Cost of a new fire panel in a commercial building

hey guys… need some assistance… technician came into our business which is located in the mall… said we need to replace our fire alarm panel… a radionics d8112… just wanting to know roughly how much itll cost to install a new fire panel… also, how long does it typically take for a formal plan submittal to be reviewed and approved by the city? our store is located in kenner louisiana. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Also,

technician was saying it was gonna be roughly $10,000 to replace a new panel because they have to change from 12v to 24v? Any ideas of what this means? Is $10,000 a reasonable price to install a new panel?

I would first get quotes from a couple different alarm companies. Honestly, I never get to see the prices of the installs (guess if I knew how much the company was making off the job I would be disgruntled when I saw my paystub) so can’t help you there. But really depends on the scope of work. Are they going to be pulling all new wire? What system are the putting in, addressable or conventional? How many devices? Are they just replacing the panel or all devices? Saying they need to update to 24 volts is true but shouldn’t effect the price any, unless they have to switch out devices - some can operate at 12 or 24 volts but then some can’t. As far as the time frame of the plan review, really depends on the jurisdiction. You could ask that when you get your other quotes.

reposted from another thread you asked this question in:

did he say why it needed to be replaced? radionics was bought out by bosch, and the bosch D7412GV3 or gv4 are pretty much direct replacements if a new panel is all that’s needed. those things are cheaper than most fire alarm panels, and you’d only need to replace the board inside, they both use the same enclosure.

shouldn’t be prohibitively expensive as almost everything should be able to be reused (wire, conduit, back boxes, etc.)

Also, normally i would say 10k seems reasonable for a new fire alarm system, but it seems extremely high just to replace an old radionics panel. keep in mind the technician isn’t a salesman, so he was probably high balling you just so he doesn’t get backed into a corner.

According to the D8112 manual, it’s a conventional, eight-zone, 12VDC system. Depending on the size of the system, you may only need to replace the panel (and signals, if they are not designed for 12/24VDC operation. What signals are in the building?). Most conventional pull stations can handle anywhere between 6 to 30 VDC, and some can even handle 120VAC. If your system has detectors, you’ll have to replace them too, as 24VDC will overvolt them.
If the system is to be replaced with another conventional system, you could try the Fire-Lite MS-10UD or Silent Knight SK-5208. Both are known for their ease of use to program and operate, and can handle up to 10 zones. You could probably keep the pull stations but you’d have to replace the smoke detectors.
If it is to be replaced with an addressable system, then that opens up a whole new can of worms. The detectors definitely would have to be replaced, the pull stations can either be replaced or have addressable modules attached to them, etc.
The question boils down to how many and what kind of devices are in the system. Could you give us pictures, if you can?

the bosch is cheaper than both those and uses 12vdc.

literally a direct replacement.

Why would he high balling him? Is it so he doesn’t give him a low price quote and then have to ask for more? I do agree however that 10k seems a bit much.

it’s not the tech’s job, he probably honestly has no idea (especially if it’s a service technician), and he doesn’t want to step on the salesmen’s toes by setting a low expectation when the sales guy puts together an actual number.

I’ve known customers to receive an outrageous quote because the boss really didn’t want to do the work but the customer insisted on a quote. One of my former bosses was like that - he would quote you a really high price instead of just saying he wasn’t interested in the job. He was notorious for doing that in the more “shady” parts of town.