What Affects the Cost of a Fire Compartmentation Survey?

What makes one survey cost more than another?

Time on site is the biggest factor, and these are the things that drive it:

• Building size and number of floors: more floor area and more storeys mean more compartment walls and floors to inspect.
• Number of risers, service voids and plant rooms: these are where services concentrate, and each one takes time to inspect and record properly.
• Roof spaces and ceiling voids: large voids, or ceilings with many tiles to lift, add time, particularly where access is by ladder or tower.
• Access and escorts: buildings where every door needs a key holder, or where we must be escorted at all times, take longer to move around.
• Out-of-hours or occupied working: surveying at night, at weekends or in short windows around occupants spreads the work over more visits.
• Visual versus intrusive work: opening up construction takes far longer than a visual inspection and needs extra planning. See survey types.
• Number of buildings: more buildings mean more visits, although grouping them by area keeps travel efficient.
• Whether drawings exist: good floor plans let us mark observations quickly. Without them, locations are described in words, or you may want measured drawings produced.
• Asbestos precautions for intrusive work: checking the register, and any precautions it calls for, before anything is opened.
• Making good after opening up: reinstating finishes after intrusive inspection, if that is included in the scope.

How are portfolios priced?

Portfolios are quoted as a fixed fee per building. Each building is priced on its own details, so a small office and a large hospital block are not averaged together, and you can see exactly what each site costs.

That makes it easy to budget across a programme, phase buildings over several financial years, or recharge costs to clients or departments. See portfolio survey programmes for how multi-site work is scheduled.

Why do we need building information to quote fairly?

Two buildings with the same floor area can take very different amounts of time. One may have a single riser and open ceilings; the other may have dozens of service cupboards, locked plant rooms and escorted access throughout. Without basic information, a quote has to allow for the worst case, which is unfair to you, or it risks changing later, which is unfair to everyone.

A few details at the start let us price the survey properly first time, so the fixed fee stays fixed.

What should you send us for a quote?

• The address and postcode of each building
• What each building is used for (for example offices, flats, care home, school, hospital)
• The number of floors and, if known, the approximate floor area
• Whether you need communal areas only or the whole building
• Whether the survey is visual only or includes any intrusive work
• The number of risers, plant rooms and roof spaces, if known
• Whether floor plans or fire strategy drawings exist
• Any access restrictions: occupied hours, escorts, permits, security or key holders
• Whether an asbestos register is available for the areas involved
• Any recommendation from your fire risk assessment, and any deadline you are working to

If you do not have all of this, send what you have. We will ask about anything that affects the price.

What is not included in a survey quote?

A survey quote covers inspecting and reporting. It does not include remedial works. If you would like us to quote for putting right what the survey finds, see fire stopping remedial works; that is quoted separately once the scope has been verified on site.