posting our actual fire watch invoice because nobody in this trade ever posts numbers

Every time somebody asks what fire watch costs the answer is "it depends on your market" and then nothing. So here is a real one from last month, occupied office building, alarm panel replacement that turned into a six day outage.

24/7 coverage, three 8 hour shifts, single guard.

• day shift, 48 hrs at 36/hr = 1,728
• swing, 48 hrs at 36/hr = 1,728
• overnight, 48 hrs at 42/hr = 2,016
• weekend uplift, 24 hrs at +6 = 144
• same day mobilization = 250

Comes to 5,866 and change. Fast Fire Watch, Houston, 5,866 for six days of round the clock coverage.

The mobilization fee was not in the phone quote and I only saw it on the invoice. It was 250 so I wasnt going to fight about it but I'd have liked to know. If you're getting quoted, ask specifically what the start fee is and whether overnight is a different rate, because both of those moved my number more than the base rate did.

Other two quotes I got for the same scope were 6,400 and one that was 4,900 but with a 12 hour minimum per guard per day which would have actually worked out higher the way our shifts fell. Worth doing that math instead of just reading the hourly.

For anyone budgeting, rough rule I'm using now is take your hourly, multiply by 24, multiply by days, add 15% for the overnight and weekend spread. Gets you close enough for a preliminary.