Well if your fire alarm is going to malfunction....

[Sugar Magnolia]

....it may as well be in the middle of nap time! GRRRR! Stupid, stupid fire alarm!! FL requires us to have one fire drill a year that occurs in the middle of nap time. But we did that 2 weeks ago!!!! Dang it! So I silenced the stupid thing, got everyone back to sleep....20 mins later---alarm goes off again! Oh there's gonna be some crabby kids this afternoon! Sheesh! You know what's insane? When we opened our center 5 years ago, a full system was not required. So I thought. Initial inspection "everything is fine". 2nd annual "fine". 3rd annual "fine". Last year "oh you guys need a full commercial fire alarm. Regular detectors and extinguishers not enough." Me: "is this a new law?". Him: "nope. Sorry. I don't know how we missed that. Sorry. You have 30 days." Same inspector every year!!! It cost us $3800!!!! B.S!!! Mind you, this is a 1200 sq ft house. Only the downstairs is the center. So that's a mere 850 sq. ft. 4 detectors, 3 sirens, 3 stobes, pull station.... its ridiculous! Exact same as a regular public school. My historic home did NOT enjoy all this. I even had to go through several contractors to find one to install in a historic house. Most wouldn't touch it. Some regs really stink.
The system has a nickname: "The POS 3800". Lol!

[JaydensMommy]

I hear you on this one! I'm in California and I am in the process of going from a small family child care home to a large. My home is about 1800 sq ft and we have to install the same thing. A fire alarm with a pull station, I can't believe it. With that and our city having to approve our plans, it is costing us around $4,000 just to go to a large daycare...

[Sugar Magnolia]

Ugh Jaydensmom! I feel your pain. And then there's the inspection fees, the monitoring fees, repairs, yadda yadda yadda. Ok I know its for safety but it is expensive for small businesses. In these huge, corporate centers, I get it. Honestly, I was thinking of filing suit for the wrong information I was given by the fire marshall. But that would cost as much as the system. Good luck!