How to Quote and Run a Passive Fire Protection Installation

What you will learn

• How to identify and price the five distinct categories of passive fire protection work before committing to a quote.
• Why a pre-quote compartmentation survey is not optional, and the four areas every walkabout must cover.
• How to structure a PFP quote using schedule of rates rather than lump sums to protect margin on remedial projects.
• How to manage product system matching on site so installations remain certified under IFC, FIRAS, or BM TRADA schemes.
• What the golden thread documentation requirement means in practice for PFP contractors under the Building Safety Act 2022.
• What a compliant PFP handover pack must contain, and why incomplete records create commercial as well as compliance risk.

Passive fire protection (PFP) is one of the fastest-growing sub-trades in UK construction. The Building Safety Act 2022 and Fire Safety Act 2021 have placed new statutory duties on building owners and developers, pushing demand for firestopping, intumescent coatings, cavity barriers, and compliant fire door sets into mainstream procurement across new build, remedial, and retrofit projects. The UK market reached an estimated £947 million in 2024 and is forecast to surpass £1.18 billion by 2029 - growing at close to 5% annually according to Barbour ABI's passive fire protection systems market report. For contractors moving into this sector, or specialists scaling up, the operational challenge is clear: PFP work is technically exacting, documentation-heavy, and easy to under-scope in a quote.

Step 1: Understand What Type of PFP Work You Are Pricing

Passive fire protection covers five distinct service areas, and each has a different survey requirement, product set, and costing logic. Treating all PFP as a single trade is one of the quickest ways to underprice a job.

The main categories are: firestopping and penetration sealing (sealing service penetrations through fire-rated walls and floors); structural steel fire protection (intumescent coatings or cementitious spray to protect steel from reaching its critical temperature of around 550 degrees Celsius); fire door installation and remediation (door leaf, frame, ironmongery, glazing, and seals as a complete certified assembly); compartmentation works including cavity barriers and slab-edge protection; and combined survey and remediation contracts where a fire compartmentation survey precedes the works.

In practice, most commercial projects combine several of these. A main contractor bringing you in for a new office fit-out may need firestopping throughout service risers, intumescent coatings on exposed structural steel in a reception area, and fire door installation on compartment walls. Quote each element separately - bundling them creates variation disputes later.

Step 2: Conduct a Pre-Quote Survey - Every Time

Quoting passive fire protection from drawings alone creates risk. Existing buildings in particular carry unknown compartmentation history: previous contractors may have run cables through fire-rated walls without reinstating correctly, or fire doors may have been replaced with non-compliant sets. Even on new build, design intent and what is actually built can diverge.

A pre-quote walkabout should cover four areas:

1. Map compartment lines on the drawings and walk the building to verify wall and floor construction matches the fire strategy. Note any penetrations through rated barriers that are not currently sealed.
2. Assess fire door sets individually. Check closer function, intumescent and smoke seal condition, leaf-to-frame gaps (typically 3mm top and sides, 3-4mm at threshold for standard door sets), glazing integrity, and ironmongery rating.
3. Identify all service penetrations requiring firestopping. Log substrate type (concrete slab, plasterboard on steel, masonry), service type (plastic pipe, metallic pipe, cable bundles, ductwork), and approximate dimension. The correct firestop system is specific to this combination - a firestop collar suited to plastic pipes will not be the right product for a cable tray.
4. Photograph and record every item. This forms the basis of your scope and will be referenced throughout the works.

Step 3: Structure Your Quote Using Schedule of Rates

PFP work is not well-suited to lump-sum pricing. The number of penetrations, the product system required for each, and the installation time per item all vary significantly. The most defensible approach - and the one recommended by specialist contractors - is a schedule of rates, listing each item type, the applicable product system, unit rate, and estimated quantity.

A practical PFP quote structure includes:

• Firestopping: listed by penetration type and substrate combination, quoted per penetration at the applicable rate (e.g., plastic pipe through concrete floor, intumescent collar, each)
• Structural steel protection: by area (m²) and product system, with DFT (dry film thickness) clearly stated against fire rating required
• Fire door sets: per door, listing leaf specification (FD30, FD60), frame, hardware schedule, and any glazing
• Cavity barriers: per linear metre by type
• Preliminaries: access, protection, waste, supervision, and compliance documentation

Include your third-party accreditation details in the quote document. Clients procuring PFP under the Building Safety Act 2022 - particularly on higher-risk buildings - are expected to demonstrate contractor competence. Accreditation under IFC, FIRAS, or BM TRADA is the standard way to evidence this. If you are not yet third-party certified, factor the application into your business plan: it is increasingly a prerequisite for commercial work.

Step 4: Manage Product System Matching During Installation

Third-party certification for firestopping and structural protection is system-specific. A certified firestop detail covers a specific substrate, service type, product, and installation method. Substituting one product for another - even a product from the same manufacturer - may void the certification for that detail.

On site, this creates a real operational risk. If your materials supplier delivers a different variant than specified, or a trade on site changes the service layout so that your firestop detail no longer matches the installed conditions, you need a process to catch and resolve that before the work is completed and recorded.

1. Before installation begins, prepare a product system schedule matching every penetration type identified in your survey to the correct certified firestop detail, including product reference, substrate, and DFT where applicable.
2. Brief installers on the system schedule at the start of works. Each installer should have the relevant technical data sheets and installation instructions accessible on site.
3. If conditions on site differ from the survey (additional penetrations found, substrate is different from expected, or service dimensions change), raise a variation immediately. Do not substitute products without confirming the alternative is certified for the actual installation conditions.
4. Photograph every completed penetration seal with a measurement reference visible. Log it against the product system schedule in real time - not from memory at the end of the week.

The Building Safety Act 2022 requires that information about fire safety measures is captured in a "golden thread" of digital records. For PFP contractors, this means every installation must be documented with: location, product used, the certified system reference it was installed to, installer name, and installation date. Without this, the building's accountable person cannot demonstrate compliance, and neither can you.

Step 5: Handle Structural Steel Protection as a Separate Programme

Intumescent coating of structural steel runs alongside base build in new construction and is often done during fit-out strip-out in remedial projects. It needs sequencing with other trades - steelwork must be accessible, primed, and clean before coating can be applied, and the coating needs to cure before subsequent trades work around it.

In your programme, allow for:

• Hold points for inspection after each coat (primer, base coat, finishing coat where applicable)
• Minimum environmental conditions for application (most intumescent coatings specify a minimum substrate temperature and maximum relative humidity)
• Confirmation of the section factor for each member and the corresponding DFT required - this varies across the structure depending on section size and fire rating

Cementitious spray systems are faster to apply over large areas and better suited to plant rooms and industrial spaces where intumescent aesthetics are not required. Thin-film intumescent coatings suit exposed architectural steel. The client's fire engineer or the main contractor's fire strategy document will specify which is required.

Step 6: Close Out with a Compliant Handover Pack

PFP handover is not the same as a general builder's handover. The accountability now sits with named individuals under the Building Safety Act, and the records you produce become part of the building's permanent fire safety file.

A compliant PFP handover pack should include:

• A schedule of all firestopping installations, cross-referenced to a building floor plan showing location, product system used, certification reference, installer, and date
• Photographic evidence for every penetration seal, catalogued by location
• Fire door certificates (installer certification, product data, door schedule)
• Structural steel protection records: member schedule with confirmed DFT readings, product data sheets, inspection reports, and any third-party inspection certificates
• Copies of your installer accreditation certificates (IFC, FIRAS, or equivalent) valid at the time of works
• Any variation orders raised and agreed during the works, with revised scope noted

Increasingly, this documentation is expected in digital form. Specialist PFP contractors use field compliance platforms to capture records on site in real time. Where you are subcontracting to a main contractor, check their requirements early - some require records in their own project management system rather than your own format.

A complete and auditable handover pack is not just a contractual requirement. It protects you from future claims that work was not installed correctly, and it positions your business well for repeat and framework work where documented performance on previous projects is a selection criterion.

Running a PFP Business as Demand Grows

The UK passive fire protection market is growing because legislation has raised the bar on what responsible building owners must evidence. Barbour ABI forecasts the market will surpass £1.18 billion by 2029. For contractors equipped to deliver technically accurate, well-documented PFP work, the pipeline is substantial - remedial workstreams alone run through thousands of existing commercial and residential buildings that pre-date the Building Safety Act's requirements.

Managing that volume of work - multiple jobs with multiple product systems, evolving scopes, and documentation requirements on every installation - requires more than a spreadsheet. PFP contractors using business management software to track jobs, manage purchase orders against product system schedules, and store site documentation in one place close out faster and carry fewer end-of-project surprises. The operational discipline described in this guide is achievable at scale when the admin infrastructure supports it.

• UK Passive Fire Protection Market to Surpass £1.18 Billion by 2029Barbour ABI · accessed 2026-07-06
• What Is Passive Fire Protection In 2026?Amax Fire and Security · accessed 2026-07-06
• Why is Fire Stopping Accreditation Important?Adaston · accessed 2026-07-06
• CLM Fireproofing - Passive Fire Protection SpecialistsCLM Fireproofing · accessed 2026-07-06
• Passive Fire Protection Contractors UK: A Guide to Compliance and Safety in 2026National Fire Ltd · accessed 2026-07-06

See it in Zigaflow