Lift maintenance tender checklist.

Before you go out to tender.

A fair tender starts with what you want the contract to achieve. LEIA’s code of practice gives three typical aims: to meet the legal requirements, to plan spending so that repair costs are easier to forecast, or to protect the investment and keep the lift working at its best. Decide which matters most for your building, and say so in the tender.

Then give every bidder the same information. The code says owners should:

• allow bidders enough time and access to survey the lifts before they submit an offer;
• make the health and safety file available, and point out any hazards;
• share the instruction manual, records of any modernisation, the service history including breakdowns and repairs, and the thorough examination and supplementary test reports;
• explain how heavily the lifts are used, and any special features, such as firefighting or evacuation lifts;
• make available any special tools supplied with the lifts.

Where a survey before the agreement is not possible, as in some tenders for many sites at once, the code says the new contractor should inspect each lift within 4 months of winning the agreement, or at the first planned visit, and give you a condition report. Our lesson on taking on a building with lifts shows where to find the records bidders will ask for.

Ask every bidder the same questions.

Offers are easiest to compare when they all answer the same points. LEIA’s code of practice sets out what a prospective contractor’s offer should explain.

The checklist below turns these points, and the rest of the code, into questions you can tick for each offer. If you use a standard maintenance schedule in your specification, our lesson on SFG20 and lift maintenance explains how it fits.

Read the exclusions.

LEIA’s code describes three typical levels of maintenance. A basic agreement inspects the lift often enough to find where parts are becoming dangerous through wear, and reports what needs repairing. A comprehensive agreement also replaces parts that fail through normal wear and tear. A premium agreement aims to keep breakdowns to a minimum, and can include remote monitoring. Our page on lift maintenance contracts explains the differences, and the cover we offer.

Whatever an offer calls itself, read its schedule of exclusions. The code says “even maintenance described as ‘comprehensive’ often has exclusions”, and gives examples:

• lift car lighting, and cleaning decorative finishes or glass;
• work outside the contractor’s normal working hours;
• specific parts, such as ropes, the machine or the control system;
• parts that fail because of misuse or vandalism;
• parts that are no longer made or supported by the manufacturer, and have no legal alternative on the market.

Visits, call-outs and alarms.

Planned visits

The code says visits should be frequent enough for the contractor to find where parts are becoming dangerous through wear, and more frequent where a lift is heavily used or in a harsh environment. It adds: “Caution is therefore urged on reducing the number of visits without an adequate assessment being undertaken by, and agreed with, the maintenance contractor.” Compare the number of visits a year for each lift, and what is done on each.

Call-outs and breakdowns

The agreement should say which call-outs it covers. Where some are excluded, such as call-outs out of hours or for misuse, the code says the exclusions should be clearly specified. Ask each bidder how quickly they respond, at what hours, and what anything outside the agreement costs. Our lesson on measuring lift performance covers the figures to ask for in reports.

Alarm calls

The maintenance contractor should make sure alarm calls are received and acted on, and its response should be defined in the agreement. The code also expects it to check that the lift phone works and is programmed to reach the rescue service, that its operation is verified at least every 72 hours where the equipment supports this, and that any backup battery is checked. The phone line itself is usually your responsibility.

Keep thorough examinations separate.

Maintenance and thorough examination are different jobs. The examination is carried out for you by a competent person, often from an insurer or an inspection body, and HSE advises keeping it independent of the maintenance.

What a maintenance offer should cover is attendance: an engineer who operates the lift for the examiner, and any supplementary tests the examiner asks for. Ask whether attendance is included, and what it costs if not.

Competence, records and the end of the contract.

The code expects maintenance contractors to assess and document the competence of their engineers every year, and to make that documentation available on request. Ask to see it.

It also expects a new contractor to give you an initial condition report, followed by regular reports that say what needs attention and by when, and a record of the maintenance carried out. Wiring diagrams and technical information belong to you, not to the contractor.

Think about the end of the contract at the start. Where an agreement renews automatically, the contractor should tell you in advance, with any changes to its terms. When it ends, documents, drawings, special tools and software access codes go back to you, the lift must be left maintainable by the next contractor, and the outgoing contractor should leave instructions for reprogramming the lift phone. Our page on switching lift maintenance provider explains how a handover works in practice.

The tender checklist.

Type each bidder’s name above its column, then tick each point an offer states clearly. Leave it blank if the offer is silent or unclear. Print the comparison or save it as a PDF when you are done: the ticks are not saved anywhere.

Comparing the offers.

In our view, the number of ticks shows how complete each offer is, not which offer is best. A blank usually means a question to ask, not a reason to reject a bidder.

1. 01

   Fill the gaps in writing

   Send each bidder the points its offer did not answer, and ask for written answers before you compare prices.

2. 02

   Line up the key figures

   For each offer, write down the visits a year for each lift, the hours call-outs are covered, the response to trapped passengers and the main exclusions. Differences here often explain differences in price.

3. 03

   Then compare price

   Compare the price of each offer once you know what it covers, including what you would pay for call-outs, parts and attendance that it leaves out.

Our guide on how to choose a lift maintenance company adds the questions to ask about the company itself.

Check your understanding.

Three quick questions on this lesson. Choose an answer to check it, or open the answer below each question.

1. An offer describes itself as comprehensive. What should you check?

   1. Nothing more, because comprehensive means everything is covered
   2. The schedule of exclusions, because comprehensive agreements often still have exclusions
   3. Only the price
   Show the answer

   B. The schedule of exclusions, because comprehensive agreements often still have exclusions. LEIA’s code of practice says even maintenance described as comprehensive often has exclusions, such as damage from misuse or parts that are no longer made. They should be clearly stated.

2. One bidder offers fewer planned visits than the others to keep the price down. What does LEIA’s code advise?

   1. Fewer visits are fine on any lift less than ten years old
   2. Reducing visits needs an adequate assessment by, and agreed with, the maintenance contractor
   3. Visit numbers do not matter on a comprehensive agreement
   Show the answer

   B. Reducing visits needs an adequate assessment by, and agreed with, the maintenance contractor. The code says visits should be frequent enough to find where parts are becoming dangerous through wear, and urges caution on reducing them without an adequate assessment agreed with the contractor.

3. A bidder offers to carry out the thorough examinations under LOLER as well as the maintenance. What does HSE advise?

   1. Accept it, because the maintainer knows the lift best
   2. It is not advisable, because the maintainer would be assessing its own work
   3. It is fine, as long as the visits are on different days
   Show the answer

   B. It is not advisable, because the maintainer would be assessing its own work. HSE says the competent person should be independent enough to judge the lift objectively, so it is not advisable for the company that maintains the lift to examine it as well.

Sources.

The primary sources for this lesson. We checked them when the lesson was last updated on 18 October 2026. How we research and check our lessons.

1. LM01: Maintenance requirement for lifts, lifting platforms, escalators and moving walksLift and Escalator Industry Association. Industry code of practice (2013). Sections 3 to 5 cover what maintenance includes, what an offer should explain and what owners provide.
2. Thorough examination and testing of lifts (INDG339)Health and Safety Executive. Simple guidance for lift owners, including the independence of the competent person.
3. Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 20legislation.gov.uk. Consultation before qualifying works and long-term agreements.
4. The Service Charges (Consultation Requirements) (England) Regulations 2003, regulation 4legislation.gov.uk. When consultation applies to a long-term agreement: a contribution of more than £100 in an accounting period.