How to Choose a Fire Protection Company?
When choosing a fire protection company some facilities may make their decision based on price. If both fire protection companies provide a quote for the same service, why pay more? How to choose a fire protection company requires a thorough evaluation of their experience, quality of work, and possible long-term costs because otherwise, you could end up paying for additional service fees and fire code violations. The following are a few reasons companies can provide you with low-cost fire protection services and what factors you must evaluate.
Level of Experience
Low-cost fire protection system contractor’s prices are lower than their competitors because of their technician’s experience level. A technician that’s just starting out in the fire protection industry has a much lower salary than a senior technician who has numerous certifications. This company can charge less for their services and pass the savings onto the customer. This is an issue when the technician isn’t qualified to perform fire protection services. They may not have enough training to troubleshoot and solve the issues. In some cases, the junior technician might not even identify a problem.
Quality of Work
The quality of work varies based on what type of fire protection system contractor you hire. Some companies make up for their low pricing by pressuring technicians to complete multiple services in one day. Then technicians can move onto the next job site more quickly. Their fire protection repairs aren’t completed properly or aren’t visually appealing. Even experienced technicians can miss part of a test and make sloppy repairs in a rush. But regardless of the quality of work, you’ll still be paying for a complete fire protection inspection or test but you won’t be receiving the full service.
Why Low-Cost Fire Protection Costs You More in the Long-Term?
Although the initial contract price may have seemed like a bargain, you’ll be paying more in the long-term. Lack of experience, missing parts of inspections or tests, and poor workmanship can really add up. It takes more time to complete a service when a technician doesn’t know how to troubleshoot or complete a test. This is quite inconvenient and if it’s an emergency service you’ll be charged an hourly rate. If another technician has to troubleshoot the problem, that technician’s travel and actual work time will end up on your bill. When inspections and tests are incomplete because parts of the service were overlooked, inspectors can issue fines due to code violations. It gets worse. If any fire protection repairs are done improperly then you’ll have to pay to have them fixed. Essentially, you’re paying for the same work twice in order to have it done properly.
When you’re choosing a fire protection company, be wary about making a decision based on price alone. A low price quote may look like it includes everything but you may be sacrificing some intangible factors. Items you won’t see included in the price are experience, quality of work, and long-term cost. If you’re in the process of choosing which fire protection company to work with then follow this guide on how to evaluate fire protection service companies.
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