One wrong decision about elevators during building design can cost millions in lost saleable space — or create permanent bottlenecks that frustrate occupants for decades. Here's why smart developers bring in elevator advisors before the first floor plan is finalized.
What are Elevator Advisors and Why are They Important in New Projects?
Urban space constraints drive buildings upward. Taller buildings create a core challenge for developers: moving people efficiently from entry to exit across multiple floors.
Too many lifts reduce saleable area. Too few lifts cause passenger movement problems. Developers must strike the right balance.
Elevators require careful planning to ensure the right quantity, sufficient capacity, and appropriate speed. Passengers should face minimum waiting time. The system must also provide redundancy in case of elevator failure.
Architects design buildings based on experience and applicable laws, rules, and regulations. However, meeting regulations is the bare minimum. Compliance alone does not guarantee smooth passenger movement within the building. Elevator advisors bridge this gap.
Understanding the need for advisors leads to an important question: what exactly do they deliver?
What Do the Elevator Advisors Help the Builders and Architects With?
Elevator advisors collect project information from the developer or architect. They gather data on the number of floors, building occupancy, expected visitors, and maintenance staff. This helps them understand the building's traffic patterns.
Using this data, advisors run calculations and simulations at various occupancies, up-peak times, and down-peak times. These simulations reveal when and how passengers will move through the building. This process is called elevator traffic analysis.
Traffic analysis produces estimates for three critical parameters: the number of lifts required, the carrying capacity of each lift, and the speed of the lifts. The advisor then applies experience to refine these recommendations for the building planner.
Optimization goes further. Advisors consider features like elevator banks with destination dispatch systems to improve efficiency. They may also recommend additional lifts for regulatory compliance or building requirements — such as a higher-capacity lift for carrying furniture or stretchers.
With the technical analysis complete, let's look at the broader services advisors offer.
What are the Typical Services Elevator Advisors Provide?
Elevator advisors help developers move the right number of passengers efficiently through the building. They optimize building space so more area is available for sale. At the same time, they ensure no bottleneck exists for passenger movement.
- Traffic analysis and simulation at various occupancy levels
- Lift quantity, capacity, and speed recommendations
- Elevator bank configuration with dispatch system selection
- Regulatory compliance verification
- Product configuration for procurement
These services deliver clear value — but what do they cost?
What is the Cost of Services Provided by Elevator Advisors?
The cost of elevator advisory services and traffic analysis varies between advisors. Most do not publicly advertise their pricing.
Some elevator companies provide traffic analysis free of cost alongside their sales proposal. However, these companies intend to sell more elevators. A third-party unbiased advisor is always preferable for objective recommendations.
Several independent providers offer elevator advisory services and traffic studies, sometimes at published or quoted rates. Compare scope, independence, and deliverables carefully—especially when a manufacturer bundles a “free” study with their sales proposal.
Conclusion
Elevator advisors ensure developers install the right number of elevators with optimal carrying capacity and speed. This directly maximizes saleable area — one of the most valuable outcomes in any building project.
Beyond planning, advisors provide optimized product configurations that developers can use directly for elevator procurement. They also ensure regulatory compliance and passenger comfort from day one.
The earlier you engage an elevator advisor, the more flexibility you retain in your building design. For new projects, this single decision can define both the building's efficiency and its commercial success.
Written by
Rohan
Marketing
With 15 years of experience in the elevator industry, Rohan writes about vertical transportation technology, best practices, and the business of elevators.