Holmes County JFS elevator project to be a lengthy one

The Holmes County Job & Family Services building is in need of a new elevator, and while the Holmes County Commissioners have set in motion the plan to have a new car installed, it will take perhaps up to one year for the project to be completed.

The plan is for Schindler, the elevator company that won the bid to rebuild the elevator, to use the existing elevator shaft and modify a brand-new car for inside the elevator.

Holmes County JFS came to Tekton through the commissioners to inquire about the job of replacing the broken elevator.

“Basically, it is because the manufacturer of the current elevator is no longer around, so (Schindler has) to come in and do a custom build to match the interior elevator and to utilize the existing track,” said Chris Reiser of Tekton Engineering, the company working with Schindler to modernize the new elevator.

Schindler, a respected company in elevators, determined the scope of work, and Tekton Engineering evaluated that scope of work and added to it to determine the overall scope of work that was then put out for advertisement bidding. Schindler was the lone entity to respond to the advertisement, successfully winning the bid to replace the elevator.

The work on modernizing the elevator is set at $373,959.

Reiser said Schindler will perform the construction work while subbing out the electrical, HVAC and carpentry work to make it all come together.

He also said the process is time consuming and will take a while to complete the job.

“It’s a really long lead time because it takes a long time to get the proper dimensions and then actually get the elevator manufactured,” Reiser said. “That’s why there is a one-year time frame for the construction.”

He said Schindler leadership told him the hope is the actual process takes well less than that time frame, up to what he said was half the time, but there are no guarantees.

Tekton Engineering will work alongside Schindler to provide any structural data for the permit-related work, although Schindler will take care of the actual design of the car.

Both Reiser and the commissioners said they have been pleased with the submitted bid, noting it came in well under the price they felt it might cost the county.

The need for the new elevator has been an ongoing issue, and Reiser said the departments inside the building have been simply getting by without the updated elevator. He said Schindler did some repair work to get the elevator to where it is operable, but the need for the new car is imminent.

“It’s just working well enough that they can limp along, but it is definitely a needed project,” Reiser said.

The work order was expected to be quickly put into action once the commissioners gave the word, which they did during the meeting.