What a Fire Risk Assessment Costs — and What Actually Drives the Price

Why there is no single "price of an FRA"

A fire risk assessment is a professional judgement about a specific building, not a product off a shelf. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 the Responsible Person must ensure a suitable and sufficient assessment is carried out — and since the Fire Safety Act 2021, in multi-occupied residential buildings that explicitly includes the structure, external walls and flat entrance doors. What it costs to do that properly depends on the building in front of the assessor.

Rather than lead with a generic price table, this guide shows you exactly what moves the price — so any quote you receive, from us or anyone else, makes sense. And when you want a number for your actual building, our booking flow prices straightforward premises instantly.

The factors that genuinely drive cost

1. Size and storeys. More floors means more escape routes, more doors, more risers and more time on site. This is usually the single biggest factor.

2. Premises type. An open-plan office is quicker to assess than an HMO, a residential block or an industrial unit with mixed storage and processes. Different premises also bring different guidance documents into scope.

3. Sleeping risk. Anywhere people sleep — flats, HMOs, hotels, care settings — carries higher life risk, demands more of the assessment, and takes longer to do properly. Expect this to move the price.

4. The type of FRA (1 to 4). A Type 1 assessment is non-destructive and covers common parts; Type 2 adds destructive inspection; Type 3 extends into flats non-destructively; Type 4 is the most intrusive. Most buildings need a Type 1 — if someone quotes for more, they should explain exactly why.

5. Scope of the common parts. Plant rooms, basements, bin stores, roof voids and external walls all add time when they are in scope — and since the Fire Safety Act 2021, external walls are within the FRA's scope in any multi-occupied residential building, at any height; taller buildings simply demand more appraisal effort.

6. The state of your records. If the alarm servicing, emergency lighting tests, door checks and previous assessments are documented and available, the assessor spends time assessing rather than reconstructing history. Poor records make every FRA slower and dearer.

7. Access and out-of-hours work. Occupied premises that can only be surveyed evenings or weekends cost more than a building with free daytime access.

8. Multi-site programmes. Assessing ten similar sites under one instruction is materially cheaper per site than ten separate engagements — travel, familiarity and reporting all compound.

The questions any quote should answer

Before you compare prices, make sure each quote actually tells you:

• Which type of FRA is being quoted (1, 2, 3 or 4)?
• Is the methodology aligned to PAS 79-1 (non-housing) or BS 9792:2025 (housing — the standard that superseded PAS 79-2), with a documented significant-findings record and action plan?
• Is the assessor competent and registered — and against what framework? (BS 8674:2025, published by BSI in August 2025, is the national competence benchmark for individual assessors.)
• What is excluded — external walls, flats, outbuildings, destructive inspection?
• What do you receive at the end — a report you can act on, with prioritised actions and timescales, or a tick-box PDF?

The false economy at the bottom of the market

The cheapest quotes are usually cheap for a reason: a template walk-through, or a desktop assessment that never visits the building. If an assessment is not suitable and sufficient, the Responsible Person remains exposed — enforcement action falls primarily on you, whatever the assessor got wrong. Paying twice (once for the cheap FRA, once for the real one after an enforcing authority rejects it) is the most expensive way to buy fire safety.

How MetroFire prices an FRA

Our booking flow asks three questions — premises type, number of floors, and whether there is sleeping accommodation — because those are the factors that genuinely set the work involved. Straightforward buildings get an instant price online; complex ones get a tailored quote, usually within one working day. Either way the assessment itself follows PAS 79-1 or BS 9792:2025 as the premises demand, is carried out on site by an NFRAR-registered assessor, and is delivered as a prioritised, plain-English action plan.

Ready for a number for your actual building? Get an instant FRA price or talk to us about multi-site programmes.