The cost of a fire door survey is minuscule compared to the potential cost of being fined for non-compliance.
Failure to follow the UK’s fire door regulations can result in fines worth tens of thousands. At the time of writing, the average financial penalty for not following fire safety regulations post-Grenfell is £27,519, with some landlords being fined considerably more.
Even if you own or manage a large residential property, a fire door survey for your building won’t cost anything like this.
Besides, a fire door survey is worth much more than just the money it saves you. It’s there to safeguard the residents in your building and protect lives.
As fire door survey specialists, we know the long-term value of a survey. Our article outlines its cost and the factors behind it.
In this article
How much does a fire door survey cost?
What factors affect the cost of a fire door survey?
What does a fire door survey report cover?
Why is a fire door survey important?
What is a fire door survey?
If you’ve not carried out a fire door survey or had one carried out at your property before, we’ll explain in plain English what it is.
In essence, a fire door survey is a detailed inspection of a building’s fire doors to ensure they’re safe and compliant with safety regulations.
It involves a trained, competent surveyor looking at all of the components of a fire door that help it to prevent the spread of fire and smoke.
During a fire door inspection, our technicians will inspect and report on each component of the fire door assembly, including the:
- Door leaf
- Door frame
- Door closer (self-closing devices)
- Hinges
- Intumescent door strip (the fire-resistant material which is fitted around a fire door or frame) and cold smoke seals
- Glazing (vision panels)
- Locks and levers/handles and other door furniture
- Fire safety signage
- Hold open devices
- Gaps around the doors and threshold gaps
How much does a fire door survey cost?
The exact cost of a fire door survey depends on numerous factors, as we’ll explore further down. The biggest factor is the number of doors within your building.
But as a ballpark figure, you can expect to pay from £250 + VAT for a fire door survey. This figure rises to several thousand pounds at sites which contain hundreds of doors.
As we wrote above, paying several thousand pounds at most for a fire door survey is a no-brainer considering:
- A ‘minor fine’ for non-compliance is £5,000.
- Landlords in the UK have been fined over £50,000 and received suspended prison sentences for non-compliance in the aftermath of Grenfell due to a heightened awareness of and focus on fire safety standards in residential buildings.
What factors affect the cost of a fire door survey?
In addition to the number of doors within your property, various other factors impact exactly how much you’ll spend on a fire door survey.
These include the following.
Travel costs
We’re based in Birkenhead on the Wirral, but we can conduct fire door survey inspections all over the UK.
When we visit properties further afield, we have to account for travel costs, and these are factored into the overall price we quote.
Number of visits
If we’re surveying a small property and we’ve been granted access to all doors, we can carry out a fire door survey in just one visit.
However, we sometimes have to visit the same site numerous times as residents haven’t given permission for us to access their door. As a result, clients often ask for revisits, which will incur further charges.
What does a fire door survey report cover?
Our fire door inspections are carried out in compliance with BS476 and BS8214.
Here’s a brief explanation of these standards:
- BS476 is the UK-only standard that dictates how to conduct fire tests on building materials and structures, and what constitutes a pass of such tests. It’s divided into multiple parts, each of which focuses on different aspects of fire safety testing.
- BS8214 provides guidance on the specification, installation, and maintenance of timber-based fire doors. It’s designed to ensure that fire door assemblies perform effectively and help to contain fire and smoke.
When we conduct a fire door survey, we look for an indication as to whether the door is in a state of readiness to perform its intended function in the event of a fire.
All doors identifiable as fire doors (whether they’re accessible for testing or not) will be asset-tagged with a QR code on a sticky label.
Once we’ve completed the site survey, we’ll produce a report listing any failings.
Why is a fire door survey important?
If you’re the landlord or managing agent for a residential property in the UK, you’re classed as a ‘responsible person’.
As such, you’re legally obliged, under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, to manage all fire safety precautions, including fire doors. You must ensure that your premises and any installed fire safety measures are maintained so that they perform as required in the event of a fire.
To be sure your door will do that, we recommend a survey is carried out by a trained professional so you can take the appropriate remedial actions.
Regular surveys will help keep maintenance down to a minimum in terms of cost and disruption.
If you’re not sure where to begin with respect to doing the survey yourself, we can remove this headache.
Get a detailed fire door survey from North West Fire Solutions
You’ll remain fully compliant with the law and keep your building safe with our expert fire door surveys.
All of our surveyors are formally trained and experienced in fire door inspection, meeting the competence requirement, meaning they’re fully trained to assess fire doors under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
To arrange for us to visit your property and conduct a fire door survey, reach out to us on 0151 665 0124 or email info@nwsolutions.co.uk.