HD/SD Installation

[Galeon]

I would have thought your maintenance company , who you are using should be able to complete the above quite easily and for a realistic price .

[Davidrh]

I have no idea what a realistic price is !!!

[Wiz]

How come a qualified electrian cannot change an HD to SD.
For the record I am putting in Appolo 65 optical detectors which will mean replacing the bases.
Location (mostly) are in middle of room.
I suppose it would be best to keep the HD's where they are next to the bathroom
What do you folk think is a reasonable charge (per SD) to change and commision (incl supple)

Anyone can change a HD to a SD as long as they are competent to do so i.e. they have the correct tools, training, experience and knowledge.

It is unlikely that a general handyman would be competent.

It is possible an electrician could be competent.

It is almost definite that a specialist fire alarm engineer would be competent.

I would budget estimate that the cost per point to suppy, install and commission would be between £35.00 and £50.00 + vat per point (based on a quantitiy of approx. 50 No. Apollo Series 65 Optical and diode bases depending on location of your site and the difficulty of the job, and assuming your existing system is capable and fit to accept  the new devices.

[Graeme]

How come a qualified electrian cannot change an HD to SD.
For the record I am putting in Appolo 65 optical detectors which will mean replacing the bases.

for a little extra i would recommend you consider using Apollo Orbis in which you will have the option to use mutisensors.

[David Rooney]

Just by the by and out of general interest.... assuming these are bedrooms we are talking about, do you have an alarm sounder in each as well??

[Davidrh]

Hi all

Yes..we have alarm sounders in each room. Would that be a problem

That would seem a reasonable price to me Wiz. ie around the £35.00 mark

and here I come to it.................

All you good folk giving me Jip because I defended some unknown hotel for charging £1600.00 due to a false alarm

Lets have some comments on...........

£95.00 per SD from a respected specialist fire alarm engineering company (not a national company)

So who's doing who here

[Wiz]

£95.00 per point sounds very excessive for the work as you have described it. Maybe the quotation includes for something that we are not aware of.

If not, you are probably being done! Don't accept the quotation and thank your lucky stars that you found out about Firenet where you can find out about these things!

I have no qualms in denigrating fire alarm companies who overcharge as much as I think taking £1600 from a customer's payment card because a smoke detector activated in a smoking room due to smoking is scandalous, probably fraudulent practice and reflects badly on any hotelier who agrees it is a reasonable action.

The general advice for obtaining quotations remains the same as always.

1) Ask friends for recommendations of companies to obtain quotations from.

2) Obtain quotations, based on your written specification detailing the work you require and what you are trying to achieve, from at least three companies.

3) choose the quotation from the company who best show an understanding of what you are expecting (not necessarily the cheapest!)

[Davidrh]

You see my point though Wiz.

From my (the hoteliers) point of view its coming at us from all angles including those we thought we could trust.

I take your point on Firenet and appreciate the comments

I will get my SD's in (at the right price)...even if I didn't know I needed them

[Wiz]

Davidrh, you are a businessman. You should know better.

Extracts from the Businessman's Survival Guide:

Rule 7 - Trust no-one until they prove they are worthy of it!

Rule 8 - Never trust the Government or any it's representatives under any circumstances. Their prime concern is to squeeze as much money out of you to pay for their own existence. They would take everything if they could, but that would leave them with no-one generating any income. These people certainly don't know how to generate business income themselves. In fact they could hardly arrange a p**s up in a brewery!

I'll be contacting you directly tomorrow with an idea to help you with your smoke detectors.

[Allen Higginson]

Hi all

Yes..we have alarm sounders in each room. Would that be a problem

That would seem a reasonable price to me Wiz. ie around the £35.00 mark

and here I come to it.................

All you good folk giving me Jip because I defended some unknown hotel for charging £1600.00 due to a false alarm

Lets have some comments on...........

£95.00 per SD from a respected specialist fire alarm engineering company (not a national company)

So who's doing who here

If you have asked the price to change one and one only then I would have to say that was nearly fair enough (travelling time + time on site + equipment).
However,if it is £95 per detector regardless how many they are doing then it is excessive.Taking into account that 3 detectors/bases per hour is comfortable (providing there are none at high access and that full access is available) then I'd say all 50 changed for around 2K (or less) would be a fair price.
Put me up fer a couple of nites with a bar tab and I'll see what I can do for you!!!!

[Chris Houston]

I am sure I could quote hotels who charge high rates per night.  Their price is too high for me so I don't stay there.  That is a fair comparison.

But imagine you agreed to pay £35 a detector and then because the contractor did something wrong, he then charged you an extra £1,000 per detector.  Would that seem fair?  Because that is a fair comparison of situations.

You have yet to tell us what the hotel customer who smoked in her smoking room did wrong.

[Galeon]

Your 95 per point does that allow disposal under the Weee directive ?

[Allen Higginson]

Your 95 per point does that allow disposal under the Weee directive ?

I didn't think detectors came under WEE as yet?

[Galeon]

Buzz
I have been told over here now you cant even throw a heat in the bin , before ebay of course.

[Allen Higginson]

Buzz
I have been told over here now you cant even throw a heat in the bin , before ebay of course.

.....oops!!!!!!!!