How Elevator Contractors Bid and Bill Commercial Work

The elevator contractor furnishes and installs the car, rails, machine or hydraulic unit, controller, entrances, fixtures and wiring inside the hoistway and machine room, tests it, and supports the acceptance inspection. The federal guide specification for hydraulic passenger elevators asks for a system that "complies with ASME A17.1/CSA B44 in its entirety", the elevator safety code (UFGS 14 24 23). Almost everything around the elevator is built by other trades first, which is why the bid is as much a list of what you need from others as a price.

Elevators are regulated by the state or its delegate, not only the city building department. Washington's elevator program, for example, has contractors apply for "a permit for a new conveyance installation" and building owners apply for an "Annual Operating Certificate" (Washington L&I). Check who files and who pays the fees in your state, and say so in the bid.

The usual fight on an elevator job is over what has to be ready when your crew arrives. The guide spec shows how many trades touch the elevator: it calls for a sprinkler "shutoff valve, check valve, and non-adjustable, zero time-delay flow switch, in each sprinkler line immediately outside of each machine room, control room, and hoistway, as applicable", control wiring from that flow switch to a shunt-trip breaker, and fire alarm devices specified in Division 28 (UFGS 14 24 23). Name each item and who provides it.

If something on that list is not ready, say in the bid that a return trip is a change. A change order request is much easier to win when the clarification was in your proposal. For the electrical side of the same interface, see how electrical subs bid commercial work.

Elevator submittals are heavy and early. The guide spec's list includes shop drawings of the system, components, drive and wiring diagrams; product data; design data for reaction loads, heat loads and emergency power; certificates for the warranty, welders and the elevator mechanic's state license; a maintenance control program; and at closeout the elevator certification certificate (UFGS 14 24 23). Its shop drawings must show the hoistway "in plan and elevation" with clearance dimensions, which is what the GC and architect check the building against.

Your lead time usually starts when the drawings are approved and the cab finishes and fixtures are selected, not when you sign. Put that in the bid in plain words, list the selections you need from the architect, and send the submittal early with everything the reviewer needs; how to prepare a submittal covers the package.

The fictional "Cedar Rise Elevator" holds the subcontract for one hydraulic passenger elevator. The GC's schedule needs the rails, jack, pump unit and controller on site on Monday, May 3, 2027, so the crew can start in the hoistway. Cedar Rise's manufacturer quotes 112 calendar days from release, and the architect's review period in the spec is 21 calendar days.

The check, counted back from May 3: 3 days to April 30, 30 more to March 31, 31 more to February 28, 28 more to January 31 (92 days so far), and 20 more to January 11 (112). Then 21 days before January 11 is December 21. Any day lost in review moves delivery past May 3 unless the manufacturer can make it up, so a resubmittal is a schedule problem, not just paperwork.

Elevator money moves in large steps: drawings, the equipment release, deliveries and acceptance. A schedule of values that follows those steps lets you bill each one when it happens, instead of arguing over a percent of one lump line. A sample for the job above:

Check: $8,000 + $3,000 + $62,000 + $28,000 + $38,000 + $12,000 + $6,000 + $2,000 = $159,000. When the equipment arrives in May, line 3 is billed as material stored if your subcontract allows it, and it carries retainage like any other line unless the contract says otherwise; how a sub fills out a pay application and how to calculate retainage cover the mechanics. If your proposal asks for a deposit at signing, agree in the subcontract which line it bills against, because a percent-complete pay app has no deposit column.

In the federal guide spec, the installing contractor runs its own pre-acceptance inspection and testing and submits "a written test data report certifying that the elevator is complete and ready for final Acceptance Inspection, Testing, and Commissioning"; the acceptance inspection is then done in the presence of a Qualified Elevator Inspector (QEI), who records the results and, once the elevator passes, signs a certificate (UFGS 14 24 23). Private jobs follow the state's process. Either way, the elevator is not turned over until it passes, which makes it one of the last items before the building is complete; see what substantial completion means.

Most specs also make you maintain the elevator for a while after acceptance. Both federal passenger elevator specs ask for warranty service "for a period of 12 months after the date of acceptance", with monthly or bi-weekly visits for "repairs, adjustments, greasing, oiling, and cleaning" and 24-hour emergency service (UFGS 14 21 23; UFGS 14 24 23). Price those visits into the bid and state the period. Hold back a closeout line, like line 8 above, so the last dollars are tied to the maintenance control program, manuals, wiring diagrams and final lien waiver. The rest of a sub's job, from bid to final payment, is in the subcontractor's guide, and where the elevator falls in the whole job is in the construction project lifecycle.

When a GC invites you to an elevator package through Trade bids in Conflo, you read the scope items and alternates, ask questions (answers go to every bidder without your name), acknowledge each trade addendum, and submit a base bid with each scope item marked included or excluded, your alternates, and your exclusions and qualifications, which is where the work-by-others list goes. You can attach your proposal and revise the bid until bids close.

On the job, the GC tracks long-lead items in Procurement, with each item's supplier, responsible company, lead time in days and the date it is needed on site. Conflo works out the latest order-by date (the need date minus the lead time) and flags an item that is late to order or expected after it is needed. If the GC links the item to its submittal, the item shows whether that submittal is approved. As the responsible sub, you see your own items, can add one, move it from ordered to shipped to delivered with its dates, and change its details unless the GC has locked it. Not built today: a Division 14 conveying group in the procurement log, and a released-for-manufacture or deposit status.

An elevator bid is a price per car plus a list of everything the building must give you first. The schedule follows the approved drawings, so the real deadline is the day they must be approved, worked backward from the need date.

On your next bid, put the work-by-others table above into your proposal and state when your lead time starts.

Join the Conflo waitlist

1. UFGS 14 24 23, Hydraulic Passenger Elevators (August 2025) — Whole Building Design Guide (USACE, NAVFAC, AFCEC). Read October 22, 2026.
2. UFGS 14 21 23, Electric Traction Passenger Elevators (August 2025) — Whole Building Design Guide (USACE, NAVFAC, AFCEC). Read October 22, 2026.
3. Elevator Program, Conveyance Management Portal — Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Read October 22, 2026.