Lerch Bates

Lerch Bates began in Chicago in 1947, when Charles W. Lerch started an elevator maintenance shop and added consulting at clients’ request, which the firm calls the country’s first elevator consultancy. V. Quentin Bates joined in 1964, the two moved the practice to Denver, and it incorporated as Lerch Bates & Associates in 1974. Today it’s 100% employee-owned through an ESOP and run from a support center in Highlands Ranch, Colo., with flagship offices from Boston to Seattle. Beyond elevators and escalators it covers building logistics, facade access and building envelope consulting. It’s one of the consultants SOM credited on Success Academy’s Bronx K-12 campus, where vertical transportation and envelope work come with a building that size.