Buying an elevator company in South Florida

• Long-standing customers on multi-year contracts that renew automatically. Association boards change often, so contracts that renew without a new vote are worth more.
• Contracts priced to cover the work, with clear limits on what's included. Old, troublesome elevators on cheap all-inclusive contracts can lose money.
• Experience with equipment from several makers. Some manufacturers limit independent companies' access to parts, tools and diagnostics.
• Experienced certified technicians who plan to stay, with helpers training behind them.
• Modernization work won from its own maintenance customers.
• A good safety and inspection record with the state.
• Parts and suppliers for the brands it services, so repairs don't wait weeks.

• Every maintenance contract: building, number and type of units, monthly price, term, renewal and cancellation terms, and whether a buyer can take it over.
• Repeat repair calls, building by building. A few problem elevators can eat up a technician's week.
• The age and make of the equipment it services, and whether parts are available for each.
• Modernization proposals still out, and work already signed.
• Each technician's certificate and registration, and their ages and plans. Replacing a senior technician is hard. Know which employee the company's registration relies on.
• Past accidents, injuries, claims and lawsuits, including people trapped in cars.
• Open violations from inspections at customer buildings, and who's expected to pay for the fixes.
• The company's insurance and its cost, and whether the insurer will stay on with a new owner.

• How many units do you maintain, and how many contracts renew automatically?
• Which brands do you work on, and are there any you can't get parts or tools for?
• How many certified technicians do you have, and how long have they been with you?
• Who covers nights and weekends, and how often do they get called out?
• What modernization work have you pitched to your current customers?
• How do your buildings usually do on their annual inspections?
• Have you lost any customers to a competitor lately, and why?

South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.

Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.

Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.

Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.