer was due to the age of the installation and a component that was not available at the time,” explains Willem van Garderen of the company. He has also worked at larger elevator companies, “I know there is a staff shortage and also that there are problems with material supply.”
At Trust Liftservice they also notice that delivery times have increased since corona. “But you just have to take that into account in advance.”
Multiple causes
In addition to the fact that waiting for parts can take a long time, there are a few other causes. Think, for example, of the economic situation we are in, longer delivery times since corona, but the association of owners also have their share, according to Kat. During the corona period, there was little or no meeting.
“The investments that they could have discussed and implemented at the time have not gone through now. The financial accounting is also often mediocre. As a result, there is not enough budget for a roof repair of a building and that they for example have to take it out of the ‘lift jar’. ‘ to fetch.
Of course, there is a different cause for every elevator problem, and it can also be the case that there is a completely different cause. “We elevator companies can also make mistakes. We all have our part in this.”