Not every business that services smoke alarms can certify the fire systems in a building. That's what trips up Hamilton building owners get caught out. Let's start with the paperwork. Check who will be doing the testing, and whether they hold status as an Independent Qualified Person for those kinds of systems in your building. The Building Act 2004 sets out that listed systems including alarms, sprinklers, emergency lighting and fire doors need regular testing, and those results feed into your annual Building Warrant of Fitness. If a business can't quite explain how that works, move on.
Some providers only deal in extinguishers. Other providers provide everything: detection, sprinklers, evacuation plans and passive fire protection including fire stopping. One package means one lot of paperwork, one invoice and one point of responsibility when something goes wrong https://spectrumfire.co.nz/about-us/service-areas/fire-protection-company-rotorua/.
Fire alarm panels tend to fail at the worst possible times. Imagine it's late on a Friday, a panel develops a fault, and the tenants are due back on Monday? A technician from a Hamilton-area company can typically get to site same or next day. A technician travelling from Auckland likely can't.
Request an example inspection report. A detailed report breaks down each device tested, notes what was defective and what was done to fix it. A page full of ticks with a signature at the bottom gives you little information and is of no use when Fire and Emergency New Zealand or the council ever questions you.
Then there's the price. A very low quote may exclude call-outs, travel or remedial work. Ensure the scope is documented, compare quotes line by line and find out how any further work identified by the engineer during a routine visit is charged.