How Much Does a Fire Risk Assessment Cost? UK Pricing Guide 2026

Fire risk assessment costs in the UK vary significantly depending on building type, size, complexity, and the assessor's experience. If you are a building owner looking for a quote, or an assessor trying to price your services competitively, this guide breaks down the numbers.

Typical UK Fire Risk Assessment Costs

These ranges reflect market rates in 2026 for a single fire risk assessment carried out by a competent assessor. Prices exclude VAT.

Building type	Typical fee range	On-site time
Small office (under 500 m²)	£200 – £350	1.5 – 2.5 hours
Retail unit / shop	£200 – £350	1.5 – 2.5 hours
Warehouse / industrial	£250 – £450	2 – 3 hours
Residential block (communal areas)	£300 – £500	2.5 – 4 hours
HMO (house in multiple occupation)	£350 – £600	3 – 5 hours
Care home / supported living	£450 – £800	3.5 – 6 hours
School / education	£300 – £600	2.5 – 4 hours
Hotel / pub / restaurant	£300 – £550	2.5 – 4 hours

For a quick estimate based on your specific building, use our free FRA cost calculator.

What Affects the Price

Building size and floors

Larger buildings take longer to assess. A single-storey 200 m² office is a different proposition from a five-storey 3,000 m² office block. Each additional floor adds assessment time — more escape routes to evaluate, more fire doors to inspect, more compartmentation to check.

Complexity

Buildings with complex layouts, multiple compartments, service risers, and concealed voids take longer than open-plan spaces. Mixed-use buildings (retail at ground floor, residential above) add complexity because different fire safety standards apply to each section.

Sleeping accommodation

Any building where people sleep — HMOs, care homes, hotels, residential blocks — requires a more thorough assessment. Detection standards are higher (LD1 or LD2 rather than L-series), escape route requirements are more demanding, and there are additional considerations for vulnerable occupants. Assessors factor this into their pricing.

Risk level

High-risk premises with significant deficiencies require more detailed documentation, longer action plans, and potentially a follow-up visit. If the assessor identifies substantial or intolerable risk, the report needs correspondingly more detail on findings and recommendations.

Regulatory complexity

HMOs bring Housing Act 2004 licensing requirements on top of the Fire Safety Order. Buildings over 11 metres are subject to the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 — your assessor needs to check compliance with resident information duties, door check schedules, and (for taller buildings) wayfinding signage. See our Fire Safety Act 2021 guide for the full scope.

Report writing time

The on-site assessment is only part of the job. Report writing typically adds 1-3 hours depending on complexity. A PAS 79-structured report for a care home with 25 findings and a detailed action plan takes significantly longer to write up than a simple office assessment with 5 findings.

Assessors using dedicated fire risk assessment software can reduce report writing time substantially — often cutting it from 2-4 hours to under 30 minutes.

How Assessors Calculate Their Rates

Most assessors price per assessment rather than per hour, but their underlying calculation is usually:

Assessment fee = (on-site hours + report writing hours + travel time) × hourly rate

Hourly rates for qualified fire risk assessors in the UK typically range from £50-80/hour for sole traders to £80-120/hour for consultancy firms. Add travel costs and you reach the fee ranges above.

Day rate vs per-assessment pricing

Some assessors offer day rates when clients have multiple properties. If you are managing a portfolio of 10 residential blocks, a day rate of £600-900 may cover 2-3 assessments — cheaper per unit than individual bookings.

Annual contracts

Property management companies and housing associations often negotiate annual contracts covering all their properties. Annual pricing is typically 10-20% below individual assessment rates in exchange for guaranteed volume.

What the Price Should Include

A legitimate fire risk assessment quote should include:

Full fire risk assessment of the premises per PAS 79:2020
Written report with findings, risk evaluation, and action plan
Identification of the responsible person's duties
Recommended review date
At least one follow-up or query period (30 days is standard)

Watch out for quotes that exclude the written report, charge extra for the action plan, or limit the assessment to common parts only when the full building is in scope.

When Cheap Is Expensive

Fire risk assessments are a legal requirement under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Assessments priced significantly below market rates — under £150 for a residential block, for example — often indicate:

Insufficient time on site (30 minutes instead of 3 hours)
Generic template reports without site-specific observations
No action plan or a boilerplate action plan
The assessor may lack appropriate competence or insurance

If an enforcing authority reviews your fire risk assessment and finds it inadequate, you — the responsible person — bear the liability, not the assessor. An inadequate assessment is worse than no assessment: it gives a false sense of compliance while leaving real risks unaddressed.

Getting Value as a Building Owner

Ask prospective assessors:

What qualifications do they hold? (Look for IFE membership, NEBOSH Fire Certificate, or third-party certification under BAFE SP205)
What does the report include? (PAS 79 structure, action plan, risk evaluation)
What is their on-site time estimate for your building type?
Do they carry professional indemnity insurance?
Will they follow up on action items?

Summary

Fire risk assessment costs in the UK range from £200 for a simple office to £800+ for complex care homes and HMOs. The price reflects building type, size, sleeping risk, and regulatory complexity. Prioritise assessor competence and report quality over the cheapest quote.

For a quick estimate, try our free FRA cost calculator. For guidance on structuring your own assessments efficiently, see our guide on writing FRA reports faster.

AssessKit is being built to help UK fire risk assessors produce professional reports faster — reducing the report writing time that drives up per-assessment costs. Join the waitlist to get early access.

Sources

Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — UK Legislation
PAS 79:2020 — British Standards Institution