How to Change Your Fire Alarm Maintenance Company

Common reasons people switch

We hear the same reasons again and again:

• The contractor has stopped turning up, and the certificate is now out of date.
• Visits are rushed and no defects are ever reported.
• Certificates arrive weeks late, or not at all.
• Repair quotes are slow, vague or expensive.
• A new managing agent or owner wants one contractor for everything.

Before you switch

Check your current contract for its notice period and end date, so you are not paying twice. Then ask for the documents that belong to the building, not the contractor:

• The fire alarm logbook.
• The zone plan or as-fitted drawings.
• The most recent servicing certificates and any defect reports.
• The panel's engineer access code, if one has been set.
• Details of any alarm monitoring contract linked to the panel.

Open and closed protocol panels

Most panels can be serviced by any competent engineer. Some addressable systems are closed protocol, meaning the software and some parts are only available to companies approved by the manufacturer. If yours is one of these, the new contractor may be able to service it but not reprogramme it. We will tell you which yours is on the first visit and what the options are.

The first visit

Treat the first visit as a full inspection. We test the whole system, compare it with the drawings and the building as it is used now, record everything we find, issue the certificate once it passes and put you on a six-monthly schedule with a reminder before each visit. If you have emergency lighting, we test it on the same visit.

Servicing is from £180 + VAT a visit for a conventional system and £240 + VAT for an addressable system, and the emergency lighting test is £150 + VAT. Call 020 8946 5567 or see our fire alarm service contracts page.