On February 18th and 19th, the Dahe Daily continuously reported on the topic of Henan Province testing water sharing elevators. One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and in the past week, over 400 residential communities in the province have registered through Dahe Daily alone. Dahe Daily reporters have also received "discussion calls" from various elevator installation companies. A citizen of Zhengzhou expressed that "it doesn't matter whether it's shared or not, install elevators first before proceeding" and called for the implementation rules of installing elevators at the district level to be issued as soon as possible; A citizen asked, what conditions can be met for communities to install shared elevators? Some industry insiders question that shared elevators are not profitable for businesses.

Questioning party

   Actuaries calculate that shared elevators are not as beautiful as they appear

    On February 22nd, Wang Chuanqing, the project manager of Henan Modern Elevator Co., Ltd., who has been in the industry for nearly 10 years, approached reporters and said, "Shared elevators are theoretically sunny, but in reality, they cannot last long.". He claimed to have spent a year calculating with an actuary and came to the conclusion that building a shared elevator for a company would take 25 years to recover costs, and installing 300 elevators is the "critical point" for the company. "Within 300 elevators, the company will make a small profit; over 300 elevators, the company may incur losses.".

    Wang Chuanqing stated that he had spent 11 months searching through all five residential areas in Zhengzhou and came to the conclusion that as of December 31, 2015, there were a total of 37584 old buildings in Zhengzhou with 6 floors or more that could be equipped with elevators. He synchronously collected more than 60 parameters about the frequency of elderly people going up and down stairs, the number of users, the age group of elevator passengers, and the lifespan of the elderly, and spent money to invite a registered actuary from an insurance company to do the "actuary" of sharing elevator inputs and outputs.

Wang Chuanqing told reporters that the annual market share of first tier brands in the domestic elevator market is about 73%, and the market share of second and third tier brands is about 27%. "More than 300 shared elevators mean companies have to advance billions of yuan in working capital. Look, no top tier brand is willing to participate in this business model with huge investment and long return cycles."

He also revealed that the financial subsidy amount introduced by the Beijing Municipal Government for installing elevators in old buildings is more than four times that of Zhengzhou. Investors in shared elevators will soon have commercial returns, but the current subsidy situation in Zhengzhou is not optimistic. In addition, the investment in shared elevators not only includes installation costs, but also maintenance and emergency expenses in the later stage, and requires a maintenance team of at least 300 people to ensure normal operation, which is a great test for enterprises.

Top level owner: "Sharing is not cost-effective, it's better for owners to raise funds to install elevators."

In the message area of the Dahe client, there are also many citizens living on the top floor who question "shared elevators", stating that "the top floor fees are a bit high, and it is better for owners to raise funds to install elevators themselves.".

The enthusiastic netizen calculated an account. According to the current charging standards for shared elevators in Beijing, the monthly fee is over 500 yuan, and the top floor owners have to spend nearly 7000 yuan per year. However, based on a medium-sized elevator with a capacity of 630 kilograms, the construction price of one elevator is approximately 450000 yuan. If the owner raises funds on their own, according to the appropriate inter layer price difference coefficient, the top owner can use it permanently for about 45000 yuan. "One is to pay 7000 yuan per year for many years, and the other is to pay 45000 yuan in a lump sum for permanent use. The latter is definitely cost-effective," said netizen "Jasmine Love Cabin".

Supporting party

Industry insiders: The core of "sharing" profits lies in cost control and operational models

Regarding the industry's doubts, Mr. Yang, who has also been deeply involved in the elevator industry for many years, has shown great interest in "shared elevators". Mr. Yang said that as China gradually enters an aging society, the market space created by the installation of elevators in old buildings is huge. As an emerging model, shared elevators are inevitably questioned, "but I believe the key to doing well is cost control and operational models."

Mr. Yang told reporters that elevator manufacturers undoubtedly have cost advantages in making shared elevators. If the manufacturer also has other relevant qualifications, it can save at least 10% in cost control.

The reporter learned that the installation of elevators in old buildings requires at least three types of qualifications for construction units, namely elevator installation, maintenance and warranty qualifications issued by relevant national departments, civil engineering qualifications, and steel structure engineering professional contracting qualifications. At present, 90% of old building elevator installation companies in the Henan market only have one or two qualifications. "Usually, one enterprise accepts the bid and contracts the design, construction, and other processes to other companies, which undoubtedly increases the cost," Mr. Yang told reporters.

"Shared elevators cannot exceed 30% of the total business volume of the enterprise, and there are profit models not only for elevator car advertising, but also for big data in the later stage, which will be a profit point for the enterprise," Mr. Yang said.

CPPCC member: The community can install shared elevators if it meets three conditions

Provincial CPPCC member Luo Jinfu agrees with Mr. Yang's views.

He further explained that installing a shared elevator requires three conditions to be met. Firstly, the old residential areas have the most basic civil engineering conditions for installing elevators. Secondly, the opinions of the owners should be unified. Thirdly, the subsidy funds for installing elevators should be in place.

"These days, we have also visited some residential areas on site, and once the detailed rules at the district level are issued, we can enter the implementation of shared elevators," Luo Jinfu told reporters.

More than 400 registered "shared elevator" communities across the province

In the past week, more than 400 "shared elevator" model communities have been solicited through the 96211 hotline of Dahe Daily. Communities in multiple provincial cities such as Luoyang, Kaifeng, Shangqiu, and Puyang have all registered, with Zhengzhou being the majority.

Mr. Guo from Guancheng District called and said that the installation of elevators in the community is being vigorously promoted, and the proportion of contributions from each household has been determined. However, later it was heard that there is a new model of shared elevators, and some homeowners began to have different ideas. "I hope you can pay attention to our community and provide a prompt response on whether and when shared elevators can be installed."

Ms. Wang from the Radio and Television Community said, "Shared elevators are great. Can you come and see if our community can install them?"? My first floor also needs an elevator.

Mr. Li from a certain community on Hongzhuan Road said that everyone agrees to install the elevator. But because everyone didn't quite understand, they were not willing to take the lead in doing this. Sharing or not doesn't matter, as long as it can be installed.

Mr. Niu from a certain community on Zhongyuan Middle Road stated that the elevator in the community has been booked and the advance payment has been made, but one household on the first floor disagrees. And the owners don't know which department to go to for approval next.

【 Progress 】 Detailed implementation rules at the district level have been issued, and shared elevators can be implemented

In mid December last year, the Implementation Opinions of the Zhengzhou Municipal People's Government on the Installation of Elevators in Existing Residential Buildings (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") were issued. It has been more than two months now, and there are no specific implementation rules issued in various districts of Zhengzhou. Elevator installation companies and citizens are anxiously waiting.

"There are no specific implementation rules, and both the elevator company and the citizens are watching. They don't know how to handle the approval procedures, nor do they know how to apply for subsidies," the person in charge of a certain elevator home decoration company told reporters. Last Friday, he just went to the Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau of Jinshui District. The staff of the bureau told him, "The detailed rules for Jinshui District will be issued by the end of February, and it may become the first district in the province to issue specific implementation rules."

[Suggestion] Incorporate the installation of elevators in old buildings into government livelihood practices

Paying attention to the installation of elevators in old buildings is essentially solving the problem of "elderly people hanging in the air" going downstairs. The Dahe Daily reporter learned that one in every 10 people in the province is over 65 years old, and a considerable number of elderly people live in old residential areas.

Data shows that as of the end of 2017, there were over 15 million elderly people aged 60 and above in the province, accounting for 14.5% of the total population. Among them, there were over 9.7 million people aged 65 and above, accounting for 10.2% of the permanent population, over 1.6 million elderly people aged 80 and above, and about 6 million empty nest elderly. Meanwhile, the urbanization rate of the permanent population in the province is 50.16%. Roughly speaking, half of the elderly live in towns with buildings.

From the 400 residential communities currently registered, the reporter found that over 95% of them come from the demand to solve the difficulty of elderly people going downstairs. The average age of most applicants for residential community owners is around 70 years old, with the largest being 101 years old.

In a joint letter written to Dahe Daily, the elderly staff of the Zhengzhou Association for Science and Technology wrote, "After the 18th National Congress, the Party Central Committee proposed the topic of caring for the elderly, proposing to have a sense of security, support, and happiness for the elderly. It specifically extends to turning the elderly care industry into a sunset industry, an important part of restructuring and improving people's livelihoods. We call for and look forward to it."