I used to think a 10% tolerance on leveling was fine for residential jobs.

For years, I'd get the car within that spec and call it good, especially in older buildings where nothing is square. Then, about six months ago, I did a full modernization in a 1920s Chicago walk-up. The owner called back two weeks later saying the ride felt 'floaty' near the top floor. I checked and the car was riding the guide rails just at the edge of that 10%. I spent a full day getting it down to under 3%, and the ride quality difference was huge. Now I treat every job, even the small ones, like it's a high-end install. Has anyone else tightened their standards after a specific call-back?

3 comments

3 Comments

parker_hall513d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, I read a forum post once where a guy said chasing that last 5% on leveling was just for bragging rights. After reading this, maybe that guy was just lazy.

fiona74913d ago

My old boss swore by a 15% tolerance on leveling for service calls. I thought he was crazy until we got a complaint from a nursing home about a shaky ride. We found it was at 12% and just looked okay on paper. Getting it under 5% made it feel like a different elevator. That job completely changed how I look at the spec sheets now.

davidshah13d ago

You know, @fiona749, I gotta push back on that a little. Chasing super tight tolerances like 5% can turn into a real time sink on service calls. Sometimes good enough is actually good enough, especially when you're dealing with an old building where everything is a bit off. That nursing home case sounds like an outlier, not the rule. Most passengers won't even notice a 12% level if the doors work fine and it gets them there. Spending an extra hour to tweak from okay to perfect often just isn't worth the call-back rate.