Occupation

Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers

Human Advantage 67%

Significant human skills needed

AI Automation Risk Moderate Risk
3.5 / 10

Some tasks in this role may be augmented by AI, but human oversight and interpersonal skills remain important.

Assemble, install, repair, or maintain electric or hydraulic freight or passenger elevators, escalators, or dumbwaiters.

Also Known As: Accessibility Lift Technician (Accessibility Lift Tech), Accessibility and Private Residence Lift Technician (Accessibility and Private Residence Lift Tech), Building Serviceman, Contract Serviceman, Elevator Adjuster, Elevator Builder, Elevator Constructor, Elevator Erector +23 more

Video

Core Tasks

  1. Inspect wiring connections, control panel hookups, door installations, and alignments and clearances of cars and hoistways to ensure that equipment will operate properly.
  2. Assemble, install, repair, and maintain elevators, escalators, moving sidewalks, and dumbwaiters, using hand and power tools, and testing devices such as test lamps, ammeters, and voltmeters.
  3. Disassemble defective units, and repair or replace parts such as locks, gears, cables, and electric wiring.
  4. Check that safety regulations and building codes are met, and complete service reports verifying conformance to standards.
  5. Locate malfunctions in brakes, motors, switches, and signal and control systems, using test equipment.
  6. Adjust safety controls, counterweights, door mechanisms, and components such as valves, ratchets, seals, and brake linings.
  7. Read and interpret blueprints to determine the layout of system components, frameworks, and foundations, and to select installation equipment.
  8. Connect car frames to counterweights, using steel cables.
  9. Maintain log books that detail all repairs and checks performed.
  10. Connect electrical wiring to control panels and electric motors.
  11. Test newly installed equipment to ensure that it meets specifications, such as stopping at floors for set amounts of time.
  12. Participate in additional training to keep skills up to date.
  13. Operate elevators to determine power demands, and test power consumption to detect overload factors.
  14. Install electrical wires and controls by attaching conduit along shaft walls from floor to floor and pulling plastic-covered wires through the conduit.
  15. Attach guide shoes and rollers to minimize the lateral motion of cars as they travel through shafts.
  16. Install outer doors and door frames at elevator entrances on each floor of a structure.

Supplemental Tasks (4)

  1. Assemble elevator cars, installing each car's platform, walls, and doors.
  2. Bolt or weld steel rails to the walls of shafts to guide elevators, working from scaffolding or platforms.
  3. Assemble electrically powered stairs, steel frameworks, and tracks, and install associated motors and electrical wiring.
  4. Cut prefabricated sections of framework, rails, and other components to specified dimensions.

Education & Training

Job Zone 3 Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
Education: Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Experience: Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
On-the-Job Training: Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Education Level Distribution

Percentage of workers in this occupation with each education level.

High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)
47%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)
47%
Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree)
5%
Some College Courses
0%
Bachelor's Degree
0%

Technology & Tools

Hot Technologies

  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft Word

Software (8)

  • Computerized maintenance management system CMMS
  • Elevator Controls INTERACT
  • Scheduling software
  • Troubleshooting software
  • WORLD Electronics Freedomware

Tools & Equipment (70)

  • Adjustable wrenches
  • Ammeters
  • Amp meters
  • Cable tensionmeters
  • Capacity testers
  • Cleaning scrapers
  • Commutator stones
  • Conduit benders
  • Cutting torches
  • Diagonal cutting pliers
  • Digital oscilloscopes
  • Disk grinders
  • Electricians' knives
  • Equipment dollies
  • Event recorders
  • Flat metal files
  • Fuse testers
  • Graphic data recording meters
  • Grease guns
  • Hacksaws
  • Hammers
  • Hoists
  • Hydraulic elevator cylinder repair kits
  • Hydraulic pressure gauges
  • Insulated pliers
  • Ladders
  • Laptop computers
  • Laser levels
  • Levels
  • Logic probes
  • Long nose pliers
  • Measuring tapes
  • Megohmmeters
  • Micrometers
  • Millivoltmeters
  • Multimeters
  • Ohmmeters
  • Open end wrenches
  • Personal computers
  • Phase rotation meters
  • Phillips head screwdrivers
  • Plumb bobs
  • Power drills
  • Power saws
  • Pressure gauges
  • Programmable logic controllers PLC
  • Pump pliers
  • Resistance testers
  • Safety harnesses
  • Scaffolding
  • Screwdrivers
  • Shielded arc welding tools
  • Signal generators
  • Slings
  • Soldering irons
  • Spring scales
  • Stick welders
  • Tablet computers
  • Tachometers
  • Temperature profile recorders
  • Test lamps
  • Tungsten inert gas TIG welder
  • Two way radios
  • Vacuum pumps
  • Volt meters
  • Welders
  • Wire brushes
  • Wire cutters
  • Wire strippers
  • Work platforms

Where This Career Leads

Career progression organized by specialty track and experience level.

Skilled Trades Advanced Manufacturing

Zone 3
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