- How to be Safe and Not Get Burned
- Commercial, industrial and multi-residential buildings all
require fire prevention sprinkler systems. Recently there has
been a push by fire marshals, fire fighters, and fire protection
professionals to include residential homes in that requirement
status as well. No matter where you are during the day, a fire
protection system affects your life. Whither you're at work,
in a high-rise building, or you have kids in school, a fire protection
system is resting overhead and hopefully will never be needed.
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 Fire sprinkler contractors
are generally listed in the Yellow Pages under "Fire Sprinklers,"
or "Sprinklers". It is always better if you know someone
who has recently installed sprinklers in their building and can
refer you to a contractor. If you are starting from scratch,
general caution is in order.
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- This article has been written to prepare a building owner
or property manager with information necessary to evaluate fire
prevention/protection contractors. By knowing a few basic questions
you can ensure a fire protection contractor has the proper background,
experience, qualifications and certifications for designing,
installing, maintaining and inspecting a fire sprinkler system
in your building.
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- One of the most critical decisions for a building owner or
property manager is hiring a skilled, qualified and certified
fire protection contractor. If the sprinkler system fails or
does not adequately suppress a fire, the results can be devastating,
from the loss of human life to a great financial impact.
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- Improper design, failure to meet standards, inadequate coordination
with architects, builders and fire marshals can all impact your
business. These failures can cause costly delays, additional
fees and perhaps even create local or state imposed fines. Include
poor workmanship, inferior materials or improper installation
and your sprinkler system could cost you more in service and
repair long after your contractor has left the building.
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- The typical failures include water leaks, which can damage
your company's assets, impact the environment or create other
hazards for your tenants during installation. Leaks can also
impact the performance of your fire protection system causing
serious failures when it's needed the most.
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- A properly designed and installed fire protection system
will dependably serve your building for many decades. The decisions
made today can and often do affect a building and its tenants
throughout the life of the building itself. A qualified contractor
can help you through the process and ensure that standard is
meet.
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- In state owned property there is a requirement that building
systems be built with the intention of lasting for 50 or more
years. We have personally serviced sprinkler systems that have
been in service for more than a century.
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- Background and Reputation
- Background and reputation are the two most important pieces
of information you can gain from a contractor. Many fire protection
companies are more than willing to provide you with information
about their qualifications, certifications and license information.
But unless you double-check that information, it could just be
words on a page. Every state has a licensing agency for contractors.
For fire prevention/protection companies, the State Fire Marshal's
office is usually the authoritative agency. Today, these agencies
typically maintain a database of currently licensed companies
on their websites. You can search for the companies and verify
their licenses. You may also take time to verify the certifications
required by the state in order to be licensed. This can help
you verify the claims of certification as well.
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- Check our Links page for licensing
information on Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia
and Tennessee.
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- Check with your local Better Business Bureau for any compliments,
complaints or litigation issues that may exist for the company.
You can find most of this information online as well.
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- One of the best sources for checking out a contractor is
through their reputation with other customers. Consider calling
other building owners or property managers and asking if they
worked with the contractor before and what their customer experience
was with that company.
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- Consider drafting your own contractor questionnaire and require
detailed responses for any legal or regulatory actions taken
against them. These should include:
- All litigation within the past 5 years
- OSHA/EPA citations
- Outstanding judgments or claims
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- Consider requesting the resumes of the top personnel within
the company. Ascertain the sum of their combined years of experience
and the depth or range of experience. Are their personnel experienced
in all aspects of design, installation and inspection of sprinkler
systems? Having cross over experience could be a great asset
as it provides a full scope of understanding when working on
your project.
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- What is their turnover rate? A company with high turnover
could be a sign of unprofessional or unscrupulous practices.
On the other hand, a business built on multiple generations and
family pride often demonstrates stability and sound practices.
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- Design
- Your sprinkler project should begin with the contractor's
estimator and if possible also the contractor's designer who
will be in charge of the project. Planning and design require
precise measurements, understanding of installation and performance,
and is the foundation for quality throughout the contracting
project.
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 You don't want just
anybody handling this responsibility. An experienced, trained
designer or technician is essential to the project. You want
someone with a professional designation or degree that speaks
to the integrity and quality of their drawings. This could be
certification from NICET, the National Institute for Certification
in Engineering Technologies. But not all states utilize NICET
and instead rely on their testing and certification process.
You need to know what your state requires and if your contractor
has met those qualifications.
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- In both North and South Carolina NICET level III certification
is required for preparation of shop drawings.
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- You might also inquire about the range of experience of your
designer. Have they installed pipe before? If so, for how long.
Some of the best designers are people who have actually done
the job they're designing for. Does the designer understand your
business and it's unique requirements. For instance, a designer
with a scientific background who know how to read the recycle
codes on plastic has a jump on others when designing a sufficient
system for a storage building filled with plastics.
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- When a building already exists, a designer won't just rely
on the original architectural drawings. As a building is physically
created, small variations in the design may occur during construction.
These can impact your sprinkler design. An experienced designer
will include a survey of the building to ensure an accurate design
of your new or modified sprinkler system. Check the experience
of your designer to determine if they provide this service, and
if so, how do they perform the service. For instance, do they
rely on visual inspection, tape measures and existing drawings?
Or do they come with professional equipment that provides them
with accurate measuring and inspection. How do they assess storage,
arrangement, and commodity. Each of these can impact not just
a survey, but also the design and installation.
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- Materials
- One of the biggest risks of going with the lowest bid is
that you get what you pay for. Often, this means cheaper, inferior
parts that may serve you adequately for the short-term, but create
long-term breakdowns. And bringing back the contractor to replace
what's broken or defective is always more costly than paying
the price for quality up front.
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- Quality products can be identified by the stamps and approvals
of UL (Underwriters Laboratories) and FM (Factory Mutual). ANSI
(American National Standards Institute) is the approval authority
for pipe, including pressures and hydraulic flows, to ensure
proper performance.
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- Some companies insist on domestically produced materials.
Nothing wrong with that, but keep in mind domestically produced
materials are very expensive. All materials used in construction
of fire systems must meet the standards set by ANSI, and most
will also meet the standards set by UL and FM as well. There
are more that meet UL than FM, but it's rare not to see both
stamps on a device
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- Quality Control
 Quality control
covers a broad range of topics during the design and construction
of a fire protection system. One of the first questions to ask
a potential contractor is what installation standard they use
and how much experience they have with that standard.
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- In the U.S, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
sets industry standards. These standards are specific to commercial,
industrial, multi-residential and private home construction.
Determine how much experience the contractor has with the appropriate
standards that are specific to your needs. For instance if you're
looking for a contractor to install a system in a residential
home they should refer to Standard 13D, usually referred to as
NFPA 13D. This covers both site-built and manufactured homes.
If they refer to NFPA 13 or 13R, keep shopping. Your contractor
should know exactly what's required for your building, regardless
of what type of building that is.
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- Additionally, the contractor should be working with the most
current version of the standards. NFPA updates various standards
through out the year. While most authorities having jurisdiction
over your building may not adopt changes to the standards for
several years, your contractor should be aware of changes and
be prepared to incorporate them immediately.
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- Quality doesn't stop at the design table. Contractors who
assign a project manager to your installation have better control
over quality than those who give a haphazard oversight on the
construction site. It doesn't matter if the company is small
or large, a single project manager is vested in providing you
with the best quality in order to maintain or even build their
reputation in the industry. Seeing the job through to the end,
working with other contractors, the fire marshal and understanding
the stages of installation, inspection and approvals all contribute
to the quality control of any project.
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- Pricing
- The next factor to choosing a contractor is pricing. Sometimes
the lowest bid isn't always the best bid. Especially if it's
exceptionally low. The first question you should ask is, why
is their price so low, what are they missing that the others
are including? Taking the lowest bid could result in a costly
change order to the contract to include what was missed. An experienced
contractor generally won't do this, as they rarely miss something
in the bid.
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- Most contractors will come to you and look over the job before
giving you a quote. This initial survey of the project allows
them to review the work site, the existing plans, evaluate and
apply the necessary NFPA standards before providing a quote.
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- Another factor affecting price is competition. In areas with
a lot of sprinkler work exists, the costs are about one half
that of areas with fewer installations. One caveat, though. If
there is a lot of work but not enough contractors, a higher quote
might be provided for new work because they already have all
the jobs they can handle or they view new jobs as supply and
demand. If there is a lot of demand, but few to provide the service,
some contractors may think their services are more valuable.
If you suspect this is the case in your area, consider looking
at contractors outside your area, or perhaps even outside your
state. Just ensure the out of state contractor is licensed to
do work in your state.
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- Specialization is another factor. Contractors who have experience
in single-family residential work may provide lower quotes than
other sprinkler contractors who do not have this experience.
For one thing, they have learned efficiencies that cut both installation
time and materials. And they're able to pass those savings on
to their customers.
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- Lastly, prices will depend upon the prevailing labor rates
in your area. If you live in an area with relatively high or
low labor rates, then this will be reflected in bids on residential
sprinklers.
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- Finally
- Your thorough review and selection of the right fire protection
contractor will create significant value and quality of your
sprinkler system.
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- INTEGRITY
has designed several commercial, industrial and residential sprinkler
systems for our clients. We have the knowledge and experience
to help you lay out a plan and design a system that's right for
your business or home. You can learn more about INTEGRITY, our experience and
services by visiting our Home page
or calling us at 704.888.5510
- Copyright 2010 - Integrity Fire Services Inc.
- Duplication of any material, in whole or in part, is strictly
prohibited.
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