AlarmStream — Fire Alarm Estimating & Design

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⚙️ Company Setup

Enter your company information, device costs, and labor rate. These are saved in your browser and applied to every job estimate.

Pricing Model

Gross Margin

Sell = Cost ÷ (1 − GM%). Industry standard — ensures your overhead and profit are always a fixed % of revenue. Recommended for most contractors.

Overhead + Profit

Sell = Cost × (1 + Overhead%) × (1 + Profit%). Classic markup method — simpler, but margin shrinks as costs rise.

Company Name *

License Number

Material Gross Margin % * Sell = Cost ÷ (1 − Margin). At 40%: $100 cost → $167 sell price.

Labor Gross Margin % * Applied to all labor categories (field, shop, design, PM).

Labor Rates & Overhead Hours

Set your burdened labor rates and the fixed overhead hours charged per job (shop prep, engineering, project management).

Field Labor Rate (burdened $/hr)

Includes payroll burden, fringe, indirect costs

Shop Labor Rate ($/hr)

Shop Hours per Job Panel prep, material staging, testing

Design/Engineering Rate ($/hr)

Design Hours per Job Drawings, submittals, programming

PM Rate ($/hr)

PM Hours per Job Coordination, inspections, closeout

Detection Devices — Unit Material Cost

Smoke Detector (each)

Heat Detector (each)

Duct Smoke Detector (each)

Initiation & Notification — Unit Material Cost

Manual Pull Station (each)

Horn/Strobe NAC (each)

Control Equipment — Unit Material Cost

FACP Small (<50 pts)

FACP Medium (51–250 pts)

FACP Large (251–1000 pts)

FACP X-Large (>1000 pts)

Cellular/IP Communicator (each)

RAD / CLSS Pathway — central station reporting

Monitor Module / 2-Input (each)

Sprinkler waterflow & tamper supervision

Aux Power Supply (each)

Remote Annunciator (each)

SLA Battery 18AH (each)

Wiring — Unit Material Cost (per foot, by gauge)

Set your cost per foot for each wire gauge. The estimate will use the gauge selected on each job's System Details step.

18 AWG FPLR (SLC — per ft)

Typical SLC / addressable loop wire

16 AWG FPLR (SLC/NAC — per ft)

Medium runs, SLC or light NAC

14 AWG FPLP (NAC/Power — per ft)

NAC circuits, long runs, power feeds

12 AWG FPLP (Power — per ft)

High-current power / control circuits

EMT Conduit ½" (per ft)

Mechanical rooms, panel feeds, exposed runs

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Building Info

System Details

Review & Estimate

Design Output

🏗️ Step 1: Building Information

📄

Import from Spec PDF

Upload a construction spec, architectural doc, or building survey — AlarmStream will auto-extract square footage, ceiling heights, floor count, occupancy type, and more.

Job Name / Project *

Customer / Owner

Occupancy Type *

Number of Floors *

Total Building Sq Ft *

Ceiling Height (ft) * Standard floor-to-ceiling height (affects detector spacing)

Number of Rooms / Spaces * Count individual enclosed rooms/suites

Number of Exit Doors * Total exit doors (per floor × floors)

Corridor Linear Ft Total length of all corridors

Building Perimeter (ft) Used for pull station spacing calc; leave 0 to auto-estimate

⚡ Step 2: System & Special Conditions

Number of HVAC Units Duct detectors required on systems >2,000 CFM (NFPA 72 §17.7.5)

HVAC Capacity (CFM per unit) Return-side detector required if >15,000 CFM

Building is Fully Sprinklered (NFPA 13)

When checked: spot smoke detectors reduced to special rooms only (IT, electrical, riser); waterflow & tamper switches monitored via addressable modules — switches furnished by sprinkler contractor.

High Ceiling Areas (atrium, gym, warehouse bay)

Remote Annunciator Required

Required when FACP is not visible from main building entrance (NFPA 72 §10.16)

⚡ Circuit Classification & Wire Gauge — NFPA 72 Chapter 12

SLC Class (Signaling Line Circuit) * Class A loops wire back to panel — survives one wire break. Adds ~85% more SLC wire. Required in some occupancies (healthcare, high-rise).

NAC Class (Notification Appliance Circuit) * Class A ensures all horns/strobes operate during a single wire fault. Adds ~85% more NAC wire.

SLC Wire Gauge Check panel manufacturer's spec — most addressable panels accept 18–14 AWG on SLC.

NAC Wire Gauge NEC 760.41 / NFPA 72 §10.6 — size for <10% voltage drop at full alarm load.

Power / Control Wire Gauge 24VDC control circuits to aux power supplies, duct detector relays, and ancillary equipment.

📋

Upload a floor plan or click to place devices

Supports PNG, JPG, PDF · Set scale · Auto-place from estimate

Device Count

Placed / Required

Legend

Properties

Click a device to edit its properties.

Wire legend:
━ ━ SLC loop
─── NAC circuit

Tips:
• Drag devices to reposition
• Delete key to remove
• Move 3+ devices to train AI

Scale tip: Enter your floor plan's real width in the Scale field above and click Apply — coverage circles will resize automatically to reflect NFPA 72 spacing. For best results upload a floor plan image (PNG, JPG, or PDF) first.