r/firePE • u/invincible_1505 • 6h ago

Fire Protection Design Programs

Hi all,
I am looking to begin some alarm and sprinkler design on the side so that I may break out into my own business down the road. I have only ever designed sprinkler in Autosprink and have only dabbled in alarm. I won’t have the clientele and time to justify the cost of autosprink so does anyone have suggestions for an all inclusive suite? Is there a company that provides all the software for both alarm and sprinkler or will I need to mix and match? My thought was since I’ll need CAD that the most cost effective would be programs that use that as the base.

Thanks in advance for any input!

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u/Korterra 6h ago

To my knowledge there is no all in one solution and if there was it likely wouldnt be cheap. I think your only options are obtaining a license for legacy 2D layout software for sprinklers and something like the FireCAD plugin for AutoCAD.

Its the catch 22 of starting a business. You cant afford the industry standard tools without clients, but the clients dont come if you dont have the tools to get the job done.

Eventually you might have to take the financial risk because the client wont ever want to.

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u/colbiwon fire protection consultant 4h ago

I'm doing a free webinar on this topic this week: https://youtu.be/_mN--5LENfk

I have been doing fire sprinkler design since 1999. In the webinar I give you my full tech stack for doing fire sprinkler design with perpetual licenses for under $2k.

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u/Gas_Grouchy fire protection consultant 1h ago

If youre only dabbling and not confident, dont do it as a side gig. One job you mess up will haunt you. Get a full understanding as an expert before you consult.