Fire inspection hours and cost
- Technician hours this building needs in a year
- 34.2
- Of which the twelve monthly extinguisher visuals
- 17.6
- Of which the annual round
- 15.3
- Of which the semi-annual container weighings
- 1.3
The inspection intervals on these pages come from 29 CFR 1910 subpart L, the federal floor for portable extinguishers, standpipe and hose systems, automatic sprinklers, fixed extinguishing systems and fire detection, read from the eCFR and linked on the page that uses them.
The report above is a worked example, 34.2, on a building we made up. Change any line and it re-renders on your own visit.
Download the Fire inspection hours and cost worked example (CSV)
What a fire inspection on one building actually costs you in technician time, worked from the systems in it and the intervals each one is held to rather than from a price somebody remembered. Count the extinguishers, the sprinkler risers, the standpipes, the fixed systems and the alarm devices, put your own minutes against each task and your own loaded hourly cost, and it returns the hours the year needs, split into the twelve monthly extinguisher visuals, the annual round and the semi-annual container weighings, then what that costs and what the contract has to bill to hold your margin. The interval behind every line is the federal floor, linked underneath.
What contractors ask about the Fire inspection hours and cost
Why are there thirteen visits in the arithmetic?
Twelve monthly extinguisher visuals plus one annual round, which is the commonest shape for a building with extinguishers. If you batch the visuals quarterly, or if the site has no extinguishers, change the minutes rather than the count and the travel line follows the work you actually do.
Where do the intervals come from?
29 CFR 1910 subpart L: a monthly extinguisher visual and an annual maintenance check with the date recorded, an annual main drain flow test with the inspector's test valve at least every two years, hose systems at least annually, and fixed system containers weighed at least semi-annually. The standard your AHJ adopted will ask for more, and where it does it is the one that binds.
The minutes look wrong for my crew.
They are meant to. Every default here is a starting figure, not a benchmark, and the useful version of this sheet is the one with your own times in it. Time one round properly, put the real numbers in, and the price line stops being a guess for every building after it.
Why is the price higher than cost divided by margin?
Because margin is a share of the price, not a markup on the cost. If you set the margin at 45, the cost is the remaining 55 of every 100 you bill, so the price is the cost divided by that remainder rather than the cost multiplied by one plus the margin. That difference is worth several points a year across a contract book.
Does this include the deficiency work?
No, deliberately. This sizes the scheduled inspection, which is the part you have to do whether or not anything is wrong. Return work to clear deficiencies is separate revenue and it is a poor idea to price it inside a fixed inspection contract.
Hydrantly Pro
Keeping the round: due dates, deficiencies and the file the AHJ asks for
Pro keeps the round: the buildings, the systems, the due dates and the deficiencies, so the schedule builds itself and nothing falls off the end of a year.
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$49per month, whole team
Start Hydrantly Pro PricingHydrantly Pro is $49 a month for the whole business. It renews on the same day each month at the same price until you cancel, and the price and renewal date are shown again before you pay.
Where the constants in this tool come from
eCFR, 29 CFR 1910.157: portable fire extinguishers.