How to get a useful passive-fire quotation

“Please quote for the attached report” is a familiar request. It can also produce very different answers. One contractor may assume all findings are in scope; another may price only accessible items; a third may need a survey before offering a reliable figure.

Start your request by naming the next step. A budget estimate can help plan funding, but its assumptions need to be clear. A survey may establish information that the report does not contain. A detailed quotation needs a sufficiently defined scope, with unresolved matters identified.

Ask contractors to tell you which response they can provide from the information available. If a visit or additional investigation is required, agree its purpose, deliverables and any cost first.

Keep the covering note short enough to read, with supporting documents available alongside it.

• The property: address, building type, occupation and the number of buildings involved.
• The requirement: the service or work packages you need considered, linked to report references.
• The scale: recorded quantities, clearly labelled estimates and known gaps.
• The evidence: reports, schedules, drawings and relevant photographs you are authorised to share.
• The constraints: access, working hours, appointments and other work affecting the programme.
• The decision: your procurement stage, target dates and the person approving the next step.

If a budget range has been agreed, explain what it covers. If it has not, say that. An unknown budget or quantity is more useful than an invented figure.

For fire stopping or compartmentation work, a count of openings alone may leave important questions unanswered. Provide the location plans, survey findings and available photographs rather than trying to select a technical solution yourself.

Tell the contractor which areas were accessible during the survey and where concealed conditions remain unknown. Include available information about the relevant construction and services when it is recorded, and ask the specialist what further evidence is needed.

The ASFP distinguishes product evidence, specification and installation considerations in its technical questions and guidance. Your procurement brief should preserve those questions for the appropriate specialist rather than replacing them with a generic instruction to “seal all gaps”.

Use one schedule with consistent building and item references. Identify separate packages for doors, fire stopping or other passive-fire requirements, while making the interfaces between them visible.

Ask the quotation to distinguish the work itself from associated items such as access equipment, opening up, reinstatement, making good, waste removal and documentation, where relevant. Record who is responsible for each item and whether it is included in the price.

If new information changes the brief, give the same clarification to every contractor still quoting. Keep a dated copy so the final comparison is based on the same scope, not different versions of the enquiry.

Create a short comparison against your original schedule. A low figure is difficult to evaluate when an important activity is excluded or left undefined.

• Coverage: which report items and work packages are included?
• Price basis: is the offer fixed for a defined scope, measured work, a budget allowance or a mixture?
• Allowances: what is provisional, and what could change the final amount?
• Delivery: what are the lead times, access assumptions and programme dependencies?
• Evidence: what records, product information and relevant certification will be provided?
• Commercial terms: are VAT treatment, payment stages, quotation validity and variation approval clear?

Use clarification questions to resolve differences before choosing. Where a technical alternative is proposed, have the appropriate professional review it; do not treat it as equivalent solely because the price is attractive.

Illustrative quotation request — adapt it to your project

Please review the attached report and schedule for our occupied property. We are seeking a quotation for the listed work packages. Please identify the services you can cover, retain our item references and state whether a visit or further investigation is needed. Show inclusions, exclusions, provisional items, programme assumptions and proposed handover records. Please identify any information needed before the price or scope can be confirmed.

Add the site details, report versions, response date and decision contact. Ask the contractor to raise technical questions before pricing a solution based on assumptions. Avoid requesting a firm start date before the scope, access and necessary approvals are understood.

You can start with the report and a few project details. Our enquiry accepts multiple passive-fire services as one project, so you do not need to submit the same building several times.

We review the information, clarify what is missing and consider contractors against the relevant service, location and project requirements. A person reviews introductions before contact details are shared. If a suitable match is not available, we will explain that.

The contractor remains responsible for assessing and quoting for its work. You choose whether to proceed and agree the works contract directly. PFL does not prepare a technical specification, certify the building or guarantee that a contractor will quote.