How Much Does a Fire Safety Plan Cost in BC?

One of the first questions building owners ask us is simple: how much will this cost? The honest answer is that it depends on the building — so rather than publish a price list that would be wrong for most of the people reading it, this guide walks through exactly what moves the number, what a properly priced plan includes, and how to get a firm figure for your own building in one business day.

Why We Don’t Publish a Price List

We used to put ranges on this page. We took them down, because a range isn’t an answer. Two buildings of the same size with the same number of storeys routinely come out at very different numbers: one has current as-built drawings and a simple single-zone alarm, the other has no usable drawings at all, a mixed occupancy, and a generator down in the parkade. A range wide enough to cover both tells you nothing you can budget against, and a range narrow enough to be useful would be wrong for half the buildings reading it.

So we price each building instead. Send us the address, the size, the number of floors, the occupancy type, and whether there is an existing plan, and you get one firm number — usually the same day, always within one business day. One flat fee that includes the fire department’s review fee and any revisions they ask for, and it doesn’t move because the job took longer than we thought.

What follows is the part that actually helps: the seven things that decide where your building lands.

What Drives the Cost?

Seven factors account for almost all the price variation in BC:

1. Building Size and Number of Floors

More floors means more drawings, more exits to map, and more time on-site measuring. A 12-storey building isn’t just twice as much work as a 6-storey building — it’s roughly four times the work.

2. Occupancy Type and Mix

Mixed-use buildings (residential over commercial, for example) require separate procedures for each occupancy and tend to cost more. Care facilities, schools, and assembly buildings have additional procedural requirements that add hours.

3. Existing Documentation

If the building has accurate as-built drawings, current sprinkler/alarm shop drawings, and a previous plan we can reference, costs drop significantly. If we have to measure and draw everything from scratch, costs go up.

4. Fire Protection Systems

A building with a complex addressable fire alarm panel, multiple sprinkler zones, standpipes, smoke control systems, generators, and elevator recall takes longer to document than a simple single-zone alarm.

5. Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ)

Some BC fire departments are more demanding than others. Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services and Surrey Fire Services typically require more detail and revisions than smaller departments, which can mean more billable hours.

Several departments also charge a review fee, which we include in the quote. Burnaby charges $171.15 for buildings up to six storeys and $342.30 for seven or more. The District of North Vancouver charges $184 plus GST per plan, and the fire safety plan and pre-incident plan are billed separately. West Vancouver charges $175 for the first two hours of review. Saanich, on Vancouver Island, charges $100. Vancouver, Surrey, Richmond, Coquitlam, New Westminster, and Kamloops each have their own submission format, symbol set, or pre-incident plan requirement, which adds drafting time; our city pages describe each one.

6. Travel and Site Access

Buildings outside the Lower Mainland may include travel charges. Buildings with restricted access (locked mechanical rooms, after-hours-only access) can require multiple site visits.

7. Turnaround Time

Standard turnaround is 2-4 weeks for drafting plus AHJ review time. Rush jobs (needed in under a week) carry a premium.

Why the Cheapest Quote Is Almost Never the Best

We regularly see building owners come to us after a low-cost provider produced a plan that was rejected by the local fire department — or worse, accepted but riddled with errors that surfaced during an inspection or insurance claim. A few warning signs of an underpriced plan:

Templates that haven’t been customized to your actual building
Drawings that aren’t to scale, or are pulled from outdated as-builts
Missing PRA (persons requiring assistance) procedures
No follow-up support during the AHJ review process
No included revisions if the fire department requests changes

What You Should Get for Your Money

A properly priced Fire Safety Plan in BC should always include:

An on-site walkthrough by a qualified fire safety professional
Customized written procedures specific to your occupancy and systems
Accurate, scaled drawings of every floor plus site plan
Submission to the local fire department on your behalf
Unlimited revisions until the plan is accepted
A printed copy for on-site posting and digital copies for staff and management
Optional: training for supervisory staff and fire drill facilitation

Annual Maintenance Costs to Budget For

Fire safety planning isn’t a one-time expense. Building owners should also budget for:

Annual plan review and update
Annual fire drill facilitation, if outsourced
Fire alarm inspection and testing (CAN/ULC-S536)
Sprinkler inspection (NFPA 25)
Extinguisher service, charged per unit

We quote the plan review and the drill facilitation along with the plan itself. The alarm, sprinkler, and extinguisher work is carried out by servicing contractors and priced by them, so those figures should come from whoever holds your service contracts.

Get an Honest Quote for Your Building

Every building is different, and the only way to get an accurate price is to share a few details: address, building size, number of floors, occupancy type, and whether you have an existing plan. Get Fire Plan provides free, no-obligation quotes for any building in BC.

Call 778-574-2895 or email contactus@getfireplan.com for a Fire Safety Plan quote tailored to your building.

Need a fire safety plan in BC?

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How Much Does a Fire Safety Plan Cost in BC? (2026 Pricing Guide)