elevator modernization | Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Sarasota, Orlando
When an elevator is modernized, Florida code requires specific fire alarm connections — Phase I Emergency Recall Operation and Phase II In-Car Operation — that allow the fire alarm system to safely recall the elevator to a designated floor during a fire event. This interface connects smoke detectors in the elevator lobby, machine room, and hoistway to the elevator controller, so the elevator responds correctly the moment an alarm activates.
For building owners, this piece of an elevator modernization project is a code requirement, not an optional add-on — and getting the interface design wrong is one of the most common causes of a failed final inspection.
As a Fortis company, Piper's elevator modernization programs are backed by national training standards and technical resources — delivered by a team that has been earning the trust of West Central Florida facilities for four decades.
Get a Free EstimateWho needs elevator modernization services
THEY FALL OUT OF COMPLIANCE QUIETLY.
elevator CODE & COMPLIANCE
THE ENFORCEMENT ISN'T.
ASME A17.3 — Safety Code for Existing Elevators and Escalators
Florida Building Code elevator safety provisions
A common misconception:
HOW PIPEr's elevator modernization service WORKs
Fire Alarm System Survey
Piper evaluates your existing fire alarm panel and elevator controller to determine what the modernization actually requires — and what it doesn't.
Interface Design
Piper's Alarm Construction Division designs the Phase I/II recall connections, machine room and hoistway detection, and panel integration specific to your building and elevator contractor's scope.
Installation & Coordination
Installation is coordinated directly with your elevator consultant, mechanical contractor, and elevator contractor, so every trade's work lines up instead of colliding.
Inspection & Sign-Off
Piper manages the fire alarm portion of final inspection with your local AHJ, documenting the interface so it passes the first time.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
WHY CHOOSE Piper
Piper has been earning the trust of West Central Florida facility managers since 1986 — and as a Fortis company, that local expertise is now backed by the national training standards and technical resources of a premier national organization.
Piper's own technicians design and install the interface — no handoff to a third party who doesn't know your building.
Piper has navigated Florida's elevator and fire alarm code requirements since long before most building owners knew A17.3 existed.
Service Area
Clearwater (HQ), Sarasota, Orlando, serving 17 counties across Central and Southwest Florida: Marion, Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, DeSoto, Hardee, Polk, Osceola, Orange, Lake, and Sumter.
Part of the Fortis Fire & Safety national network — local expertise, backed by national strength.
For national account inquiries, contact our National Accounts team.
Talk to a Piper fire alarm specialist about your project's requirements.
Fortis Family of Brands
Trust is built locally. It lives in the technician who knows your building, knows your local codes, and shows up when something goes wrong at midnight. It lives in the relationship between a fire protection company and the community it has served for decades.
But capability is built at scale. The training standards, the technical resources, the purchasing power, the shared knowledge of a unified national organization — these are the things that make a local provider exceptional rather than merely adequate.
Fortis was built on this belief.
Our network of regionally rooted fire and life safety companies delivers genuine local expertise in every market we serve — technicians who know the regional AHJs, the local codes, and the specific demands of the facilities in their community. Behind each of them stands the full weight of a premier national organization.
You build. You create. You push the world forward.
We protect it all.
