Not every business that is qualified to test smoke alarms is allowed to verify a building's fire systems. That's what trips up Hamilton building managers come unstuck. Let's start with the paperwork. Ask who will be doing the testing, and whether they hold status as an Independent Qualified Person for those types of systems in your building. The Building Act 2004 sets out that specified systems including alarms, sprinklers, emergency lighting and fire doors require periodic testing, and those results are part of your annual Building Warrant of Fitness. If a business can't quite explain how that works, keep shopping spectrum fire.
Some companies just supply extinguishers. Others provide everything: detection, sprinklers, evacuation plans and passive fire protection like fire stopping. A single package means one set of paperwork, one bill and one company to answer to if something fails.
Fire panels go wrong at the worst times. Imagine it's late on a Friday, a panel develops a fault, and tenants return on Monday? A technician from a Hamilton-area company can normally get to site same or next day. A technician travelling from Auckland probably can't.
Get an example inspection report. A good report itemises each device tested, indicates what was defective and how it was rectified. A page of ticks and a signature at the bottom says very little and will be no use when Fire and Emergency New Zealand or the council ever asks questions.
Then there's the price. A rock-bottom quote might not include call-outs, travel or remedial work. Make sure the scope is in writing, compare it line by line and ask how additional work identified by the engineer during a routine visit is billed.