Fire alarm for buildings where residents sleep
Apartment buildings, condominiums, and mixed-use properties carry a heavier fire alarm burden than almost any other building type: occupants asleep, units behind locked doors, and a code that expects every one of them to hear the alarm. We design, install, and service fire alarm systems for large multi-family residential buildings. We do not work on single-family homes.
One building, many households, one system everyone trusts
A multi-family building is really dozens of homes sharing corridors, stairwells, and a single fire alarm system. That system has to catch a fire in a trash room at 3 a.m., wake the people in every unit it affects, and send the signal out of the building without anyone picking up a phone. It also has to stay quiet the rest of the time, because in a building full of tenants, nuisance alarms are how people learn to ignore the horn.
We serve property managers, condominium boards, owners, developers, and general contractors on apartment buildings, condo complexes, and mixed-use buildings with residential floors over retail. That includes new construction, gut renovations, and occupied buildings where an aging system needs to be replaced around the people living there.
- Apartment buildings and rental communities
- Condominium associations and condo conversions
- Mixed-use buildings with residential floors over commercial space
- New construction, gut renovations, and occupied-building retrofits
The pieces of a multi-family fire alarm system
Large residential buildings combine common-area protection with requirements inside the units. These are the parts we design, install, and keep working.
Corridor & Common-Area Detection
Smoke and heat detection in corridors, stairwells, lobbies, trash and mechanical rooms, laid out to NFPA 72 and the building's approved plans.
In-Unit Notification
Notification that is loud enough where people sleep, including the low-frequency sounders current editions of NFPA 72 call for in sleeping areas.
Carbon Monoxide Detection
CO detection where Massachusetts and New Hampshire code require it in residential buildings with fuel-burning equipment or attached garages.
Accessible Units
Visible notification in accessible and hearing-impaired units so the alarm reaches every resident, not just the ones who can hear the horn.
Sprinkler Monitoring
Waterflow and valve tamper supervision tied into the alarm panel. Because we also install and inspect sprinklers, both systems are coordinated by one contractor.
24-Hour Monitoring
Alarm, supervisory, and trouble signals sent off-site around the clock so a fire is reported even when nobody in the building calls it in.
See monitoringFrom survey to acceptance test, with tenants in mind
Working in a building where people live takes planning that a vacant commercial space does not.
Survey the building and the code
We walk the building, review the existing system and any open violations, and confirm what NFPA 72, the state fire code, and the local fire department require for the occupancy.
Design and permit
We lay out detection, notification, and monitoring, coordinate with sprinkler and elevator systems, and prepare the submittal for the authority having jurisdiction.
Install with a schedule residents can live with
For occupied buildings we plan unit access with management, give notice ahead of in-unit work, and keep the existing system or a fire watch in place until the new one is accepted.
Test, accept, and hand over
We test every device, run the acceptance test with the fire department, connect monitoring, and hand management the record documents they will need for future inspections.
What property managers and condo boards ask
The questions that come up most on large residential fire alarm work.
Do you work on single-family homes?
No. Our fire alarm work is commercial and large multi-family residential: apartment buildings, condominiums, and mixed-use buildings. We do not install or service alarms in single-family houses.
Can you replace our fire alarm system while residents are living in the building?
Yes. We phase the work, coordinate unit access with management, and keep the building protected by the existing system or a fire watch until the new system passes its acceptance test.
Our building keeps getting false alarms. Can you help?
Yes. Our fire alarm service team traces nuisance alarms to the device or condition causing them, such as a corridor detector near cooking or steam, and corrects it.
Do you also inspect and test the system after it is installed?
Yes. We provide NFPA 72 fire alarm inspection and testing, with documentation for the fire department and your insurer, and can inspect the sprinkler system on the same program.
Which areas do you cover for multi-family fire alarm work?
We are based in Billerica and handle fire alarm and security work across Eastern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire.
Managing, building, or upgrading a residential building?
Tell us about the property, the number of units, and what the fire alarm needs, and we will follow up to scope the work.