Fire fighting system cost estimator: a BOQ at official schedule rates

The schedule behind the fire fighting cost estimate

Fire sprinkler, hydrant and alarm item rates in the schedule

How to make a fire fighting BOQ with the estimator, in 5 steps

1. 1

   Take quantities from the design

   Count heads, hydrant points, detectors and extinguishers from the drawings, and pipe metres by size.

2. 2

   Enter them group by group

   Sprinklers, hydrants and hose, pumps, fire alarm, extinguishers, then pipes and valves.

3. 3

   Choose the site's location

   General note 13 adds 5% to 20% outside district headquarters and corporations.

4. 4

   Read the bill

   Each line is quantity times the schedule rate, with its item number, then the uplift and 18% GST.

5. 5

   Add what the schedule leaves out

   Diesel engine pump set, pump panel, alarm valve, addressable alarm, tanks and civil work are not in it.

Fire pump and pump room item rates

Flamekite’s working from the official rules; no government publishes this figure.

Chapter 13 prices electric pumps by flow and head, jockey and terrace booster pumps, and the pump room fittings.

GI pipe and valve rates by size for a fire fighting BOQ

Pipe is the line that grows with the building: 100 mm GI C-class pipe is Rs 1,473 a metre supplied and laid above ground.

Above-ground rates; excavation for buried pipe is extra and priced in other chapters. 1MH PWD CSR 2018-19, ch. 13

Fire fighting cost estimate in numbers

Six figures from the schedule and the GST notification that shape every estimate.

• Rs 396

  One 15 mm quartzoid bulb sprinkler, 68 °C (13-10-1) 1MH PWD CSR 2018-19, ch. 13

• Rs 7,863

  One gun metal single outlet landing valve (13-6-30) 1MH PWD CSR 2018-19, ch. 13

• Rs 1,632

  One optical smoke detector with base (13-8-2) 1MH PWD CSR 2018-19, ch. 13

• 25 percent

  Of the 2-zone panel rate added for each extra zone (13-8-12) 1MH PWD CSR 2018-19, ch. 13

• 20 percent

  Highest location uplift, for hilly areas (general note 13) 2MH PWD CSR 2018-19

• 18 percent

  GST on a works contract, not in the schedule rates 3GST Notification 11/2017

Fire fighting system cost estimate: 3 worked bills

Flamekite’s working from the official rules; no government publishes this figure.

Priced by the estimator itself at the schedule's rates; quantities are ours, for illustration.

1. Case 1

   A 6-floor office

   100 sprinklers, 6 hydrant points with reels, hoses and cabinets, a 2,400 l/min pump and jockey, 40 smoke detectors and a 6-zone panel, 10 ABC extinguishers, 420 m of pipe; district headquarters.

   What applies Rs 10,93,250 at schedule rates, Rs 1,96,785 GST, Rs 12,90,035 in all. 1MH PWD CSR 2018-19, ch. 13

2. Case 2

   A shop outside a district headquarters

   4 ABC and 2 CO2 extinguishers, 6 smoke detectors, 2 call points and hooters, a 2-zone panel, 120 m of cable; 5% uplift.

   What applies Rs 70,104 plus Rs 3,505 uplift, Rs 13,250 GST: Rs 86,859. 2MH PWD CSR 2018-19

3. Case 3

   One sprinkler floor of 1,200 m²

   100 heads (12 m² each, ordinary hazard), a flow switch, 250 m of 25 mm and 60 m of 50 mm pipe, a butterfly valve.

   What applies Rs 1,85,733 before GST, Rs 2,19,165 with it: about Rs 155 a m² for this floor, our arithmetic, not an official rate. 1MH PWD CSR 2018-19, ch. 13

What the fire fighting cost estimator leaves out

The schedule prices items, not whole systems. These lines need a quote or another schedule.

Fire fighting cost per square foot: what is official and what is not

The most searched cost question has no official figure: no schedule states a rate per square foot.

• You may have read

  There is an official sprinkler system cost per sq ft.

  Myth

  What the sources say

  No schedule Flamekite has read states one; costs are built item by item. A per-m² figure is only arithmetic on one bill. 1MH PWD CSR 2018-19, ch. 13

• You may have read

  The schedule rate is what a contractor will charge.

  Myth

  What the sources say

  It is a 2018 government rate for Maharashtra works, before GST; market prices differ. 2MH PWD CSR 2018-19

• You may have read

  GST is included in the rates.

  Myth

  What the sources say

  General note 12 excludes it; a works contract adds 18%. 2MH PWD CSR 2018-19

• You may have read

  A bigger panel costs a whole new panel.

  Myth

  What the sources say

  The schedule adds 25 percent of the 2-zone rate for each extra zone. 1MH PWD CSR 2018-19, ch. 13

Fire fighting BOQ terms in the schedule

Five phrases from the schedule and the tax notification that decide what a rate means.

CCSR

Current Schedule of Rates: a PWD's published rate for each item of work, here the 2018-19 electrical schedule in force from 12 September 2018. 1MH PWD CSR 2018-19, ch. 13

SSupplied, erected, tested and commissioned

The rate covers the item, fixing it, testing it and handing it over working. 1MH PWD CSR 2018-19, ch. 13

GGeneral note 12

Rates include cess, insurance, overhead and transport but exclude GST. 2MH PWD CSR 2018-19

GGeneral note 13

The 5%, 10%, 15% or 20% uplift by site location. 2MH PWD CSR 2018-19

WWorks contract

Installation that becomes part of the building, taxed under heading 9954 at 18%. 3GST Notification 11/2017

Fire fighting BOQ checklist before you compare quotes

Seven lines to have on the bill so two quotes can be compared item by item.