Get a real second opinion before you sign a six-figure proposal.
An independent technical review by someone who has spent 25+ years inside the same machine rooms the OEM's salesperson is talking about. We read your existing-contractor's modernization proposal, walk the equipment, and give you a written opinion: what's actually needed, what's padding, what's a real risk, and what a fair-market scope looks like. No pressure to use Arise for the resulting work.
Five situations where an independent opinion is worth the hour.
Every one of these has saved an Arise client more than the consultation cost — usually by an order of magnitude.
"Is this proposal real, or is it padded?"
You got a six-figure modernization quote from your current contractor (or the OEM). We walk the equipment, read their scope line by line, and tell you what's genuinely required, what's optional, what's already in good shape, and what a fair-market price for the same scope looks like. Most reviews uncover 20–40% of pad.
"What am I really buying in those hoistways?"
You're buying a building (or a portfolio) and the seller's package says "elevators in good condition." We walk the equipment, pull TDLR records, review the maintenance history, and tell you what's actually true: remaining life on each unit, expected capex over the next 1, 3, and 5 years, and any deal-breaker code-compliance issues to negotiate against the price.
"Three bids — but they're not really apples-to-apples."
You ran an RFP and the bids came back wildly different. We level the bids — what's included vs. excluded, where each contractor's scope diverges from the others, what the warranty terms actually say, what's in the small print on auto-renewal and escalator clauses. You walk into the decision meeting knowing what you're really comparing.
"What's coming due in the next 5 years?"
Asset managers and capex planners need to budget for vertical transportation. We walk the portfolio (or one building), assess remaining life on every major component, and deliver a 1/3/5-year capex roadmap with dollar-impact ranges. Useful for quarterly capex reviews, board reporting, and lender discussions.
"Is what they're charging reasonable?"
Disputed invoice, "we found something while we were there" surprise charge, contractor claiming work was done that you can't verify. We review the invoices, walk the equipment to confirm work was performed, and give you a written technical opinion you can use in the negotiation. If there's a genuine basis for billing — we'll tell you that too.
"Tell me what you'd do if this were your building."
Sometimes you just want a real technician to look at the unit and give you their honest read. No agenda, no follow-on bid. We do that — single-visit, single-fee. You get a candid conversation, a written summary, and the call on what to do next is yours.
A written report you can put in front of an asset manager, a board, or a lender.
Every consultation ends with a written deliverable. Not a verbal "looks fine to me" — actual documentation you can act on, attach to a meeting prep doc, or reference six months later.
- Executive summary. One page. The bottom line, the recommendation, the dollar-impact range. Designed for someone who has 90 seconds.
- Equipment walk-through, with photos. What we saw, what's in good shape, what's at risk, what's flagged as "needs attention." Photos of anything that's worth showing to a non-technical stakeholder.
- Line-by-line review of any proposal, bid, or invoice you've put in front of us — what's reasonable, what's padded, what's missing.
- Recommendation — what we'd do if this were our building, with reasoning. Including the option to do nothing right now if that's the honest answer.
- Capex roadmap (where applicable) — 1/3/5-year planning view with dollar-impact ranges, broken down per elevator if you have a portfolio.
- All work product is yours — use it however you need. Including with a different contractor.
A real technician's opinion. Not a sales call wearing a consulting badge.
Most "elevator consulting" services are run by retired sales executives who've been out of a machine room for 20 years. We're not that. Fares Al-Salim spent 25+ years actively servicing every major elevator brand in Houston — Otis, Schindler, Kone, ThyssenKrupp, Dover, Westinghouse, Fujitec, Mitsubishi. He's still on tools. When we walk your equipment, we're seeing what an active, OEM-experienced technician sees — not what someone tries to remember from the ‘90s.
We're also independent. We're not on retainer with the OEMs. We're not on retainer with you. The fee is hourly or scoped to the engagement, paid once, and the recommendation lands wherever the equipment leads it. Sometimes that means "take the OEM's bid — it's actually fair." Sometimes it means "your existing contractor is right." We've delivered both — that's the point.
And family-owned: brothers Fares and Kayed Al-Salim run the business. The person reading your 60-page modernization proposal is one of the owners — not a junior associate.
Consultation questions, answered straight.
What does a consultation cost?
It depends on scope. A single-building proposal review or sanity-check walk is typically a flat fee in the low-four-figures, including the on-site visit and the written deliverable. Portfolio acquisitions, multi-building capex roadmaps, and dispute reviews are scoped hourly or fixed-fee per engagement. We'll quote it before we start — no surprises.
Are you really independent if I might hire you for the work afterward?
Fair question. The recommendation is independent — we'll tell you to do nothing, or to use a different contractor, or to renegotiate with your current one, if that's the honest answer. If you decide you'd like Arise to perform the recommended work, we welcome it (we already know your building) but we don't make that a condition of anything. The deliverable is yours regardless.
Will you talk to my existing contractor on my behalf?
Yes, when it's useful. We can attend a sit-down with your current contractor as your owner's-rep, ask the technical questions you wouldn't think to ask, and translate their answers into plain English. Some clients want us in the room; others want us to coach them and stay invisible. Both work.
How long does an engagement take?
A single-building proposal review: typically 5–7 business days from kickoff to written deliverable, including the site walk. Portfolio reviews: 2–4 weeks depending on building count. Disputes and expert reviews: scoped per engagement. We'll commit to a schedule before we start.
Do you do expert-witness work?
We've supported owner's-side disputes and reviewed invoices for litigation purposes. For full expert-witness engagements (depositions, court testimony), reach out and we'll discuss whether we're the right fit — sometimes a dedicated forensic-elevator-engineer firm is a better choice. We'll tell you that too.
Can you keep this confidential?
Yes. We routinely sign NDAs for portfolio-acquisition due diligence, RFP review, and dispute work. Default mode: nothing about your engagement leaves Arise unless you ask us to share it.
Get a real second opinion. Before you sign.
Send us the question (a proposal you've received, a building you're acquiring, an RFP you're running, a dispute you're navigating). We'll come back within 24 hours with a scope, a fee, and a schedule — or tell you it's not a fit and point you somewhere that is.