FPA photo of the Ipswich development sold for £1 in 2024 following fire regulation failures
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Not all proposals are created equally
You’ve decided to move forward with the sprinkler portion of the works. Maybe you need it for approvals, selling value, or personal preference. Now you just need to figure out who’s going to be carrying the works out.
The BBC and FPA both recently reported on a 249 apartment development in Ipswich, which sold for £1 due to fire safety problems which hadn’t been properly addressed. In the words of Muhammed Ali: ‘failing to prepare is preparing to fail’. Reviewing sprinkler proposals is one of the first key stages of your development to help you avoid these problems. So how do you get it right?
You go out to tender, you have the bids and proposals in front of you, but what is the gold standard? What’s the least amount of information a decent installer will provide you with? As any bride (or groom) to be will testify: not all proposals are created equally. So how do you separate the wheat from the chaff?
1: Accreditations
An accredited sprinkler installer will have worked hard to have achieved that title. They’ll be shouting this achievement from the roof tops. Our own sprinkler proposals detail our firas accreditation and certification number on each page.
Third party sprinkler certification is key evidence that the installer both knows what they’re doing, and has the nouse to follow through with what’s needed. We’re firas accredited, and we recommend that developers prioritise bids from firas installers. For more information on this, check out our guide.
2: Block plan
Many fire suppression standards require a block plan be provided as part of their works. Block plans are used to detail which areas are protected, how, and why. An example is shown below.
Both the residential (BS 9251: 2021, BS EN 16925) and commercial standards (BS EN 12845) for sprinklers require block plans for compliance, with BS EN 12845 requiring it to be issued at the estimation stage (pre-contract). LifeSaver Engineering issues these block plans for all projects pre-contract.
The benefit of an early block plan is the that it clearly highlights any area which may need attention. A well presented block plan will do this more clearly than a head layout and allows room for co-ordination once the installation begins.
3: Scope of works
Where does the contract start and end. Who is responsible for what? Will your installer remove walls? Carpets? Will they move furniture? Where will items be stored? Who accepts deliveries? What is the access and removal strategy?
It’s important that everyone understands what’s expected as part of the works. Failing to make this clear can be costly in terms of delays, variations, and future adaptions. Your installer’s sprinkler proposal should clearly detail what assumptions and exclusions they’ve made (often referred to as ‘technical qualifications’). If they simply turn up, take a look, and go ‘yeah, we can do that’ : ask them how Harry and Paul are getting on.
4: Direct contact details for an actual human
We’ve all been there. Contact with the sales team was great. Then you go into contract and you can’t get hold of anyone. In 2023, Microsoft found that call wait times in the UK were up to 83 minutes. That’s potentially 83 minutes of your time wasted. Don’t let that happen to you.
Insist on direct contact details for a decision maker on the job. Ideally a direct phone number and email address. Then call it to make sure it goes through to who you expect. This should usually be an account or project manager.
5: Component details
How will your system look in the end, do you reckon? You’ve spent all this time and money getting your property just how you want it. It’s attractive, it’s functional, it’s yours. Now this company wants to come in and poke a load of holes in your ceiling. How will it end up?
When considering the components, your sprinkler proposal should provide the following detail:
- Approximate weight of pipes, pumps, and tanks (for your structural engineer to consider);
- Approximate sizes of water supplies, as installed (to make sure they fit in the desired location and through doors);
- The infill performance from the public main required for the proposed water supplies to be compliant; and
- An indication of how key components look.
One aspect which often creeps up at the pre-tender stage for surveying is the water infill from the public water supply. Again, this isn’t necessarily available for the pre-tender information for new builds. Although retrofits will usually already have their infill in place, which can be assessed to size the water supplies.
As part of our sprinkler and mist proposals, we detail the infill which we would require in order to for the system to be compliant. For dwellings, these figures are usually the pressure and flow required for a direct mains feed (so a system which would require neither a pump or a tank). These figures do not need to be verified by a sprinkler installer at this stage and so we encourage prospective clients to reach out to a local plumber to confirm the values.
This approach benefits from impartiality. You know for a fact that the values which your plumber provides are honest and accurate. Sprinkler and mist installers who verify the infill before confirming the water supplies have a vested interest in providing the most pessimistic figures in order to secure an order for water supplies. We don’t want to sell anybody something which they don’t need. If, within your pre-tender information, you are able to meet the infill requirements detailed in our proposal, we will gladly provide you with a direct feed. Clients are, however, asked to note that we do verify the infill of all installations prior to commissioning.
This approach also benefits from being able to leverage contractors who may already be on site. New builds may already have a plumber on site for the central heating installation, while larger retrofit developments may have onsite personnel who are able to provide the measurements needed.
6: Cost (including costing methods for potential variations)
It’s plain as day that the sprinkler proposals should give you an idea on how much you’ll be expected to spend. What’s often less clear is what happens when there’s a variation. Who decides what counts as a variation? Who decides the cost?
Smaller projects may simply include a list of specified costs for additional works, but larger projects may require these works to be subject to an additional contract or subject to assessment. Your contract may specify who makes this assessment, and it may be you, your installer, or a third party. If a clear block plan and scope of works was issued, that should make it easier to understand what counts as a variation or additional works.
In any case, the last thing you want is to find that you need to make changes but you’ll be given a price after the works…
7: Options
There’s usually more than one way to skin a cat. Does your project need concealed heads? Concealed pipes? Does it require an external pump house? Which items are required for compliance, which are aesthetic choices, are there any optional enhancement, or maybe there any items which can be set aside altogether?
A good sprinkler proposal will have a section for options to consider. It should also explain what the differences are or why no alternatives are available (perhaps due to time constraints).
In any case, it should be clear what your base cost includes for and what the payment terms are.
8: End dates and lead times
All things must pass. A good installer will ask for a programme of works as part of the bidding process. We’ve actually written a guide on information which we like to see at this stage. If no programme has been provided, then it should be clear on what was assumed in terms of installation and lead times.
Some aspects of this go beyond the installer. For example, lead times for pumps can be several weeks from the vendor themselves. However, other aspects need to be co-ordinated alongside the installer’s other commitments.
Is your installer available with 24 hour’s notice? That’s handy, but why? Have they no other installations going on? Service engineers should be expected to have this availability (or better), but not installers.
On the other hand, do the installer’s other projects mean that you could be left weeks, or months, before getting a commissioning certificate? How does your project compare to the others that they have on?
Sprinkler proposals should detail how long an installation should be expected to take, what assumptions have been made to provide that timescale, and what the lead times are for components, deliverables, and staff.
Equally, the proposal itself should have an expiration date. Availability changes, and so do prices from vendors. We hold our quotes for 28 days. If you have a proposal in front of you without an end date, that price might seem attractive in 12 months time, but would it still be realistic? Or will you find yourself with an installer unable to complete the works without being provided with an unexpected further payment? If they can’t complete the works otherwise and they go bump: that’s not just their problem, it’s yours too.
9: Value engineering opportunities
Sometimes, savings can be made without impacting on compliance. This usually requires a change in expectation. It may be that moving the boiler out of one cupboard and into another area could reduce the head count and so the cost. Perhaps moving a wall or adjusting other elements of the development could be beneficial.
In some cases, areas can be excluded by involving a specialist (such as a fire engineer).
A good installer will be looking to provide you with a solution which best works for you. It shouldn’t be about putting the price up as much as possible. It should be about providing the client with what they need. No more and no less.
A good sprinkler proposal will detail value engineering options, what is required for them, and how it would affect your system.
If this avenue is explored, it is crucial that developers are as transparent as possible with installers, while keeping an open mind themselves. Good communication can save you cost and headaches in the long run.
10: Next steps
You’ve been sent the proposal, great, now what? Who do you contact, how, what do they need from you? What if you have questions?
If the process isn’t clear at this stage, what will they be like on site?
All of our sprinkler proposals include detail on all of this. Clients are provided with both a dedicated contact and accounts contacts. We also provide detail on what other information might be needed to move the project forward (for example: fire risk assessments, further drawings, Reflective Ceiling Plans, etc).
Just like the rest of the building, the earliest foundations dictate the integrity of the rest of the project. If you and your installer aren’t on the same page at the outset, where will you be when it comes time to preparing for building control approval?
Bonus: The installer offers free resources and guidance
We find that many of our clients are being given misinformation by other suppliers. For us, the advice and guidance which we offer doesn’t change based on the value of the project. It changes based on the needs of the system and is rooted on the same core principles.
These principles lead to consistent approaches, which we detail on our website for free. We keep this available so that you know that the guidance that we’re giving to you is the same as we’re giving to every other developer and authority. It doesn’t change solely for the purpose of getting a sale over the line.
If you want to know more about what’s on offer, head over the to the Sprinkler Academy for Developers and Regulators to see how you can make your next project go as smoothly as possible.
You may also want to check out our guides on pre-construction and pre-tender information.
