For most multifamily operators, elevators are a classic “out of sight, out of mind” system—until they fail. Investment decisions are typically reactive, vendor-driven, and poorly aligned with long-term operational risk.
Much investment in elevator infrastructure also occurs only during transitions, most commonly when a property changes hands. At that point, another million dollars layered on top of a few hundred million in transaction value can feel like a rounding error rather than a strategic choice.
At the same time, elevator technology is quietly becoming more digital, more integrated, and more consequential to uptime and resident experience. For best-in-class operators, elevator downtime is an avoidable issue that residents will certainly notice.
This new report breaks down what actually matters in modern elevator management, separating high-ROI operational decisions from overhyped upgrades.
Most elevators are still managed reactively
Across asset classes, including multifamily, elevator investment remains overwhelmingly reactive rather than strategic.
Owners tend to band-aid systems until failure, regardless of whether a property is best-in-class or not. While Class A buildings typically respond more quickly to early warning signs such as noise, ride quality issues, or delays, they still rarely pursue modernization until a breakdown or failed inspection forces action.
Elevators are also frequently the last major building system addressed during renovations, reinforcing their status as invisible infrastructure.
As a result, elevators remain a persistent operational blind spot even in well-capitalized portfolios. In many cases, this reactive approach increases downtime risk while driving higher long-term lifecycle costs.
Code compliance is a constant risk
Elevator codes, including ASME and IUEC standards, are updated every three years, but the pace and manner of enforcement vary widely by jurisdiction.
Multifamily owners often assume their systems are compliant until a failed inspection proves otherwise. This overlooks the fact that an elevator can fall out of compliance simply because a municipality has adopted a newer code version.
This gap in understanding makes compliance education one of the most persistent challenges in the field. Unplanned elevator spending is often driven by gradual code drift rather than mechanical failure, allowing compliance risk to accumulate quietly until it becomes an acute, costly issue.
Beware of vendor lock-in
Reactive maintenance and code compliance are among the most significant risks in elevator management. But for multifamily owners who take a more proactive approach, another critical issue comes into focus: vendor lock-in.
Proprietary elevator systems significantly restrict who can service equipment, reducing owner leverage and flexibility over the life of an asset.
OEMs frequently declare systems “obsolete” after just 10 to 15 years, even when many components remain fully functional. This forces owners toward premature and costly upgrades. In many cases, new construction serves as a loss leader for manufacturers, designed to lock owners into decades of exclusive maintenance contracts.
These proprietary controls often inflate downtime and suppress competitive pricing by limiting service options. The best practice is to specify non-proprietary controls and components whenever feasible to preserve service competition and maintain leverage throughout the asset’s lifecycle.
“Any time you can avoid that vendor lock-in, it’s going to be beneficial as an owner or property manager,” said Skyler Revis, Client Services Manager at C&W Services.
Destination dispatch is often overhyped
Destination dispatch is an elevator control system that assigns passengers to cars before they board, based on their destination floor. Instead of pressing up or down inside the cab, riders enter their destination at a lobby kiosk, touchscreen, or mobile interface. The system then groups passengers traveling to similar floors and directs them to a specific elevator. The result is fewer stops, reduced congestion, and faster overall travel, particularly during peak periods.
Destination dispatch systems perform best in dense, high-rise, high-traffic environments. But according to Revis, outside of those use cases, they may introduce unnecessary friction.
In low- and mid-rise multifamily properties, destination dispatch is often overkill for actual traffic patterns, expensive to repair, and more likely to frustrate residents than improve convenience. Despite this, such systems are frequently recommended by vendors without a rigorous analysis of return on investment.
“Honestly, destination dispatch was always a pain point,” Revis said, referring to his time working as an account manager at an Illinois elevator service company. “It got pushed a lot—often by consultants—and in many cases into smaller buildings that didn’t really need it. At that point, it was just an added expense rather than a real operational benefit.”
The broader lesson is that innovation without fit tends to increase complexity and create ongoing operational headaches rather than deliver meaningful value.
OEM quality is not perceived as equal in the field
Based on service-side experience rather than marketing claims, elevator OEMs are not perceived as equal in terms of durability and long-term performance.
Otis is widely viewed as producing the most durable, long-lasting equipment, while Schindler is often perceived as weaker on reliability and serviceability.
KONE and TK Elevator generally fall somewhere in the middle, with performance varying by specific application and configuration. These field-driven perceptions matter because they materially influence maintenance outcomes, parts availability, and long-term operational performance.
“Otis has historically been regarded as producing higher-quality equipment,” Revis said. “They’ve been around for roughly 170 years, and a large share of the legacy equipment still operating today is Otis. That longevity has helped them maintain a strong reputation in the market.”
Energy efficiency gains exist, but rarely drive ROI
Elevators are already low-voltage systems compared to HVAC and other major building loads, which limits the potential impact of energy-efficiency upgrades.
Features such as regenerative braking often add upfront cost and increase component wear, while delivering only marginal real-world energy savings. In most cases, energy efficiency improvements reflect incremental gains tied to broader electrical innovation rather than step-change breakthroughs specific to elevators.
With elevators, energy efficiency should be a secondary consideration, with greater priority placed on uptime, reliability, and code compliance.
Door systems are a hidden ROI opportunity
More than 80% of elevator shutdowns are related to door systems, including operators, locks, sills, and door controls, according to Revis. Property owners frequently misinterpret recurring shutdowns as a sign that a full modernization is required, when the underlying issues are often far more targeted.
As a rule of thumb, allocating roughly 20% of a typical modernization budget to focused door upgrades can eliminate up to 80% of shutdowns. This makes door system improvements one of the clearest and most compelling near-term ROI opportunities in elevator management.
“Because door issues drive the majority of shutdowns, targeted door upgrades can significantly improve uptime and resident satisfaction while extending the life of the rest of the elevator system,” Revis said.
Digitalization is the biggest shift in elevator tech
In some Class A multifamily properties over the past decade, elevators have evolved from purely mechanical systems into data-driven platforms.
This transformation has been driven by:
- The adoption of IoT sensors on doors, cars, and machines
- The use of machine-learning models to enable condition-based maintenance
- The deployment of predictive alerts that prevent failures rather than simply respond to them
Notably, many of these advances originated in mid-rise residential buildings rather than being confined to trophy office towers. This underscores how elevator technology innovation has increasingly been shaped by everyday operational needs.
“Over the last decade, digitalization has reshaped elevator technology at multiple levels, and it’s been coming from every direction,” said Lucien Wedzikowski, Vice President of Global Major Products at Otis Elevator Co. “That’s what makes the change so interesting.”
Wedzikowski continued, “If you look at the first major phase—about seven or eight years ago—it really centered on IoT. Sensors gave us the ability to collect far more data from existing equipment, or to add new sensors on doors, inside the car, or on top of the car. We can then use that data, combined with machine learning, to better support mechanics by enabling more proactive maintenance actions.”
“Maintenance schedules vary depending on local regulations—monthly, every six weeks, or a few times a year—but regardless of where you are, this combination of IoT, cheaper computing power, and machine learning has spread across the entire industry,” Wedzikowski concluded.
From reactive repairs to predictive control
Best-in-class multifamily operators increasingly view predictive elevator maintenance as a baseline expectation rather than a premium feature.
Industry approaches such as Otis ONE illustrate a broader trend in which central machine-learning engines analyze performance data while local rules adapt those insights to regional codes and maintenance schedules.
This shift moves elevator maintenance from a reactive to a predictive model. It results in fewer outages, clearer logic for when modernization is truly needed, and better alignment between capital expenditures and overall operational risk.
“At a high level, what we’re doing today is embedding IoT into our maintenance platform, which we call Otis ONE,” Wedzikowski says. “At its core is a machine-learning model we developed in-house a few years ago. That model collects and processes data and supports different phases of elevator maintenance.”
He continues that what’s interesting about elevator service is that it varies significantly by geography. Local codes, inspection requirements, maintenance frequency, and even the mix of equipment and components can differ widely from market to market and across decades.
“Once we built the core machine-learning engine, the next step was to adapt it locally,” Wedzikowski said. “We do that through what we call business rules—market-specific logic that ensures compliance with local codes while also going beyond compliance to support the specific maintenance needs of each region. That local adaptation is a key part of how the system is used in practice.”
(Some) elevators are becoming integrated platforms
Some modern elevator systems increasingly serve as extensions of a building’s security infrastructure rather than standalone mechanical systems.
Common integrations now include access cards, PINs, and smartphone-based credentials, as well as destination dispatch systems tied directly to access control. This enables time-based zoning and population separation within a building.
What began as a security-driven innovation in post-9/11 office towers has steadily expanded into multifamily and mixed-use assets, where elevators are becoming a core component of broader access and security strategies.
Looking ahead, leading elevator OEMs are training specialized large language models on elevator operational data, embedding AI directly into maintenance workflows, and prioritizing uptime as the primary optimization metric.
Elevators are also increasingly being designed to support service and delivery robots, operate effectively in labor-constrained environments, and accommodate aging populations through accessibility-first user experiences.
Japan and parts of Asia are leading these developments, with more gradual adoption expected in Western markets as regulatory, cultural, and operational barriers are addressed.
Planning beats flash
Elevators reward attention and punish neglect.
In multifamily operations, the path to better performance isn’t flashier technology, but smarter planning: non-proprietary systems, predictive maintenance, and targeted investments that reduce downtime and risk.
As buildings grow taller and more complex, a smart, practical elevator strategy can separate operational leaders from those stuck in reactive mode after failure.
– Nick Pipitone
