One account for the install, and for every service date it creates.
Fire detection, emergency lighting, intruder, video and access control, installed on a programme and then maintained on a frequency for as long as the client keeps you. A register per site carrying its own twelve month pattern, competence held per system rather than as one card, the service record made at the panel, and the remedials quoted before the engineer leaves the car park. Thirty-plus modules on one account, and a fire and security firm turns on the handful it needs.
From the commissioning certificate to the six monthly visit.
Detection, lighting, alarms, cameras, doors: the system differs, the obligation it leaves behind does not.
Designing, installing and commissioning the system is the part a fire and security firm already has right. What decides whether the contract renews is the year that follows it: which sites fell due this month, who attended, what they found, what was quoted from what they found, and whether the certificate reached the client before they had to ask for it twice.
Unibuild is bespoke business software for UK trades and specialist contractors, built inside a contracting business rather than sold into one. One account carries the maintained asset register, competence and certification records, documents, van stock, quotations, day works, variations and applications for payment.
What fire and security requires, and what Unibuild provides.
An installation contract and a maintenance book look alike in a database. They stop looking alike at the second visit, at the competence check and at the audit. Each requirement below is followed by what the platform does about it.
The tradeThe platform
Handover is the start of it
Every system you install becomes a date you owe
The install is a project with an end. What it leaves behind is a recurring obligation with a frequency, an anniversary and a client who notices when it slips.
BS 5839-1 recommends servicing at intervals not exceeding six months
Emergency lighting carries a monthly function test and an annual full duration test
A remotely monitored intruder system is maintained at least twice a year
Every site runs on its own anniversary, not on a tidy quarterly cycle
The frequency held on the asset, as twelve month columns
The maintained asset register holds the planned maintenance pattern on the item itself, twelve month columns carrying the service codes due in each one, visible as a grid across the whole register and exportable filtered to one contract. Reminders and expiry watches the dates overnight.
One card does not get an engineer through the door
Fire detection, emergency lighting, intruder, video and access control are separate competences, and the security half carries a screening regime the fire half does not.
Manufacturer and industry training is held per system and refreshed separately
Site access still wants an ECS or CSCS card and the mains side wants the wiring regulations
Security work commonly requires screening to BS 7858, renewed on its own clock
An engineer can be current for fire and out of date for intruder on the same morning
A row per person, a column per system, and it colours itself
The training matrix holds each qualification, screening date and card against the person with its own expiry, turning amber before it lapses. The labour run reads the same account, so the engineer sent to a monitored intruder system is one who is actually clear to work on it.
Your certification body audits the firm, then picks jobs
Third party certification is what gets you onto the tender list, and it is re-earned every year on evidence rather than on intention.
BAFE registration sits on top of certification by a UKAS accredited body
NSI and SSAIB audit annually and sample completed work
The auditor asks for the design, the certificates and the competence behind one job
A lapse takes the contracts that specify it with it
Any job retrieved with everything still attached to it
Design notes, certificates, variations, the engineers who attended with their dates, photographs and the service history all hang off the site record. Documents and certificates keeps every revision, so an audit sample becomes a lookup rather than a week of searching email.
Consumed on a visit rather than ordered against a job number
Stock is spread across vans that are never in the same county
One missing battery pack turns a two hour attendance into a return trip
Every van a stock location, counted where it is emptied
Assets and inventory treats each van as its own location, so a part leaves the van it was actually fitted from and the replenishment list is real. Purchase orders puts the reorder against the supplier rather than against somebody's memory of what ran out.
The remedial is the margin, and it dies in a notebook
A service visit finds work. Detectors at end of life, a battery pack that will not hold, a camera out of focus, a door release that sticks. That work is quoted or it is lost.
The engineer writes it on a job sheet and hands it in on Friday
The quote is typed days later from a description nobody can picture
By then the client has asked somebody else as well
Unquoted remedials are the largest quiet leak in a maintenance book
Photographed at the asset, priced against the visit
The service record is made at the item with its photographs, so the remedial is described by a picture rather than by a line of handwriting. Quotations turns it into a priced document against the same site, and cost control follows what it earned once it is won.
The rota produces hours that reach no weekly total
Counted in the deployment Unibuild was built on, July 2026: 338 of 376 assets carry a real service code, 198 assets carry recorded serial numbers, and 225 of 259 service visits carry photographic evidence attached to the visit they belong to.
Fire detection and alarm
Emergency lighting
Intruder and hold-up
Video and access
Signalling and monitoring
Cable and containment
Test instruments
Certificates and logbooks
The week
An ordinary week in a fire and security firm, and the record it leaves.
Six entries from the day book. Nothing here asks an engineer to remember a serial number until Friday.
Monday, the board
The month's due services come off the register by site rather than out of a wall planner: nine fire alarm services, four emergency lighting duration tests and two intruder visits, each with the site it belongs to.
Planned from the register
Tuesday, at the panel
The engineer scans the label on the panel and gets its history, its attachments and its twelve month pattern on the phone. The service record, with photographs, is written against that exact panel before he leaves the riser.
Against the right unit
The remedial
Three detectors are at end of life and a standby battery will not hold charge. Photographed at the asset, priced as a quotation against the same site, and in the client's inbox that afternoon rather than the following week.
Quoted from the car park
Wednesday, the van
Two battery packs and a sounder come off van stock as they are fitted. The replenishment list is built from what actually left the van rather than from what somebody thinks is low.
Counted where it went
Thursday, ten past two
A call out on the standby rota. The attendance is scanned on site and timed at the scan, and the fatigue record picks up an engineer who is now due on a normal day shift in five hours.
Warned before, not after
Friday, the audit
The certification body samples three jobs from the last year. Each returns its design notes, certificates, engineers with their competence dates, photographs and the full service history from one record.
Produced in the room
The test
Eight things fire and security software has to do.
Written from what actually costs a fire and security firm money or exposes it, rather than from a feature list. Unibuild is thirty-plus modules on one account, and a firm this size turns on a handful of them.
A register per site, not one list per customer
A retail client with forty branches is forty registers, because the panel, the loop devices, the emergency lighting and the cameras in Preston have nothing to do with the ones in Plymouth. The maintained asset register holds every item with its location, manufacturer, model, serial and install date, and a client with several sites sees each one separately.
The service frequency on the asset, not in a diary
The planned maintenance pattern belongs to the equipment rather than to a recurring calendar entry, because equipment is replaced, decommissioned and added mid contract and a diary never hears about it. Twelve month columns on the item carry the codes due in each month, and the whole register can be read as one grid.
Competence held per system, with the screening beside it
Fire, emergency lighting, intruder, video and access are separate qualifications with separate expiry dates, and security work adds a screening record on top. The training matrix holds them as separate dates against the person rather than as one status, because one lapsing does not stop the engineer doing the other four.
The certificate attached to the thing it certifies
Certificates, logbook entries, zone charts and as fitted drawings belong to the system rather than to a folder named after the year. Documents and certificates keeps every revision against the site, so the version issued in March is still retrievable after the one issued in October replaced it.
Van stock counted where it is consumed
Each van is its own stock location, so a detector base leaves the van it was fitted from and the count is right without anybody unloading at a depot. A maintenance business that orders parts per job rather than per van is running a stores operation it cannot see. Related: stock control for contractors.
Remedials quoted from the visit that found them
The service record carries photographs taken at the asset, so a quotation is written from a picture of the actual detector rather than from a line on a job sheet. The gap between finding work and pricing it is where most of a maintenance book's margin is lost, and it is measured in days rather than in pounds.
Two tax treatments inside the same week
Installing a fire protection system is a construction operation under the Construction Industry Scheme. Installing a security system, which HMRC lists as including burglar alarms, closed circuit television and public address, is not. The same engineer can work on both in one week, so the subcontract side has to hold the treatment per job rather than per firm. See the CIS guide and subcontractor management.
Call out hours counted by something that was awake
QR clock-in timesheets put the attendance against the site, timed at the scan rather than typed in afterwards. Advanced Fatigue Manager counts the turn, the travel at both ends and the rest before the next shift against the limits you set. A standby week is invisible on a weekly total and obvious on a fatigue record.
Governing clauseEverything above is recorded at the panel, not written up on a Friday afternoon.
The van and the riser
What a fire and security firm holds
Written for the trade rather than for any one firm. Most firms will recognise eight or nine of these lines and ignore the rest.
What a UK fire and security systems installer holds, and the tracking quirk in each line
Key
Category
Typical items
The tracking quirk
Fire alarm panels
Addressable and conventional panels, repeaters, network cards, standby batteries
The panel carries a service date and its battery set carries a replacement date, and the two almost never fall in the same month
Detection devices
Optical, heat and multi-sensor heads, bases, call points, sounders, beacons
Counted in hundreds per site and identified by loop address, so a register that stops at the panel is not a register
Emergency lighting
Maintained and non-maintained luminaires, exit signs, central battery systems, inverters
The annual full duration test is the thing that finds a failing battery, which means the test itself generates the remedial
Intruder equipment
Control panels, keypads, detectors, contacts, shock sensors, internal and external sounders
Grade and environmental class are properties of the installed system, so a like for like swap can quietly downgrade it
Video surveillance
Fixed and PTZ cameras, recorders, switches, storage, monitors, licences
Software licences and storage expire on dates that belong to somebody else's invoice rather than to the engineer's visit
Access control
Controllers, readers, credentials, maglocks, strikes, break glass units, door contacts
Every locked door is also a means of escape, so the record has to say how it releases as well as what it is
Renewal dates sit with a third party and lapse without anybody on site noticing until an alarm goes nowhere
Cable and containment
Fire resistant cable, data cable, tray, trunking, conduit, fixings, fire stopping materials
Bought by the drum against a project and consumed by the metre on site, so it belongs to the job rather than to the stores
Van stock
Detector heads and bases, call point glass, batteries, sounders, fixings, spare readers
The stock location is a vehicle three counties away, and the count is only true if it is taken as the part is fitted
Test instruments
Sound level meters, multifunction testers, smoke and heat test kits, test poles, laptops
Measuring instruments carry calibration dates, and a lapsed one puts every reading it took on a certificate in question
Access equipment and vehicles
Step ladders, podium steps, low level towers, service vans
Ladders and towers carry their own inspection record, and the van carries an MOT, a service and a stock count at once
The paperwork
Design, installation, commissioning and acceptance certificates, logbooks, zone charts, as fitted drawings
The only category with no physical existence and the one the audit is actually about, so it is the one worth systemising first
Regulations
The regimes a fire and security firm works under
It is about who was competent, what was certified, how often it is serviced, and who is watching when it signals. This is the reference version, kept factual.
The regimes a UK fire and security systems installer works under, and what each requires
Regime
What it requires
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
The order that creates the maintenance market. The responsible person for a non-domestic premises must keep fire safety equipment maintained in efficient working order and in good repair, which is why a fire alarm system is serviced rather than left alone once it works. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 added further duties in blocks of flats, including equipment that the fire and rescue service itself uses.
BS 5839-1
The code of practice for fire detection and fire alarm systems in non-domestic premises. It sets the system categories, from manual systems through property protection to the life protection categories, and it separates responsibility into design, installation, commissioning and acceptance, each certified by whoever actually did it. Any departure from its recommendations is recorded as a variation on the certificate rather than left unsaid. Servicing is recommended at intervals not exceeding six months, alongside a weekly user test and a logbook kept at the premises.
BS 5839-6
The equivalent code for dwellings, with its own grades and categories of coverage. It governs a different commercial world from the non-domestic code: social landlords, letting agents and managing agents, large numbers of small systems, and access to the property as the hardest part of the visit rather than the work itself.
BS 5266 and BS EN 50172
Emergency lighting. A monthly function test and an annual test at the full rated duration, commonly three hours, with the results recorded in a logbook and a periodic inspection and test certificate issued. The annual test is the one that finds failing batteries, which means the test and the remedial quotation belong to the same visit.
PD 6662 and BS EN 50131
Intrusion and hold-up alarm systems. Systems are classified by grade and by environmental class, both of which follow from the risk rather than from the price, and both of which a later like for like replacement can quietly change. Preventive maintenance is required: a remotely monitored system is maintained at least twice in a year, one of which may be remote, and an audible only system at least annually. BS 8243 covers the confirmation of alarms intended to produce a police response.
Police response and the unique reference number
Police response to an intruder alarm is not automatic. It depends on a unique reference number issued by the force, which requires an installer approved by a recognised inspectorate and monitoring by a compliant alarm receiving centre. False calls count against the number on a rolling twelve month basis and response is withdrawn once the threshold is passed, then re-earned. For an installer this makes false alarm causes a commercial problem rather than a technical annoyance.
Video surveillance and data protection
The BS EN 62676 series covers video surveillance systems. The data protection duties sit with the client as the controller rather than with you: a lawful basis for the recording, a retention period they can justify, signage, and the ability to answer a subject access request. Public space surveillance operating and manned guarding are licensable activities under the Private Security Industry Act 2001; installing and maintaining the systems is not, and that distinction is worth being precise about on a tender.
Third party certification
BAFE registration for fire schemes, most commonly the fire detection and alarm scheme and the emergency lighting scheme, sits on top of certification by a UKAS accredited body. NSI and SSAIB certify both fire and security work, audit annually, and sample completed jobs and the competence of the people who did them. Many public sector and insurer led specifications name the certification rather than the standard, so losing it loses the tender list.
BS 7671 and screening
The mains side of every installation is electrical work under the wiring regulations, with the test instruments calibrated and the results recorded. On the security side, screening of personnel to BS 7858 is commonly required by clients and by certification schemes, and it is a record with a renewal date rather than a one off check at interview.
CDM 2015 and the Construction Industry Scheme
Installation work on a construction project is construction work, with the duties to plan, manage and monitor that go with it. The tax treatment then splits: installing systems of fire protection is a construction operation under the Construction Industry Scheme, while HMRC lists the installation of security systems, including burglar alarms, closed circuit television and public address systems, as outside it. One firm, one week, two treatments. See the CDM 2015 guide and the CIS guide.
On the record
Questions fire and security firms ask
The questions fire and security installers actually raise on a demonstration, answered on the record. Open one to read the response.
SchedulingHow does it know a site is due?+
The planned maintenance pattern is held on the asset as twelve month columns, each carrying the service codes due that month. The whole register reads as one grid, exports filtered to one contract, and reminders and expiry watches the dates overnight. The pattern belongs to the equipment, so it follows items that are added, swapped or decommissioned mid contract.
The registerCan it hold every device, or just the panel?+
Every item you choose to register, each with its location, manufacturer, model, serial numbers, install date, photographs and the actions required to maintain it. A client with forty branches is forty registers. The engineer scans the label at the panel to get its history. The register is edited from the phone at the asset, so it stays true as equipment is replaced.
CertificatesHow does it handle BS 5839-1 certificates?+
Certificates live as documents against the site with every revision kept, so the version issued in March is still there after October's replaced it. The service record is structured: date, service type, engineer, comments and photographs against the specific asset. A structured certificate to your own item list and your own scheme is built for you, inside the monthly fee.
AuditCan we produce a sampled job for our certification body?+
Yes. Design notes, certificates, variations, the engineers who attended with their competence dates, photographs and the service history all hang off the site record. When an NSI or SSAIB auditor samples three jobs, each comes back from one record. The audit sample becomes a lookup rather than a week of searching email.
CompetenceCan it hold fire and security qualifications and screening separately?+
Yes. An engineer can be current on fire detection, overdue on intruder and awaiting a BS 7858 screening renewal at once. Each qualification, card and screening date has its own expiry against the person on the training matrix, turning amber before it lapses. The crew planner reads the same account, so the engineer sent to a monitored intruder system is clear to work on it.
RemedialsCan remedials be quoted from the visit that found them?+
Yes. The service record carries photographs taken at the asset, so the quotation is written from a picture of the actual detector rather than a line on a job sheet. Three end of life detectors found in the morning can be priced against the same site and in the client's inbox that afternoon.
The clientCan a facilities manager see the service history themselves?+
Yes. The client portal is scoped to their own company and their assigned sites, with the records read only. They open an asset and read its service history with the photographs and certificates, at any hour, without ringing your office. Clients can approve quotes there too, and at a renewal meeting that history is usually the strongest argument in the room.
Van stockCan it track stock across thirty vans?+
Yes. Each van is its own stock location, and parts come off the van they were fitted from at the time they are fitted. A count taken at a depot on Friday describes a van that has been elsewhere all week, so this is the version that stays accurate. The replenishment list is built from movements, and purchase orders places the reorder.
Call outsWe run a standby rota. Are the call out hours counted?+
Yes. The attendance is scanned on site at the clock-in time, rather than written up later. Advanced Fatigue Manager counts the turn, the travel at both ends and the rest before the next shift against the limits you set. A standby week that is invisible on a weekly total shows on the fatigue record before the next day shift.
CISSome fire work falls inside CIS and security work does not. Can it handle both?+
Yes. The same engineer can work on both in one week, so subcontractor management holds the treatment per job rather than per firm. HMRC treats sprinklers, and detection that sets off sprinklers or closes doors and shutters, as fire protection inside the scheme. A fire alarm that only gives a warning is outside it, and HMRC lists security system installation as outside it too. The CIS guide sets out the detail.
Third partiesHow does it work alongside our alarm receiving centre and the client's CCTV?+
The live alarm feed, reference numbers and police response stay with the monitoring centre. Unibuild holds the commercial side: which site has which signalling contract, what it costs, when it renews, and the attendance for every call out. CCTV footage stays on the client's recorder, while Unibuild holds the cameras as assets with their service history and installation photographs.
The marketWhat software do UK fire and security firms use?+
Usually a combination: a field service package for the maintenance book, the manufacturer's software for panel programming, a spreadsheet for competence and van stock, and an accounts package. Unibuild holds site registers and service patterns, competence and screening, certificates, van stock, quotations and applications for payment, so install and maintenance run on one account.
PricingWe are twenty people. Is this proportionate?+
Yes. Fire and security firms carry an audit and certification burden shaped like a much larger business, and the fee is sized to the firm. It is one figure that covers everything, with unlimited users and no charge per asset, per site or per service visit. It is quoted in writing and fixed for three years.
RolloutWhere do most firms start?+
With one maintenance contract and its register. The sites, their patterns, the visits and the remedials that came out of them show the arithmetic most clearly. Competence usually follows, then van stock, then the install side. Most firms go live in about two weeks, in phases, and migration of your asset and people records is done for you.
Half an hour, on your own sites and your own engineers. Bring one contract with its asset list and the services due this quarter, and we will set the register and its twelve month pattern up in front of you. Unlimited users, never per seat, and fourteen days to try it without a card.
