Searching for a fire door inspection near you returns firms whose competence you cannot see from the listing. Distance matters least of the things worth checking. What matters is whether the inspector can evidence competence, whether the inspection covers every door or a sample, and whether the report will still mean something to somebody reading it in two years.
What competence looks like
Third party certification for fire door inspection, held by the individual rather than only by the company, and a scheme that can be checked on its own register. Ask for the registration number and look it up. A firm that also sells remedial work is not disqualified by that, but the report should separate what was found from what was quoted, so the two can be judged apart.
Every door, or a sample
A sample tells you about the sample. Where the building is above the height threshold, the Regulations set a check regime for common part doors and flat entrance doors, and a sample does not discharge it. Agree in writing how many doors are in scope, which ones, and what happens to the ones nobody could get access to on the day.
What the report has to contain
Every door identified and located, the result against each element, the certification evidence found or not found, the gaps measured, and a defect list separated into what was fixed on the day, what is quoted and what remains open. A percentage compliant with no door numbers is not a report; it is a summary of one that was never written.
Access, and the doors nobody sees
Cupboard doors, riser doors and doors into plant areas fail most often because nobody walks through them. They are still part of the compartmentation. The scope should name them, and the no-access list should be short enough that the report means something.
Questions people ask about fire door inspection near me
How do I check a fire door inspector's competence?
Ask for third party certification held by the individual and check the registration number on the scheme's own register. A company certificate alone does not say who is attending.
How often do fire doors need inspecting?
In buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises above eleven metres the Regulations set the intervals for common part and flat entrance doors. Elsewhere the interval comes from the fire risk assessment.
Should the inspector also do the repairs?
They can, and many do. Ask for the findings and the quote as separate documents so that what was found can be judged independently of what is being sold.
What is a fair fire door inspection cost UK wide?
It is priced per door with a minimum visit, and the two things that move it are the number of doors and how much evidence you want. A walk of a block recording the obvious defects is one price; an inspection recording each door with its reference, its leaf and frame, its gaps, its intumescent, its hardware and photographs, in a schedule you can hand to a fire officer, is another. In a residential block the second is what the duty now expects, so ask what the deliverable is before comparing rates, and ask who is certificated to inspect, because an uncertificated inspection of a fire door is an opinion.