Apartment lift restored within three days for £1,500

After four weeks out of service, an apartment building’s lift was restored within three days of the customer’s initial enquiry to Altius Lifts. A £1,500 repair enabled the customer to defer a much larger investment and plan for future modernisation.

The challenge

The lift had stopped working following the failure of an obsolete Schindler variable-voltage, variable-frequency (VVVF) drive unit. The customer had been advised that the available options included a drive upgrade costing around £10,000 or a full lift refurbishment costing around £50,000.

With the lift already unavailable for four weeks, the customer approached Altius Lifts for another assessment of the available options.

Our approach

We assessed the existing equipment and explored whether a like-for-like replacement could restore operation. We sourced a used, working Schindler VVVF drive unit and installed it in place of the failed unit, retaining the existing lift installation.

The complete repair, including supply and installation, cost £1,500. The lift was returned to service within three days of the initial enquiry.

The outcome

The repair restored lift service and gave the customer time to budget for future modernisation. On the same VAT basis, the £1,500 repair cost was approximately £8,500 below the proposed drive upgrade and £48,500 below the quoted refurbishment. These alternatives involved different scopes of work; the benefit was resolving the immediate failure while deferring wider capital expenditure.

The lift has remained operational since the repair, and the customer has appointed Altius Lifts to provide ongoing maintenance.