We do not publish a price list, and you should be wary of anyone who does. A fire risk assessment is priced on the building, not on a tariff — a two-bed HMO and a six-storey block are not the same job, and a fixed number on a website is either quoting for the smallest possible property or is a figure that will change once someone actually looks at yours. What we can do is tell you exactly what drives the price, what a proper assessment includes, and how to tell a real quote from a cheap one.
Tell us the property type and size and you get a fixed fee the same working day — no site visit needed to price it.
No day-rate creep, no “additional units” surcharge on arrival. If we misprice it, that is our problem.
We do not sell desktop assessments. Someone attends, opens the doors and looks at the building.
Almost every legitimate quote you receive will be built from these. If you understand them, you can compare quotes properly — and you can spot the ones that have not been thought about.
The address and property type · Approximate floor area · Number of storeys and number of units · What the building is used for and whether anyone sleeps there · Whether you need a communal assessment, a full building assessment or a specific Type for a block · Whether you hold a previous assessment or drawings · Why you need it — licensing, insurance, a lender or an enforcement notice, because deadlines change how we schedule.
Two quotes are only comparable if they cover the same work. Before comparing prices, check both quotes include all of the following — because the cheaper one very often does not.
A competent person physically attends and inspects the premises. A questionnaire you fill in yourself is not a fire risk assessment, whatever it is sold as.
Identify the hazards; identify the people at risk; evaluate, remove or reduce the risk; record findings and prepare an emergency plan; review. Anything less is not an assessment under the Fire Safety Order.
Findings ranked by risk, each with a recommendation and a timescale — not an undifferentiated list. This is the part your council, insurer or lender will actually read.
Photographs of what was found, located within the building. This is what makes a report defensible if it is ever challenged.
The report should say who carried it out and what qualifies them to. Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 requires the Responsible Person to record who the assessor was.
You will have questions once you read it, and your council may too. A report with no one behind it is worth less than the file it arrives in.
There is a floor below which the work cannot be done properly, and the market has plenty of offers underneath it. These are the shortcuts that make a low number possible.
No one attends. The report is produced from what you told them and a template. It will read plausibly and it will not survive contact with an inspecting officer.
Recommendations that could apply to any building usually came from a template rather than from your building. If nothing in the report could only be true of your premises, that tells you something.
Some firms price the assessment low and make the money on the remedial work it recommends. An assessor who will also sell you the fix has an interest in what the report finds.
Communal areas only, when you needed the flat entrance doors too. Or a Type 1 when your lender asked for a Type 4. You find out when the report is rejected.
Non-compliance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is a criminal offence. Fire and rescue authorities can serve enforcement and prohibition notices — and a prohibition notice can stop a building being occupied. Penalties on conviction include unlimited fines, and up to two years’ imprisonment in the most serious cases. Alongside that sit the practical costs: a licence application that stalls, an insurer questioning cover, a sale or remortgage held up. Those are the numbers the assessment is actually being weighed against.
Ask every firm the same six questions. The answers separate them far more reliably than the price does.
Get it in writing. For a block, ask which Type of assessment it is. For a mixed building, ask whether commercial units and residential parts are both covered. Most disputes come from here.
If the answer is vague, or the visit sounds implausibly short for the building, you have your answer. Ask what happens if an area cannot be accessed on the day.
You are entitled to know, and you are required to record it. A firm that will not name the assessor before the visit is a firm to be careful with.
This is the fastest test there is. A redacted sample tells you in two minutes whether you are buying a document or a template.
Not automatically disqualifying — but you should know the answer, and weigh the findings accordingly.
Ask whether follow-up questions are included or chargeable. A report you cannot get support on is a report you may end up buying twice.
Property type, rough size, number of units, and what you need it for. That is enough for us to quote you a fixed fee within 2 hours — no site visit needed to price it, and no obligation.