Fire Sprinkler Systems

[Gareth Fisher]

I recently put an office building under contract at a good price.   The plan was to convert it from an office building to a 4 unit apartment building.  It had plenty of parking and the building was in decent shape.  Due to the great price it seemed that everything was coming together nicely.    

However a friend tipped me off that we were going to probably add a fire sprinkler system.     After digging some more we found out not only were we going to have to add a fire sprinkler system, we were also going to have to make one of the units handicap accessible.     

Obviously these added costs blew up the budget and killed what was looking to be a great deal.

I find myself pretty bitter at this.  I live in a 300k plus home, yet I don't have a sprinkler system.    Why should a tenant who is paying 750 a month have one?   Regulations like this create larger barrier to entries, hurt our local economies and keep a small guy from growing.

Has anyone had experience with this and has anyone found any good work around's?   I thought we had found a really good strategy but now see very little future in it knowing that building codes are such.

I have considered looking into taking classes and becoming certified in the systems, so I can do it myself.   Has anyone looked into this?

Any other advice  on get budgets to work with so many codes and regs.

[Nik Moushon]

This is why due diligence is so important. Would've been way worse had you gone an bought the place before finding this out. 

Sprinkler systems are required in any MF 4 units or more (some places its 3 units or more). Now, one way you can kind of get around this is by making them all separate stand alone dwellings.... i.e. Townhouse style construction. This also requires 2hr fire walls between each unit. Now depending on the local code will determine if you can keep them all as one building or (more than likely) have to make them all separate parcels, like a true Townhouse. BUT even if by code you dont have to insurance can be an over ruling factor as not all insurance companies see Townhouses differently than condos. So there could be a premium for both the building style and not having sprinklers. This isnt all condos and is a different topic.