Incentives for Installing Residential Sprinklers

Incentives for Installing Residential Fire Sprinklers

Fire officials have long used incentives to get sprinklers installed. There are two types of incentives. The first is economic, such as low-interest loans. The second is design alternatives like reduced compartmentation requirements or longer distances to exits. Design alternatives are also called tradeoffs.

Some design alternatives are in the building codes and some are not. For example, the model building codes already allow longer distance to exits in certain occupancies when the building will be sprinklered. They also allow lower fire resistance of certain separations if sprinklers are present. But the building codes also limit these allowances, so fire officials need to look at what is already allowed and what they will need to amend or preempt in order to give the desired incentives.

Just because a design alternative is already in the building code does not mean that it should not be offered. The fact is that many architects and builders are not aware of these alternatives. Informing them could mean the difference in getting sprinklers installed.

The purpose of incentives is to reduce the net cost of installing sprinklers. Most of the incentives do not reduce the direct cost of sprinkler installation, that is, the price charged by the sprinkler installer for the work. But any cost that is reduced or avoided because sprinklers are installed will reduce the total cost of the project - thus the term "net cost" reduction.

The justifications for giving incentives are solid. For one, fires in sprinklered buildings require about one half the number of firefighters and apparatus. This lowers the demand on fire department resources and allows more liberal response times for backup companies. For another, if fewer fire stations are needed or new stations can be delayed, the avoidance of additional taxes or fire service fees reduces the economic impact on citizens. For a more detailed discussion of the impact of sprinklers on fire department resources, see Answers to home builders objections.

The table of incentives below shows that the benefits can go individually to the developer, the builder, installer or owner, or they can go to more than one. It should be kept in mind that the direct benefit to one individual will result in a net cost reduction if the cost savings are passed on. For example, if the developer saves money because he or she was allowed to install smaller water mains and fewer hydrants, the savings can be passed on to the builder and ultimately the owner through lower property costs. However, if the developer elects to increase profits rather than pass along the savings, the incentive has not had its maximum impact on reducing the costs of sprinklers. The same goes for incentives that accrue to the builder and installer. To have the intended impact, they should elect to pass along the savings through lower costs of the building or installation.

The incentives listed below are not in any particular order. For a description and discussion of each incentive, clicking on the incentive will link you to the explanatory text that begins below the table.

Incentives	Who benefits
	Developer	Builder	Installer	Owner
Reduced impact fees	X	X
Low-cost loans	X	X		X
Increased density	X
Reduced fire flow	X
Hydrant spacing	X
Longer access road distance	X
Longer distance from fire stations	X			X
Reduced access to building sides	X
Narrower streets	X
Fewer parking restrictions	X
Longer cul-de-sacs	X
Reduced turnaround radius	X
Reduced permit fees		X	X
Reduced or exempted plan review fees		X	X
Reduced or exempted fees for field inspections		X	X
Reduced fire resistance ratings, no parapet walls		X	X
Increased distance to exits		X
Single water line for domestic and sprinkler systems			X
No separate meter for sprinkler system			X
No fee increase for larger meter			X	X
No special connection charge			X
No water standby fee				X
Check valves instead of low-pressure-principle backflow preventer			X
No backflow prevention (13D)		X	X	X
Combined plumbing and sprinklers (13D)		X	X	X
Lower insurance premiums				X
Lower ISO rating				X
Reduction in annual fire service assessment				X
Property tax reductions				X