Aren't Orchestra Lifts terribly expensive?
Well, yes and no. It's true that orchestra lifts have a higher initial cost than portable pit fillers. However, the savings that result in labor make the payback period for an orchestra lift quite short; often only a few years.
Let's look at a hypothetical example:
State University can put an orchestra lift in their new performing arts center for $100,000.00. But they can purchase a portable pit filler for only $60,000.00. Wow! Let's not waste all those tax dollars on a lift, right? But what if each time the elevation of the pit filler is changed, it takes two people one eight hour day? Let's assume that our hypothetical crew costs an average of $20.00 per man hour, not an unreasonable figure today. If you do the math, you will see that changing the pit filler elevation 125 times will cost as much as buying the lift in the first place. If the elevation is changed once a week, the lift would have been payed for in less than two and a half years! Of course, these figures are strictly hypothetical, but the savings are real.
Now consider that if State U. is paying hundreds of dollars, and wasting a day, each time they move the pit filler, they won't move it nearly as often as they would like to. The versatility of an otherwise beautiful facility has been severely compromised. It is safe to say that a lift which can be raised or lowered by one person, in about a minute, adds considerable versatility.
You may be thinking, "But here at County Community College, we use free student labor to re-arrange our pit filler." In that case, perhaps you should attempt to put a monetary value on the liability you assume by allowing your "free" labor to struggle with heavy, awkward pit fillers. An orchestra lift begins to look like a real bargain!
If you are sold on the idea of an orchestra lift, but still think you can't afford to include one in your project, you may be able to lease one. Many municipalities and schools are eligible for a long-term lease. This lets them spread the cost of the lift out over a long period, and sometimes lets them pay for the lift from a different budget, for example an operating budget instead of a capital improvement budget. If this would help you, we can work with you to arrange leasing.
