pricing addressable Fire Alarm systems

[Jesse7623]

what kind of price tag are you all putting on addressable systems?I tend to figure my price per device/appliance.But pricing this stuff is kind of new to me.I am working in northern vermont

 

[ivsenroute]

Can't give you pricing information but I will tell you to familiarize yourself with not just the NEC but also the NFPA 72 and the IBC 2006 which Vermont has adopted.

Section 907 of the IBC usually throws alarm companies for a loop until they learn it. There are many requirements that you may not be aware of. Don't get stuck bidding one item then having to do more work because you did not know.

 

[satcom]

If you doing fire systems check your liability insurance, it is usually not covered under electrical contracting coverages, it is expensive and only a few companies offer it. And make sure you have a contract approved by your insurance underwriter, or you will be playing with fire. The post on understanding the fire codes, is a good tip. The money is not in installing fire systems, it is in the on going maint and repair and monitoring, installation is the smallest part of the money. The fire system guys don't price the same as electrical contractors.

 

[nhfire77]

unless its a small system, less than 50 devices total, I would not price per device. You can estimate labor if you have consistant employees. It also depends I can get twice the price for the same system in one state than another. There isn't much going on up in the northern kingdom.

 

[Jesse7623]

If you doing fire systems check your liability insurance, it is usually not covered under electrical contracting coverages, it is expensive and only a few companies offer it. And make sure you have a contract approved by your insurance underwriter, or you will be playing with fire. The post on understanding the fire codes, is a good tip. The money is not in installing fire systems, it is in the on going maint and repair and monitoring, installation is the smallest part of the money. The fire system guys don't price the same as electrical contractors.

I have all the sec. clearances and endorsements.That is not the issue.Im just not familiar with pricing in the northeast kingdom.

 

[satcom]

I have all the sec. clearances and endorsements.That is not the issue.Im just not familiar with pricing in the northeast kingdom.

If you are paying all the overhead and operating expenses of an alarm business, then you understand why you need to charge a lot heaver then an electrical contractor, no one can give you a figure because everyones business has different costs, of doing business, and only you know your own costs. You might try finding what the local alarm dealers are bidding in your area, there are a lot of published bid's on public work.

 

[tyha]

Unless you have the capability to do all the battery calcs, shop drawings, programming and zone mapping then you need to get a FA company to give you a quote. We install some of the FA systems we contract but it is usually less than 50 or so devices. We install a Firelite system from ADI and fortunetly they are pretty easy to program and we have the ability to print zone maps and such. Most times we get a turnkey number from a FA company and mark it up. Or you can get what is called "Parts and Smarts" which is where you buy their equipment, programming, calcs and maps and you install and wire it yourself. For that we have a per device unit price that we use depending on if we pipe it or free air the cable.

 

[Jesse7623]

thanks guys