Lerch Bates

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In 1947, Charles W. Lerch started a company performing maintenance and repairs, C. W. Lerch Co, (widely accepted as the first independent elevator consulting company) in Chicago.^[9] He later added elevator consulting as a side business. In 1964 Charles W. Lerch was joined by Vane Q. Bates and both men working full-time on elevator consulting. The firm moved to its offices to Denver, Colorado that same year and officed downtown in the Patterson Building on 17th Street (since demolished). The Company moved a number of times but has maintained its HQ in and around Denver. In 1974 the company was incorporated as Lerch Bates & Associates and by the 1980s building boom, and under the leadership of Quent Bates (CW Lerch having died in the early 1980s) Lerch Bates had 15 offices in North America. In 1985 Lerch Bates Limited in London was formed and in 1990 it created the first "Performance Related" maintenance contact, which related equipment downtime and traffic performance to maintenance premiums. In 1994 under the direction of Quent Bates and his quest to reward the employees, Lerch Bates became an employee owned company and is now considered one of the best and longest running ESOP's in the US. In 1998 Lerch Bates designed the world's fastest elevators for the then world's tallest building, the Taipei Financial Centre / Taipei 101.

• Lerch Bates Corporate Website