New Alarm

[Meli]

Hello fellow DIYers

Fifteen or so years ago we had a securit 800 alarm panel installed in our house. After having no trouble except a couple of false alarms, we were woken a couple of days ago with the sounder going off. All the lights on the keypad were on so we contacted our local electrical/alarm company and were told that we needed a new alarm.

We have also decided to upgrade our pirs as they look tatty and have a sensor put in our garage. We have been quoted £625 for the following.

panel (Castle mini)
pir's x 6
dual t x 1
battery x 1

This a good deal?

Many thanks,

Melissa P.

 

[chaindaisy]

Hi Meli,

I haven't looked up any of these prices yet, but that sounds like a total rip off. The existing cables to the detectors are in place so they don't need to do much in the way of labour, simply take your old detectors off the wall and replace them. The same applies to the control panel. I assume you mean the Castle Euromini panel in this case, which could be sufficient but I would tend to go for a slightly larger panel.

panel (Castle mini) ...... say £70 ..... time to replace is about 1 hour

pir's x 6 ..............say £20 each trade = £120 .... replace thirty minutes

dual t x 1 ............ probably around £30 ............. replace in a few minutes

battery x 1............£20 or thereabouts ..... replace in seconds.

This is dead rough so no doubt someone will come in to correct it before I have time to correct myself, they usually do. But the cost of parts would likely be about £240 with hardly any labour time. A profit of £410 for less than a morning's work. Remember though, that when they offer you a twelve month guarantee, yearly maintenance thereafter is at around say £80 each year (over ten years this is £800 - The cost of a brand new system.. and then some). It is also worth noting that a new system should last without any problems whatsoever for fifteen to twenty five years, only requiring a change of the standby battery every four years at a cost of about £20, and most manufacturers these days guarantee their devices for anything up to five years.

The figures quote are 'guessed', you could do it all yourselves for probably less than three hundred.

 

[EightyTwo]

This is "a deal". Is it a "good deal"? That's for you to decide!! If you think it's a bargain, bite their arm off. If you think you're being ripped off, go and get a quote from another alarm company.

Chaindaisy would do it himself, getting trade prices on the kit and not charging himself labour. He'd also run the cable into the garage really easily. I take my motorbike into the local workshop and pay him forty quid an hour to change my oil, plugs and points and brake pads. I pay a cleaner to clean my house....

We all make choices based on "value". This is not the same as 'cost'. Why does anyone employ a decorator when it's so easy to slap paint on the wall...

I'm more than happy to help you with technical/DIY issues but please don't ask me to make lifestyle value judgements on your behalf!

From a technical point of view, you might just need a new main backup battery and a new battery in the sounder (bell).

 

[Europlex]

pir's x 6 ............................................... replace thirty minutes/quote]

So you are a 'one screw' man who does not clear up then?
Please explain how it is possible to replace 6xPiRs in 30 mins.

 

[Europlex]

Melissa, get two more quotes from Alarm not Elec companies.

Remind them that all the cables are already in situ, everything is a like for like swap.

The Quote, NOT Estimate, should reflect this.

 

[chaindaisy]

Hi Meli,

This is a DIY forum, it may therefore be in your interests to tackle the job yourselves. Everything is very straightforward and you'll have all the help you need, even if it's by private e.mail. A good installer would have nothing to lose by giving you advice on any aspect, even if you were living next to his main depot. Thousands of people up and down the country install their own alarm systems, just search the forum and you'll see what I mean. I don't know how other firms work but we tend to say "if you're going to do it yourself, we still have all the work we need and we are not going to change your mind, so you can buy the parts from us if it will help..". There is a large firm in Cardiff who do this on a regular basis and are still up to their eyes in work, so it's not a problem for genuine installers. As far as getting quotes is concerned, it's always worthwhile. However, you need to read the Contract carefully since this is the most important part of any decision you make. Should you decide to engage Installers, keep it firmly in mind that there are a lot of cowboys out there, and sometimes even the big firms will not fulfill your needs. So the Contract is your main concern. If you want me to tell you, from years of experience, what to look for in a Contract, and what questions you need to ask, and what YOU need to see in the Contract, let me know and I'll help you out on that. True installers are not afraid of 'coming clean' with their customers. All trade installers on this site have nothing to lose by helping you on a DIY forum, you're in the right place.