The Challenge
The elevator jack failed on this 18-month-old Lakewood building. The general contractor and elevator vendor quoted the building owner $24,000 to replace the jack, resting their argument on the expired one-year warranty. Knowing that elevators normally last 30 years, the owner asked Bartell Meitus Real Estate to intercede.

The Solution
Through a combination of due diligence and hands-on construction experience, we recognized immediately that the contractor had not put a protective sleeve on the steel jack, and the steel had rotted. Following this discovery, we brought in a Bartell legal advisor with experience in elevator construction issues to initiate legal proceedings. This resulted in a negotiated settlement in which the cost of replacing the elevator jack was reduced to $17,000 (from the quoted $24,000) and the elevator vendor and contractor paid the entire cost of replacement. Our client got a new jack at no cost.