Job costing software for fire alarm contractors
Fire alarm jobs are priced by the device and paid as the system passes its acceptance test. CFOS for QuickBooks costs design, devices, programming and every return trip to the job.
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How fire alarm bills and where the money leaks
Fire alarm work is usually bid by device count from the plans, with the panel, power supplies, design, submittal and testing as their own lines. On commercial jobs it bills on a schedule of values with a pay app each month and retainage. Some contractors install the whole system, and some supply devices, program and test while the electrician pulls the wire, so the scope line in the contract tells you which costs are yours.
Design time is the first cost and it's spent before anything is billed. Drawings and battery and voltage drop calcs go to the AHJ, comments come back, and the plans are resubmitted. If the architect moves walls or the owner adds rooms, the device count changes and the design is done again.
The end of the job is where most of the money leaks. The pre-test, the acceptance test with the fire marshal, failed devices, an elevator recall that won't work until another trade finishes, and a retest all take trips. Retainage often waits on the final test and the certificate of occupancy, and none of those trips were in the device price unless you priced them.
How fire alarm costs split and what CFOS tracks
Fire alarm costs split into design, panels and devices, wire and cable, install labor, programming, testing and permits. Devices drive the bid, and a change in count or type changes material and labor together. Programming and testing are skilled hours that end up in overhead if no one codes them to the job.
CFOS imports your estimate as the job budget by cost code and compares it to actual cost from QuickBooks Online every hour. Seven cost types and three levels of cost code let you budget design, install, programming and testing on their own lines. Approved time comes in with labor burden by class, so a designer's hour and an installer's hour each cost what they really cost.
Bills emailed to your bills inbox are read, coded to the job and checked against the PO. Panels and voice evacuation equipment are expensive enough that one bill on the wrong job makes two margins wrong. Equipment daily rates charge lifts and trucks to the job on the days they're on a daily.
Workflow from the field to the office
The technician or foreman files a daily with the crew, the equipment and photos. Photos of devices installed before the ceiling closes are the record when an inspector or GC asks what was done. If the GC adds rooms or moves devices, the T&M ticket rides on the daily and the GC signs it on site, and it becomes a change order draft.
Time is entered in the field, approved and sent to QuickBooks Payroll with the job and cost code. Pre-test and retest trips get their own cost code, so the trips caused by another trade are visible on the job. That record helps when you ask the GC to pay for a retest the electrician or the elevator contractor caused.
The PM builds the pay app from the schedule of values, with stored materials where the contract allows and retainage by line. Submittals, RFIs and punch items from the acceptance test are tracked on the job. Pay app due dates send the PM a reminder, so a passed test gets billed that month.
What the owner sees every month
Each month the PM enters cost to complete on every open job and it gets approved. The WIP schedule shows over and under billing, which is where unbilled design time and stored panels are visible. The master WIP puts every job on one page.
Your CEO Report grades gross margin, overhead and net profit before taxes against the published average and CFOS target for fire alarm at your size. Closed jobs tell you what a device really cost you once programming, testing and return trips are counted. That's the number to bid from next time.
The 13 week cash forecast reads your QuickBooks Online data and your pay apps and marks the lowest week. Retainage on fire alarm often waits on the certificate of occupancy for the whole building, long after your crew is done. AR aging and a collections list keep that retainage in front of the office until it's paid.
Fire alarm cost codes, matched to QuickBooks
Each group below is one set of cost codes in CFOS. Bills, time and equipment post to them. QuickBooks keeps the books underneath, so your bookkeeper sees the same numbers.
| Cost code group | What goes on it |
|---|---|
| Design and submittals | Drawings, battery and voltage drop calcs, AHJ submittal and resubmittals. |
| Permits and plan review | Permit fees and plan review fees. |
| Control panels and power supplies | Fire alarm control panel, power supplies, batteries and annunciators. |
| Initiating devices | Smoke and heat detectors, pull stations, duct detectors and modules. |
| Notification devices | Horns, strobes, speakers and voice evacuation equipment. |
| Wire, cable and pathway | Fire alarm cable, conduit and boxes when they're in your scope. |
| Install labor | Mounting devices, terminations and other field labor. |
| Programming | Panel programming, sequence of operations and changes after the walk. |
| Pre-test, acceptance and retest | The pre-test, the acceptance test with the AHJ and every retest trip. |
| Change orders and T&M | Added devices and moved rooms, tied to the signed ticket. |
How fire alarm contractors do, by revenue
Each row shows the all-trade average, this trade's average and the CFOS target where one is published. These are the numbers your own job costing gets graded against. Net profit is before taxes in every row.
| Revenue | Overhead | Gross margin | Net profit, before taxes |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1M to $5M | 15.1% all-trade average 16% Fire alarm 14.1% CFOS target | 22.1% all-trade average 24% Fire alarm 25% CFOS target | 7% all-trade average 8% Fire alarm 11% CFOS target |
| $5M to $10M | 14.1% all-trade average 15% Fire alarm 13.1% CFOS target | 23.4% all-trade average 25% Fire alarm 26% CFOS target | 9.4% all-trade average 10% Fire alarm 12.9% CFOS target |
| $10M to $25M | 13.1% all-trade average 14% Fire alarm 12.1% CFOS target | 24.6% all-trade average 26% Fire alarm 27.1% CFOS target | 11.5% all-trade average 12% Fire alarm 15% CFOS target |
| $25M to $50M | 12.1% all-trade average 13% Fire alarm | 25.7% all-trade average 27% Fire alarm | 13.7% all-trade average 14% Fire alarm |
Gross margin and overhead come from figures CFMA, Jones Maresca and other sources publish by trade and size. Net profit is computed, not surveyed: net profit = gross margin minus overhead. Nothing comes out for taxes, interest or other income and expense, so it is a before tax figure, on the same basis as CFMA's net income before taxes.
CFMA's 2025 medians are 7.1 percent before interest and taxes and 6.7 percent net income before taxes. Gross margin minus overhead leaves out interest and other income and expense, so a figure here can come in a little above or below a reported net income on the same business.
Above the $10M to $25M band the gross margin and overhead rows are a modeled extension of the same curves. They have not been reconciled against the licensed CFMA Benchmarker, so read those bands as a model and not as a survey result.
Problems fire alarm contractors write to us about
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We email you when CFOS for QuickBooks opens, plus a few updates before then. Your address stays with Run On CFOS. One click unsubscribes.
30 days free, a 90-day money-back guarantee, and cancel anytime. It opens January 2027. We email you the day it opens.
What fire alarm contractors ask
Can I budget a fire alarm job by device count?
Your estimate imports as the job budget by cost code, so the device counts and costs from your takeoff come with it. Approved time and QuickBooks Online bills post actual cost every hour. When the job closes, you can work out what each device really cost.
Can I keep design and programming hours on the job?
Yes. Give design, programming and testing their own cost codes and enter time to them. That keeps those hours out of overhead. It also tells you which jobs used more design time than you priced.
How do I bill a retest someone else caused?
Record the trip on the daily with photos and put the extra work on a T&M ticket the GC signs on site. It becomes a change order draft for the next pay app. If it isn't signed, the cost is still on its own code.
What if the electrician pulls the wire and I only supply, program and test?
Budget only your scope: devices, panels, programming and testing. The cost codes follow your contract, so your job cost compares to the price you bid. Your WIP then reflects your own work and not the electrician's.
Does CFOS replace QuickBooks Online for a fire alarm company?
No. CFOS works on top of QuickBooks Online and reads from and writes to it. QuickBooks keeps your books, and you still pay Intuit for it separately.
- Job costing software that runs on QuickBooks
- One price. Every module. Priced by your revenue.
- Use all of it, or just the part you need
- Job costing software that runs on QuickBooks
- One price. Every module. Priced by your revenue.
- Use all of it, or just the part you need
- Fire alarm benchmarks
QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Run On CFOS isn't affiliated with Intuit.