The Independants in our local do very well. Which we are located in Texas. Now they have a NON union shop around here called RICO and after they go in and destroy the unit we charge extra to fix it. You cannot beat a mechanic who went through NEIEP and had 4 year apprenticeship. Electricans and crane mechanics make horrible elevator men, which most of the NON union shops use. Ill find safety circuits jumped out, interlocks jumped out, door restritors not working. But I guess this terrible work practices can be used by anyone. But the difference is a man with a card in his pocket knows better.
A good lawyer will be your best asset. I wonder how much insurance you have to hold. But good luck
haha im all of the above. sparky,crane mechanic(cranepro/kone 3yrs) and lifty. here we are trained at trade school as sparkies first and foremost then lift mechanics but still do a 4yr apprenticship in lifts. a bloke from my year worked in the states for schindler(or equivelent). he wasnt allowed to work in the field by was a super but he told me our training was considered very good.to the topic at hand i work for a small/medium independant who went out on their own(2 blokes), it was important that the 2 were mechanics as you will need a break from being on call. look for a small company to buy out a service portfolio which is what these guys did. they provided a maintenace service and a mod package but it was in the end not economically viable. what really made the company grow was installation of new lifts. we import a spanish brand(which is in the states i believe) which has worked wonders. the more you install the better. my advice would be is to find a partner you trust, start small low overheads and get into the small install market( against monospaces etc). my owner is a millionaire bc he did just this. good luck.
yuk, yuk!